Horses

I have always loved horses. I drew them constantly when I was growing up. Among my favorite stories were The Black Stallion series of books by Walter Farley. Imagine what a thrill it was when I was chosen to illustrate the first paperback editions early in my career! Featured here are two of my horse-themed books, A Storm of Horses, The Story of Artist Rosa Bonheur, Drawing Horses, a book for budding horse artists, and Golden Dreams, the Art of Ruth Sanderson, an art book on my career which includes many of my horse illustrations. You can also see them in the Horse section of my Portfolio. I am now creating coloring books for adults (and older children) by turning my illustrations into grayscale, which can be nicely colored with colored pencil for a realistic painting-like look. The World of Horses coloring book was created from my horse illustrations.

Recently I illustrated a chapter book series of historic fiction horse stories, Horse Diaries, still available and published by Random House. I was thrilled that my daughter, Whitney Sanderson, was chosen as one of the authors in the series, writing five of the titles. Her book Golden Sun was inspired by her beloved Appaloosa, Thor. And I am happy to report that we have inspired the next generation, as her son now loves horses, too! He calls them “neigh neighs.”

Over the years I’ve illustrated horse stories for all ages, including two fairytale picture books I wrote, The Golden Mare, The Firebird, and the Magic Ring, and The Crystal Mountain. I had fun illustrating a picture book lullaby by Jane Yolen, Hush Little Horsie. I have illustrated a number of chapter books too, including Summer Pony, Winter Pony, The Mystery of Pony Hollow, Buck Wild, The Mystery of the Missing Pony, and the Missing Pony Mystery, A Bobbsey Twins book.