Artist Profile: Linda Briesacher
Linda Briesacher
5200 Willow Ford Road
Robertsville, MO 63072
Bio:
Briesacher began painting in 2014 when she retired at the age of 60. Though she sometimes muses about what life might have been like had she started at an earlier age, she believes that things happen when they are supposed to and looking backward isn’t productive. “As I approached retirement, I wanted to make sure that I would continue to have engaging and enjoyable activities in my life. With that in mind I signed up for painting lessons. I had collected art forever, and wanted to try creating a bit of my own. When I laid down that first brush stroke, I actually got tears in my eyes, it just felt so “right” somehow. Little did I know then how painting would change my life.” Painting became her new full-time job, her new passion, her new obsession. In early 2018 Briesacher found a photo of the Sand Wash Basin stallion, Picasso. By that time, she had been painting horses and other animals for a few years. But in Picasso she saw something that moved her. “I saw so much wisdom in his eyes. He touched me. Though he has passed on now, he was nearly 30 years old and must have seen so much in his long life. It showed in his eyes, and I fell in love. I wanted to learn more about him and the more I learned about our wild horses and the threats to their freedom, the more I wanted to help.” Briesacher began reaching out to wild horse advocates to float the idea of painting the wild horses, selling the paintings, and then donating the proceeds to support and protect the horses. With that, she created a Facebook page, began painting, selling and auctioning her paintings. “Things just took off. My Facebook page garnered about 2,000 followers and sales kept coming. To date Briesacher has donated approximately $20,000 to support and protect horses, and those donations continue with every painting she sells. Briesacher joined both the American Academy of Equine Art (AAEA) and the National Oil and Acrylics Painters Society (NOAPS) in 2018. In that same year both organizations accepted her entry of “Thirty Winters,” a portrait of Picasso, in their online showcases. She has maintained her membership in the AAEA, and after having her work accepted into three juried shows, and is awaiting notification of achievement of juried status with the organization. Briesacher is also beginning to receive recognition for her work in portraiture, in addition to her paintings of horses. In 2022, her work was juried into both the Bosque Art Classic, and the Southwest Artists exhibitions. “Having my human portraits accepted into these two shows has been really thrilling for me. I have always strived to convey the character and emotion of every face I paint, whether it be equine or human. To have my human faces accepted into these exhibitions makes me believe that I am achieving this goal.” One of Briesacher’s collectors who has purchased several of her paintings of both horses and humans had this to say of her work: “Everyone that has come to my home has noticed these beautiful paintings and have remarked on the detail and the overall talent showing in each painting. My favorite detail of her work is in the faces, whether it is a human or animal.” And, a fellow artist had this to say about Briesacher’s work. “There is something about the way she applies paint…the way she pushes her colors and values, and the stories she tells through her artwork. It does, and will continue to, get noticed.” “I feel my job is to learn something new with each painting. I continue to study and to learn from so many fabulous artists whose work I see and study nearly every day. To me, it’s about putting miles on brushes. I will never be completely satisfied with where I am as an artist. I always have this longing to understand “how did he/she do that? And really, isn’t that part of the fun – continuing to learn and grow as long as we are here?”
