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About Henry Patton

I am Henry Patton, resident artist and owner of Laughing Wolf Studio. I am a painter of animals.

I have been a painter of animals for over fifteen years. During that time, I have been blessed with the opportunity to observe wolves, elk, bear, moose, buffalo, wildcats, deer, hawk, sheep, eagles and other wildlife in their own habitat. For most of us these opportunities are becoming more rare and may soon disappear.

My painting career started out as a painter of wildlife, concentrating on wolves. I spent time traveling to photograph and observe wolves and other wildlife in their wild habitat. As I started to spend more time in my own neighborhood painting wildlife that was indigenous to my area, I found more and more horse farms. My attention was drawn to the horses and I began painting them.

Today, I spend much of my time painting horses. Most of my customers know me as a painter of horses and equestrian scenes. I still paint wildlife and dog portraits but horses have become my passion. Horses represent the wildness in animals for a lot of us. They still run wild in several places but mostly we recognize that wildness when we look into their eyes and connect with their soul. They are accessible and can teach us many things about animals and ourselves.

I have experimented and explored many types of techniques and mediums to be able to capture the beauty and grace of animals. I have gone from watercolor to acrylics, to oils and back again. Now I use all three. They each represent a different feeling when painting animals, some are appropriate for certain images and some work for others. I try not to limit myself, using all three paints as I see fit.

Over the past several years, my paintings have been exhibited in several galleries - this year they were in the Chapman Friedman Gallery in Louisville, Ky during Derby week. My paintings are for sale in several locations along with being available on my web site. Several of my paintings adorn tshirts, sweatshirts and hoodies for Stirrups Clothing Co. and are sold around the US and Canada. Additional paintings have been auctioned off at charity events for SavetheHorses.org, Old Friends Equine, Thoroughbred Charities and Animal Asia, raising money for animal causes. I spend a lot of my time working with horse rescue. I have been an activist and supporter of stopping horse slaughter in the US.

Before becoming a painter, I spent years as a professional photographer, graphic designer, illustrator and web site designer. These disciplines continue to influence my style as a painter giving my approach a more realistic look. A couple of years back I began a painting a series called “Blue Horses,” to capture horses in a more modern, abstract and colorful look. These blue horses have been featured in galleries, on posters and on apparel.

I live north of Atlanta in the woods with my two constant companions - Clementine and Wishbone, mixed breed rescue dogs. They help keep life real. Clementine is the mother and Wishbone is one of her sons that was born at the animal shelter and adopted out. I adopted Clementine and after a year of separation, I had the opportunity to get them back together again, I jumped on it. Now they are always together with Clementine trying to keep Wishbone out of trouble.

Please take a look around my web site. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.