Nadine & Ripley

05/12/2026

https://peoplesartist.org/2026/nadine-ewing

I Create Art To Turn Emotion, Memory, And Wild Beauty Into Something People Can Feel And Never Forget.

05/11/2026

This one turned into something really special… and also tested me in all the ways 😂

When Betsy first came to me with the idea, it started as “three grandkids riding a flying creature”… and my brain immediately went “oh boy, here we go.”
Because yes, that *can* work… but it usually ends up looking like chaos instead of something meaningful.

So we slowed it down. Talked it through. And what came out of it was so much better.

Instead of one big fantasy moment, we built a world around them.

Each child with their own companion, their own personality, their own story:
✨ Boone with the lion — brave, steady, protector energy
✨ Maggie with her unicorn — sweetness, imagination, that little spark of magic
✨ Rory with her beaver — playful, curious, and very much “I will absolutely splash in that water”

And then bringing them all together in one place… not as a collage, but as a shared world. A place they belong in together.

That’s always the goal with these pieces.
Not just “make it look cool”… but make it *feel like them*.

And honestly? The hardest part wasn’t even the scene.
It was the faces.

Kids grow. Photos are at weird angles. One is serious, one is goofy, one just refuses to cooperate with the camera entirely 😂
So getting their likeness right while still keeping that soft, storybook feel… yeah, that took some back and forth.

But this is why custom art takes time.
It’s not about hitting “generate” and calling it a day. It’s about refining until it actually *clicks*.

This piece ended up being less about fantasy… and more about how their grandmother sees them.
And that’s the part I love most.

✨ The grandchildren as they are… and as they’re becoming.

And now I only have three digital commissions left in this round before I close things for a bit… 👀

05/07/2026

This painting has lived more than one life.

I started it over 7 years ago when I was living in Colorado. Back then it was just supposed to be a fun painting session between friends. We sat together painting horses, talking about life, creating for the simple joy of creating.

Then life happened.

The friend I painted alongside later passed away from cancer.

And this canvas just… stopped.

It sat unfinished for years in a rough blocked-in stage while I moved states, changed careers, built a ranch, became a different artist, a different person honestly. Every once in a while I would look at it and think, “One day I’ll finish you.”

A couple years ago I tried. I revived it in soft pastels and for a brief moment it became something beautiful and delicate… and then I ruined half of it sealing it incorrectly. Watching parts of it disappear felt almost symbolic at the time, so back on the wall it went.

And there it stayed. For another year.

Just staring at me every day.

I almost painted over it more than once. Almost threw it away too, if I’m being honest. But something about it refused to die quietly.

Over the years I learned more about acrylics. More about color. More about light. More about restraint. More about myself.

So I gave it one final chance.

And somewhere in all those layers — the original painting, the ruined pastel version, the years in between, the grief, the frustration, the growth — this horse finally appeared.

Not the painting I originally planned.
But maybe the painting I was supposed to make all along.

I think that’s true for a lot of things in life honestly.

Sometimes things don’t fail.
Sometimes they wait for us to become the person capable of finishing them.

💜

05/06/2026

I didn’t expect this one.

I was accepted into “The People’s Artist” campaign—yes, that one tied to Johnny Depp and Art of Elysium—and I’m sitting here like… okay, guess we’re doing this.

If you’ve been following me for a while, you know my work doesn’t come from Pinterest boards or trends. It comes from the horses I live with, train, argue with, trust, and learn from every single day.

Every piece I create starts somewhere real—then turns into something a little more wild, a little more mythic.

So if you feel connected to what I do, if my work has ever made you pause for a second…
you can support me through the competition here:

https://peoplesartist.org/2026/nadine-ewing

No pressure. No spam. Just putting it out there.

Now I’m going back to feeding horses and pretending this isn’t mildly insane.

04/27/2026

Some paintings are more than paint.

This one began a year and a half ago… then sat unfinished because I was scared to ruin it. The textured background intimidated me, I couldn’t get the face right, and sometimes when a piece matters too much, your own hands hesitate.

But growth has a funny way of arriving quietly.

Lately I’ve made some real leaps in my painting journey, so I pulled Odin back out and finished what I wasn’t ready for before.

Odin was only 11 months old when my sister lost him. Far too young. Far too soon. But some souls leave such a big imprint that time doesn’t erase them.

When I showed her the finished painting, she simply said:

“It feels like he is sitting there looking at me.”

That’s it. That’s the goal.
Not just likeness. Presence. Memory. Love with a heartbeat still inside it.

This one means a lot to me. Rest easy, beautiful boy. You were deeply loved, and still are. 🖤

04/27/2026

Finished.

Obsidian Rising 🖤🔥

A study in strength, motion, and the kind of fire that lives beneath the surface. Built with layered texture, light, shadow, and a lot of trust in the process.

This one pushed me, fought me, and then finally became what it wanted to be.

04/23/2026

Some days ranch life is peaceful and poetic. Other days it looks like a medieval tournament hosted by unpaid interns.

Otis and Frodo came running up fully convinced I had snacks. Obsidian inserted himself immediately because no event on this property may begin without his supervision. Then Cervantes came charging in late with zero context, high confidence, and what appeared to be several poor decisions loading at once.

You can actually watch herd dynamics happen in real time here. Personalities, rank, curiosity, timing, boundaries... all wrapped in one dramatic little pasture scene.

And through it all, the donkeys never lost focus on the true mission:

Food.

Honestly, if you ever want to know what animals are really like, watch them loose with each other. They’ll tell on themselves every single time. 😂

04/22/2026

Still WIP:
This piece has been one of those paintings that refuses to be rushed.

It started as a dark horse emerging out of shadow and light… mostly instinct, color, mood, and letting the face appear before the details did. I built the background first with layers of violet, plum, magenta, and black until it felt like the horse was stepping out of twilight instead of sitting on a flat canvas.

Then came the part artists know well: the stare-down phase. You look at it, circle it, question everything, walk away, come back, question it again. The horse was strong… but the story wasn’t finished.

So I started designing the missing pieces.

Not random decoration. Purposeful regalia. Something elegant, noble, slightly enchanted. I went through a pile of concepts, references, digital mockups, jewelry ideas, bridles, floral ornaments, fantasy tack, too much, too little, wrong direction, start over, try again. Typical glamorous artist life.

Eventually it clicked.

Now the piece is moving into its next chapter: ornate floral adornments woven into the mane, a jeweled bridle, decorative drops, and ceremonial details that make the horse feel less like a portrait and more like a presence.

That’s the part people don’t always see. Art is rarely one clean vision from start to finish. Sometimes it’s solving a mystery in layers until the painting finally tells you what it wanted all along.

Current stage: chalk sketch mapped in by hand over the painted surface so I can refine placement before color goes down.

Next step: bringing the adornments to life with metallic tones, gemstones, soft florals, glow, and contrast.

Honestly… this one has fought me a little.

Which usually means it’s going to be good. ✨🐴🎨

04/17/2026

Do y’all remember this horse painting?

I honestly thought I had ruined it.

It started one way, then I changed mediums, then I sealed it, then I hated it, then I nearly gave up on it completely. Classic artist behavior.

But instead of tossing it in the corner forever, I decided to repaint it and trust the process one more time.

It’s still the same horse… just evolved.

I’m finishing the final details now.

What do you think happened to it? Better… worse… completely unhinged? 😂

Reveal next coming soon!