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It changed once. Then again. Somewhere through three very different versions, I realized the painting was showing me its real name: Becoming....

© Laurie Pace        Graphics One Design 2026 Becoming Oil on Canvas  Available  by Laurie Pace   BECOMING — When Worry Gives Way to Growth This little red horse began as Standing Tall. I loved where the painting was going—but it wasn't finished. So I kept painting. It changed once. Then again. Somewhere through three very different versions, I realized the painting was showing me its real name: Becoming. “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.” — Isaiah 60:1 Life can be much the same. We are always becoming, yet worry can make that process so much harder. Worry fills our thoughts, settles into our bodies and steals some of the joy from the day right in front of us. I've discovered something different when I can put that worry down. Worry is heavy. Becoming is light. There is more room for joy. More room for ideas. More room to love, create, encourage and serve. And how fitting that Becoming is headed ...
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What if the darkness isn't where we lose our way—but where we finally stop trying to find it alone?

© Laurie Pace        Graphics One Design 2026 The Heat of the Night Oil on Canvas  SOLD   by Laurie Pace   Heat of the Night was painted around 2010 during a six-month period when I explored horses through woven color, lines, textures and symbols. Looking at it today, after another relentless Texas summer, I see something more. Heat wears us down. So can life. We try harder. Push farther. Reach inside ourselves for enough strength to handle just one more thing. Eventually I have learned to do something different. I abide. I step back, pray, hold onto His Word and wait. Because it truly is not in me to handle everything—and I was never asked to. At night the house finally becomes quiet. We pull up the covers, pray and allow the day to end. “In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.” — Psalm 4:8 Tomorrow may still bring its challenges. But tonight I can stop carrying tomorrow. I can re...
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“Some paintings are sold. Some come home. And apparently, some simply disappear.”

© Laurie Pace        Graphics One Design 2026 Two Black Horses Oil on Canvas  SOLD   by Laurie Pace   STOLEN AWAY Some paintings are sold. Some come home. And apparently, some simply disappear. Two Black Horses disappeared from the first Santa Fe gallery that represented my work. It was stolen. Looking at the painting again all these years later, however, I find myself thinking less about the theft and more about the things we spend our lives collecting. Clothes. Shoes. Houses. Beautiful things. There is nothing wrong with enjoying them—but eventually we learn there is a difference between enjoying something and needing more of it. There comes a time when we don't need to keep filling our lives with things that don't fill our hearts. Kindness. Compassion. Love. Forgiveness. Serving someone who needs us. Those are treasures no thief can carry away. Jesus reminds us not to store our treasures where they can be destroyed or stolen. Someone s...
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What if the gold you’ve been looking for has been sitting right in front of you all along?

© Laurie Pace        Graphics One Design 2026 Gold is Where You Find It Oil on Canvas  SOLD   by Laurie Pace   Gold is where you find it. Sometimes gold is obvious. Other times it is hidden among all the other colors and distractions of our lives. Looking at this horse painting again reminded me that perhaps we spend too much time searching for the spectacular while overlooking the quieter gifts already around us. A phone call. A familiar song. An unexpected kindness. A morning when your heart simply feels lighter. Maybe gold isn't always something we have to chase. Sometimes we just have to notice where God has already placed it.    Elle Pace Read the complete Threads of Grace story at EllePace.com.   GOOGLE/BLOGGER WORDS Laurie Pace, Elle Pace, Threads of Grace, Gold Is Where You Find It, horse painting, equine art, colorful horse painting, expressive horse painting, palette knife painting, contemporary equine art, blue ...
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How in life do you start at the end and arrive at the beginning? I have started over at the end of many things but after writing this blog, it gets twisted.

© Laurie Pace        Graphics One Design 2026 Desert Sun Oil on Canvas  SOLD   by Laurie Pace   The End and then the Beginning “But in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe.” — Hebrews 1:2   Yesterday I shared how paint scraped from one unsuccessful painting became something entirely new. There was enough of that wonderful mess of reds, greens, turquoise, browns, gold and white to begin again. This time I returned to the original 30 × 40 canvas—the surface still stained by what had been there before. I began with what was left on the remaining canvas, still stained with original paint.   A single horse emerged at the center of four strong sections of light and dark. Only later did I begin seeing things I hadn't deliberately painted. A wolf, guitars, crosses....   And if you look long enough, perhaps you'll discover something...
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Scraped paint becomes a luminous horse painting as artist Laurie Pace reflects on faith, creativity, finding light, and carrying hope into what comes next.

© Laurie Pace        Graphics One Design 2026 Scrapping the Canvas Oil on Canvas  SOLD   by Laurie Pace   ALWAYS TOWARD THE LIGHT — Sometimes What Is Left Becomes the Beginning “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.” — Psalm 84:11 When the sun rose today, I was ready with a happy heart. This painting began in an unlikely place—with paint scraped from another canvas. A large painting wasn't working, so I scraped the oil paint onto a board. My palette knife had mixed the colors into deep greens, ochres, browns and wonderful earthy tones. I had two 30 × 40 canvases waiting. The  one I just scrapped and another one.  No hesitation... I just painted. That scraped paint became two completely different paintings. 30 x 40 inches in size. Today I am sharing the first, Two from the Herd in the Sun. Tomorrow I will share the second. Look at th...
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Setting up the lights in my large studio across the back side of our Lake House to paint at night was a challenge....the lake literally sparked with starlight.

© Laurie Pace        Graphics One Design 2026 Starlight Run     Click photo above to see the painting. Oil on Canvas  SOLD   by Laurie Pace   When the Stars Were Out, I was still painting. Today an unexpected sale of an older horse painting sent me searching through old photographs. I found one that stopped me. There was Starlight Run on my easel in my studio at the lake. It was late at night. The stars were out, and I was still painting. I wasn't hesitant to paint there. I painted some of the largest paintings of my life in that studio. I knew how to begin. I drew my horses, mapped them across the canvas and established the structure before allowing color, line and movement to take me somewhere beyond what I had planned. Looking through the process photographs today helped me understand something I had forgotten. I wasn't searching for the horse. I was painting from him. The discovery came after the knowing. I knew the horse we...
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