DUNDURN, Sask. – Beate Epp likes her horses rounded with lush flowing manes and tails. She also likes them purple and orange.
The artist, who lives on a farm near Dundurn with her husband Paul, is driving seven of her paintings to a New York City art gallery for display this month. She is taking flower portraits as well as some of her brightly coloured Magical Horses series.
The horses were painted in 2004 and Epp then spent five months that fall and winter handwriting a 35,000-word children’s book to match the 24 images. She said once the paintings were done, they called out for a story.
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“It was late summer and I was baling and looking over the land at the wide open spaces, the peacefulness … you look for the little things.”
The value of nature was instilled in Epp by her parents, who used to take her for walks in the German countryside where she lived until coming to Canada in 1999. She said her imagination was also sparked by the traditional fairy tales she was read when young. Spinning those two themes produced a book about enriching one’s life by sharing with others.
“Out of the magical horses come all the other horses. Each has a bit of magic.”
After writing the book, Epp took a week to type it onto a computer, but she still prefers to use a notebook to jot down ideas for a sequel because it is convenient and can go anywhere, including the tractor.
Epp self-published 2,000 copies of the book using a Saskatoon printing company and started marketing it in December 2005. She notes that being in charge of all the details is not a bad thing and that several famous authors started out publishing their own books, including Margaret Atwood, Mark Twain and William Blake.
She has a distribution deal with the Book and Brier bookstore in Regina and also has a deal with the Big Brothers, Big Sisters organization, which will receive a percentage of each book it helps sell.
“The book has a message that’s supposed to get out in the world but how do I do this if I’m alone? (Big Brothers and I) follow the same goals – a better life for children.”
A critic who reviewed Epp’s paintings for a New York art magazine called them emotionally charged with bold forms and vibrant colours.
She said selling her paintings is not easy because they are “part of your soul,” but the ordeal is made easier if she can find the right buyer who feels the heart in the paintings. She flips open a binder to show photos of all her paintings, but then shrugs and adds that the paintings make her a living “so you have to let it go.”
Epp’s trip to New York means she will miss seeding time on the farm. She joked that she won’t miss the tension that accompanies spring rush.
She came to Canada seven years ago after a failed marriage and found work at a riding stable in Meadow Lake, Sask. She met a woman who introduced her to Paul and moved south to Pleasant Point Farm.
Paul said the six-quarter farm was started by his grandmother, who had immigrated to Canada from Russia as a widow with several children. Paul joked that he got the farm because he was the only one who didn’t leave. It is a mixed operation with 35 beef cows, an alfalfa business and grain, which is mainly oats and malting barley.
“Being diversified has worked for me until lately,” he said. “There’s too much hay for sale now. The past 10 years have been good.”
This year he may buy more cattle or offer custom grazing rather than sell hay.
“My plans, like a lot of guys, are up in the air.”
The Epps also have two dogs and three horses that are like pets and serve as Beate’s models. Paul said he is not a horse fan but he feeds and takes care of them.
After the growing season is over, the Epps like to travel and have been to a Mexican village that has an educational project that is also benefiting from some of the proceeds of Beate’s book. They have also visited California and Arizona, which impressed Beate so much that she is now painting a series based on the state’s landscape.
“I love the colours down there, the reds and oranges. You just feel the power of nature there.”
Paul’s favourite paintings are the prairie scenes that are visible from the farm – the big blue sky and the yellow-gold of fall poplars at nearby Blackstrap Lake.
One of the Epps’ two house cats has taken a more critical view, walking across a wet painting and planting a paw print in green on top of a blue sky. While Beate painted over that one, she incorporated cat prints as a deliberate design into another scene.
The Magical Horses by Beate Epp, ISBN 0Ð9738625Ð0Ð5, can be ordered from bookstores.
