The Artist

hey look so real, you could reach in and pet them."  "It looks just like him!"  "It's so detailed."  "How do you do that?"  These are just a few of the comments made by people and clients regarding the outstanding pastel paintings by noted equine artist Dagmar.  Her eye for unerring technical detail, including conformation features, places her head and shoulders above the competition.  Owners who have commissioned portraits of their beloved horses or dogs are amazed by her ability to capture the characteristics of the individual -- in pose or in action with undivided attention to detail.  Her paintings have been described as "impeccably accurate" in form, color, motion, emotion, and presence by clients and contemporaries alike and are found in private collections in the United States, Canada, and Europe.

A California native, Dagmar has been drawing horses since she was old enough to pick up a pencil.  She began her career as a horse, dog and cat artist with the submission of a pencil drawing of Secretariat into the 1977 Ventura County Fair, which won first place.  She received a set of pastels that year for Christmas while in junior high school, as she wanted to emulate an artist she admired, "Kelly", who used them in her work.  Her first attempt at using the pastels was a painting of the noted Arabian stallion, Komsul, which won first place at the fair the following year.  "It was crude compared to what I do now, but came out pretty good for my first attempt," says Dagmar. "I got much better with each piece, so I decided to do another one of Komsul one year after the first.  Needless to say, it was much better than the first one!"  In 1979 Dagmar again won numerous awards at the fair for her pastel paintings.  Also, while still in high school, she won the Senior Art Award competition.  Her winning drawing, a head study of an Arabian mare, was framed and hung in the school library.  Dagmar continually strives to improve with each piece she does, studying each one to see where she can improve the next time.  There are some, though, that she feels couldn’t be done any better.  "I was in a ‘groove’ when I did those, and no matter how many times I look at them, there’s nothing to improve upon."

Having grown up around and worked with many different types of horses, she can create equally fine renditions of a variety of breeds.  She has a keen sense of their individual personalities and has the ability to "read" them and translate that to an individual’s portrait.  "When commencing on a commissioned piece, or any other painting, I try to put myself in their place and feel what the animal is feeling and gain a sense of its personality, to be better able to convey that in the finished painting," says Dagmar.  It has been a highly successful technique as she has never had a dissatisfied client in the over 50 commissions she has completed to date.  She doesn’t always have to see her subjects in person, either.  For example, one client in New Jersey merely provided clear photos and described the horse’s idiosyncrasies to her and she was able to produce a painting that her client was absolutely thrilled to receive.  The painting, of the Thoroughbred gelding "Mr. Governor", is considered by Dagmar to be one her best pieces.  In addition, dog and cat owners have also discovered her talents in depicting their canine and feline friends.

In the past, her paintings have hung at the Copenhagen Galleri, Sporting Life Gallery, John Miller Galleries, The Top Brass, Unique Treasures, Art Illusions Gallery, and C.C. Design Center, etc.  However, she no longer exhibits her work in galleries, as this method of marketing was not the best venue for her work, since it did not seem to target her preferred clientele (those seeking a portrait of their horse or dog).

She has also exhibited her work in numerous art shows, such as the Jan. 25. 1996 reception dinner of the Paso Fino Horse Association's membership convention, and has donated many of her paintings to charitable causes, most recently being the Pyramid Society’s art show and auction.  Her pastel painting, "Alysheba Winning 1987 Kentucky Derby" was one of 66 works selected out of over 600 submitted to hang Oct. 13 through Dec. 31, 1996 at the Kentucky Derby Museum at Churchill Downs in Louisville, KY, in the "Horses in Motion" juried equine art exhibition.  The show was a first-time collaborative effort between the Kentucky Derby Museum and The Equine Image (formerly Equine Images) magazine.  The goal: to create an equine art exhibition of artists from across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.  The painting of Alysheba was also featured in The Equine Image's special show edition, October/November 1996.  She doesn’t focus on creating pieces for shows, though, as she doesn’t have any particular interest in that facet of the art world (it’s very fickle!), but rather concentrates on fulfilling her client’s requests for portraits.  “When my clients are happy, I’m happy!”

Dagmar designed the logos for the United States Lipizzan Registry and the Camarillo White Horse Association.  She was also responsible for the cover art for the California Paso Fino Horse Association's 1994 Stallion Directory and 1995 Western Regions Sounding Board Magazine.  Dagmar has now branched out into sculpture and has the goal of offering the model horse hobby and other equine enthusiasts anatomically accurate limited edition resins of her pieces.

Dagmar's work has been featured in a number of magazine articles over the years, including the California Horseman's News (March 15, 1982); the California Horse Review (October 1984); the Camarillo Daily News (Sunday Oct. 5, 1986); The Lipizzan Journal (Vol. VII, No. 3, June 1987); Conquistador Magazine (January 1991, the premier issue); and in an earlier edition of Equine Images, in an article about Lipizzaners (Dec. 1994/Jan. 1995.)

Dagmar doesn’t specialize in any particular breed, but rather the individual.  She has done paintings of a variety of breeds, from Quarter Horses and Paints, to Arabians, Lipizzans, Andalusians and the beloved backyard grade horse.  Anyone interested in obtaining a portrait that looks like his/her own horse or dog, and no other, need look no further.

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