Hunters Moon by Will Ersland, courtesy of Cindy Piper, MFH, Long Lake Hounds (MN) Someone once told Will Ersland, “The horses and people in your paintings have great action—even when they’re standing still!”
Ersland sees himself as a visual journalist. “My paintings record a moment in time,” he says. “They are cropped the way I see the action, and each brush stroke is laid down with confidence and purpose based on my academic background and decades of drawing and painting.”
Ersland’s use of short, flat, planar brush strokes to highlight rounded shapes strikes me as an effective and unique element of his style.
“My style is dictated by the medium—acrylic paints—which dry very fast,” he explained. “I don’t even try to blend them. Instead, I build up form by starting with the darkest values and layering on the lightest values, usually following the form of the object with my brush strokes.
Karin Winegar’s horse, Smoky, by Will Ersland. Karin is a world-traveling foxhunter / writer / journalist from Minnesota.
“My paintings work best when dark and light contrast, the same with contrasting warm colors next to cool. I’ve always said that there are no mistakes when I paint. I can simply paint over the color, and it only serves to enhance the final painting. I often under-paint an area with the complementary color of the final stroke.
“I’d be willing to bet that the Impressionists would haves loved to have painted with acrylics instead of oil. You can get a lot of visual information down fast and the quality and colors manufactured today are of exceptional quality.
“I draw everything first in graphite, then I paint right over my finished drawing with red paint. This undertone sort of peeks through the finished painting in tiny
fractals and unites all the colors. There is never a misplaced stroke or color because I paint over layers of paint and it gives every brush stroke a luminosity and richness in the finished painting.”
After Ersland earned a university degree in art, he went to work as an illustrator at a prestigious Iowa design studio. He stayed for ten years, improving his skills and learning from other artists, some of whom turned out to be among the most significant illustrators in the country. Each year of work was rounded off with entries into the Society of Illustrators Shows in New York.
From there, Ersland moved to Minnesota, where he’s been for the past thirty-one years. He began that chapter as a freelance illustrator of books for blue chip companies through agents in Chicago and New York. Eventually he started painting the things that he loved to draw: horses, hunters, and cowboys!
In the foxhunting world, Ersland has fulfilled commissions by several well-known personalities. One of his favorite commissions came from Tommy Ghrist, MFH and huntsman of the Moingona Hunt (IA) and his wife Jessica.
Tommy Ghrist, MFH and huntsman, Moingona Hunt (IA) riding Gorm
“Tommy and Jessica are a delightful and energetic couple and excellent trainers of Scottish Dale Ponies,” Said Ersland. “I had so much fun hanging out with them on their farm, photographing and sketching, that I think I was re-energized all the way back to Minnesota. The trip resulted in a beautiful large painting of Tommy and Gorm, the pride of his stables, as they jumped a coop with a nod to a Grant Wood landscape in the background.
In December, Ersland completed two paintings for Cindy Piper, ex-MFH of the Long Lake Hounds (MN). Cindy is a former president of the United States Pony Clubs and a former District Director of the MFHA. One painting is of a wide field of fox hunters, horses, and hounds in brilliant fall colors. The second is a painting of sly fox in winter with a rather large winter moon filling a twilight sky and serving as a design element.
Autumn Hunt, commissioned by Cindy Piper
Ersland’s work was chosen for inclusion in the Centennial Exhibit of Foxhunting Art in America as part of the MFHA’s Centennial Celebration in 2007. Organized by the Cross Gate Gallery in Lexington, Kentucky, the exhibit opened in New York City and traveled across the nation.
Ersland is represented by three galleries: The Chisholm Gallery in Wellington, Florida, owned by Jeanne Chisholm, who focuses on equine sporting art; Manitou Galleries in Santa Fe, New Mexico that features contemporary Western American artists; and the Tracy Miller Gallery in Colorado Springs, Colorado where “Artists of the New West” are showcased.
New PastureThe Western Spirit Art Show in Cheyenne, Wyoming launched Ersland’s art into the world of Western American Art eleven years ago, and he has exhibited there every year since that time. Ersland recently won a blue ribbon for Best Acrylic Painting at that show.
He has also won ribbons in Rock Springs, Wyoming and has been selected to show at the prestigious Mountain Oyster Show in Tucson Arizona. Earlier this year, Manitou Galleries hosted a beautiful show entitled, The Santa Fe Trail, featuring paintings that tell the stories of brave pioneer women and men who had settled New Mexico between the years of 1831-1880.
He’s also been showcased as one of the Top One Hundred Illustrators in Step-By-Step Magazine’s Illustrators Annual two books, Outstanding American Artists Today, Volumes I and II. In 2004 Ersland was featured in Michael Fleishman’s book, Exploring Illustration.
Most days—even weekends—Ersland is in his studio to catch the early morning light. His art studio is filled with the props and sketches that drive each painting. And his sport horse, Ike, the subject of many of his paintings, is not far away.
“Some afternoons during the week and most weekends are horse-time. My enthusiasm for the sport probably outmatches my present riding ability, but riding sharpens my mental and physical skills and gives me a greater understanding of my subject matter. In the long, snowy Minnesota winter months, I like to harness up a friend’s draft cross and drive one of my two sleighs.”
More of Will Ersland’s work may be seen on his website.
Posted July 23, 2015