Behind the Salina Ramsay Studio Logo Collection Design
People often ask me why I do what I do; why jewelry design? I suppose what drives me to create is something I cannot easily explain. I feel an urge to create, I see a design, image, shape, and I am driven to create in wax to be cast in precious metal: gold silver or platinum. As far as my logo, I have drawn and painted horses since I was five years old. I found that I was most often creating an image of a horse head silhouette, usually going toward the left. I would start with the ears, the face and around the muzzle and so on. Then came the problem of how to finish the design. Do I just end the image with a line going straight across? This was unsatisfying and just plain ugly.
I always admired the “unfinished” portrait of George Washington, our first president of the United States, painted by Gilbert Stuart. I am convinced the portrait was ended exactly as the artist intended. He may have set out to make random strokes across the bottom as he may have run out of time, but, in the end, he left the portrait just that way. The artist, Gilbert Stuart, never delivered the “finished” painting to George Washington. Instead, Stuart used the painting as inspirational models for future paintings which he reproduced and sold as he was able.
This brings me back to the evolution of my logo. In the eighties, I began carving waxes for jewelry design and traveling to horse shows in North Carolina and Virginia. I grew up riding all kinds of horses, Saddlebreds, Walking Horses, Arabians, Hunter Jumpers, eventually exercising Thoroughbreds and breaking in yearlings for a few years. I’ve always been fascinated by the animation and presence of Arabians and Saddlebreds. Their eyes are so expressive and full of life and spirit. Because of this, these horses made excellent subjects.
So began the evolution of the horse head logo design. Many other artists have done some form of this design, but I have found particular inspiration for the lower half or finished part of the design from the Arabian Horse Industry. Many artists and designers in that industry like to use an “S” shape for their creations. I like the play of the shape with the first letter of my name, “S”. While the final design may not quite be exactly an S shape, the element is there. Placing the image of the horse head silhouette on a high polished surface makes me happy. The juxtaposition of the indented, rough polished horse head silhouette against the polished surface hints at the dust and dirt of the show ring or riding surface and the smooth, polished sheen of a well-groomed horse.
That is my perspective on the evolution of my logo. Does it look like other designs? Sure, maybe. Look a little closer. The struggles and joys of life are all there; the rough, unpolished bits of life and the smooth, high polished joyous times. The pieces remind me who I am, where I have come from, what it took to get to who I am today. All good ideas are simple and usually build off inspiration from others. It is my drawing, my design. I created it because it makes me happy. I hope wearing it will make you happy as well.