From mindless doodles, random lines and squiggles, a sea of seemingly unconnected shapes come together to form a unique masterpiece. At first glance, the images look like a wild combination of disconnected bits and pieces, but upon closer inspection, the sketches come to life and objects like a horse’s head or words become visible.

Often his drawings take shape on restaurant napkins, scraps of paper and on the backside of horse show  scripts.

“I can do three or four quick drawings in a row without even thinking about it,” says Eric Hardesty. “Jeff (Kirkbride) once told me I was going to use all of his pens and scripts doodling,”

Sketching provides an escape, a form of therapy for the 47 year-old artist based in Wooster, Ohio.

“I just let it flow and it takes me away from the world for a while,” he explains.

His prolific collection of drawings has caught the attention of customers who have begun requesting pieces of his work.

“I’ve been commissioned by some shirt companies to design artwork for their shirts,” he says.

Always looking for new outlets for his creative talents, Hardesty’s even been kicking around the idea of starting his own apparel line that would include t-shirts and ties similar to the Garcia line, which are colorful head-turners featuring catching visuals and abstract patterns designed to match any individual’s personality.

With his talent, it’s a wonder he’s not working full time as an artist.

“It was beaten into my head by my parents that I couldn’t pursue a career in art because I’d be a starving artist. For the most part, that’s probably true,” he says.

Though his parents discouraged him from a career as an artist, they provided an opportunity early on that was the catalyst for his current business, Excalibur Photography and Advertising. His father owned a high-end antique dealership that also produced catalogs and advertisements for national antiques auctions.

“My brother had been the one to take photos for the catalogs and brochures,” Hardesty explains, “when my brother went to college at the Art Institute of Pittsburg, I got handed the camera.”

Hardesty was expected to fill his brother’s shoes in the family business and began shooting all the artwork for the family’s antique catalogs and advertisements.

His early exposure to photography eventually developed into a lucrative photography and design business that includes logo and advertisement design. In between working for the family business and establishing is own company in 1994, Hardesty worked as a machinist at a local mill and in the print shop for Werner Ladder Company in Greenville, Pennsylvania.

All the while he continued shooting photos on the side. Though never formally trained, he learned through hands-on experimentation as well as picking up a few pointers from his brother.

Over the past 20 years his business has expanded and includes wedding photography, graphic design including ad layouts and logo design. He has created logos for the Monster Dash, a local 5k, numerous hockey leagues, associations and teams and clients in the horse industry.

Simultaneously, he has become widely known as the official photographer at local and nationally recognized horse events.

Ironically, his involvement in the equine industry began as happenstance.

His niece started showing in local, regional and state Pennsylvania 4-H events and Hardesty, a dedicated uncle, arrived at the show, camera in hand to “goof around” taking pictures.

“People started asking me to buy photos,” he recalls.

He even traded in his camera for the back of a horse at a few shows. Riding a registered Quarter Horse mare he entered Western Pleasure events at local open shows. Interested in getting involved with bigger shows, the mare was bred and the resulting babies were entered in futurity competitions.

Competing at local shows and traveling regularly for photography work was a challenge and eventually Hardesty decided to focus on the photography end of the business. Encouraged by the interest in his work, he picked up jobs at several smaller shows and landed his first Quarter Horse Show in Harlansburg, Pennsylvania. Since then equine photography and design has consumed his business comprising a large portion of his work.

As Hardesty’s reputation spread, Jeff Kirkbride asked him to assist him with larger shows that included the Pinto World Show, the Sun Circuit, the Palomino World Championship Show and the All-American Quarter Horse Congress.

“I started going somewhere every weekend with Jeff,” he says.

During a show in Centre Hall, Pennsylvania, he snapped a series of photos that has likely led to his most widely known image, a photo that has earned him a lot of money in the years since. As the sun was setting on a warm-up pen, someone was longing a horse.

“It was really dusty and as the sun was setting it turned orange and silhouetted the horse,” he explains. The scene lasted less than two minutes and he remembers taking as many photos as he could.

The photo was eventually sold to an equine pharmaceutical company that has since used the image in promotions associated with several of its products.

Balancing life on the road as a horse show photographer and a devoted father whose son was a rising star in the AAA Hockey league became a challenge.

“For six years I cut back on my shows and only traveled the majors with Jeff so I could follow my son’s AAA Hockey team,” he explains.

Hardesty, a lifelong hockey fan who roots for the Pittsburgh Penguins, was ecstatic when his son, Dustin Johnson, showed an interest in the sport. Dustin began taking skating lessons and joined a youth hockey league. Hardesty decided this was the perfect opportunity to join his son on the ice and laced up a pair of skates and began playing on an adult league.

Dustin was a natural. At only 14 years of age he was recruited by Division I schools to play collegiate hockey when he came of age. The rigorous travel schedule, which included weekend tournaments in Minnesota, Detroit and Chicago, took the fun out of the sport.

“He had golden opportunities with all the right people looking at him, but was not interested in playing hockey anymore,” Hardesty says.

During Dustin’s hockey travels, Hardesty met Joe Kolodziej, publisher of The Junior Hockey News and player agent at Hockey Talent, LLC.

“When it came time to get a logo done for the Pre-Draft Combine, I wanted to give him a shot,” Kolodziej says, “I gave him general ideas about what I wanted represented and let him take over the creative process.”

From that Hardesty created the organizations current logo, which includes a Canadian and an American flag with a hockey player skating into the forefront.

“Thousands of people have seen it and really like it,” Kolodziej said, “It will be a staple for the company.”

Instead of heading to college to play hockey, Dustin chose to enroll in the University of Toledo’s Chemical Engineering program and finished his freshman year with a 3.27 grade point average.

“I was having major withdraw from the hockey rink,” Hardesty says, “so I was excited when I picked him up the last day of school, he told me he’s considering joining the club hockey team.”

With his son in college, Hardesty has traded the hockey rink for the horse arena. He has picked up seven of his own shows and continues to support Jeff at the major events.

“There are five or six of us (well-known photographers) who work hand-in-hand with one another,” he explains, “we each have our niche and help each other when we can.”

Clients are thrilled he’s back shooting photography full-time. “He is a pleasure to work with in every way,” said Pat Comerford. Through her role at Penn State University, Comerford oversaw the Pennsylvania State 4-H Championship until her recent retirement, and coordinated Hardesty’s role as the official photographer.

For the past nine years, Hardesty has gone out of his way to photograph the annual show held every October.

“He goes so far as to leave the (All-American Quarter Horse) Congress a few days early and drives straight through from Columbus, Ohio to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to do the show,” Comerford says.

Hardesty’s, patience and interest in supporting youth distinguishes him from other professionals. He understands horses and what needs to be done to get a good shot.

“One thing I’ve admired about Eric is his willingness to think outside the box and his willingness to help young people,” she says. “He’s very generous in his agreement with us and it’s because it’s a youth show.”