So relaxing...

I've hit a level with my painting where it has finally become a way for me to relax. I used to find painting somewhat stressful because I was so focused on nailing a particular color or finishing a piece quickly according to some formula. Now, I'm taking my time with each piece and seeing where they take me. My goal is to improve with each piece (which I am definitely achieving). I'm working on my first palomino right now. I don't expect him to be perfect; I expect him to be as good as my abilities at the moment can make him. The important thing is that painting is much less stressful than grad school, so if I can sit down for a couple hours a few nights a week, paint a plastic pony, and forget about all my other work just for a little while that's a good thing.

Speaking of my first palomino:

I'm pretty happy with him. He's still in kind of a streaky phase, but I'll work through that in a couple layers. I learned that with lighter base coats I really need to add a blending medium to make them smoother. I originally wanted him to be a pinto, but right now I really like him solid.

Silky Sullivan is almost done. I just need to do details and a few touch-ups.

Last weekend I prepped all my unpainted medallions.

My current plans are (from left to right) a mealy bay for the mule, a lighter silver buckskin for Serendipity (I have a really good reference photo for him), a medium dapple gray for Bravo, a buckskin going gray for Blue, and possibly a bay going gray for Echo, though I'm not sure yet. I'm hoping to start on Serendipity and Blue this weekend. I'm waiting for some new paint and brushes which will hopefully be here Saturday.

New Studio!

I finally got a chance to set up my new studio this weekend! I've lived in Oregon for over 4 months now and I really haven't spent more than 10 days at a time at home. Last week, however, was my last trip for the foreseeable future so as soon as I got off the plane in Portland I made a beeline for Ikea where I bought some new lighting and a shelf and hurried home to set up this nice little work corner:
You'll recognize the desk and my awesome magnetic board from my studio on Montana. The lights are all new, and I'm hoping to pick up a magnifying light too if I can find a good deal. You'll notice on the shelf that I have a nice little herd. The two traditional Breyers are from the JC Penney stock horse set. I bought it for the Smart Chic Olena body, but I must say he isn't quite body quality. He's the nicest Breyer I've seen in a while! He'll probably last awhile in his OF form, but I do really want to CM one of these. The mold's head carriage really bothers me and I'm thinking of lowering and tucking his head to make him a backing horse. Also on the shelf are two new resins: Sanskrit and Fly by Wire from Mel Miller. These are rough second quality castings that I bought during Mel's recent sale. I'm pleasantly surprised by how gorgeous both of these horses are! It'll probably take me forever to get them prepped (I loathe prepping) but once I do I'm imagining them both in fun pinto colors!

The fifth horse you see on the shelf is one I started almost a year ago. He got put to the side when I moved. I had to paint once I had my desk set up so I whipped him out and got started on his second layer of oils.
He's very red! I honestly can't decide if I like him or not. He's almost too contrasty for my taste, although he does look pretty darn close to my reference photo. I still have at least one more layer to go on him and he'll probably end up a bit darker, especially around the face. The metallic paints I use in my mixes really pop in this color and positively glows! We'll see how he looks after the next session (which hopefully shouldn't be too long from now).

I mentioned a few horses that I finished in my previous post, so I thought I'd post pictures of a few. First up is the red dun paint I started a long time ago. She's a portrait of Scribbles, my favorite horse I rode in Montana. I'm very proud of her blue eye!

Next up is the G3 Friesian I started a long time ago.

I don't know that I've ever mentioned this last guy in this blog. I painted him with the leftover mixes from my Dashing Through the Snow medallion. He's a simple color but he's one of my favorites! I've inadvertently fallen in love with the G3 rearing Andalusian!

And last off is a picture of all my horses who are fit for display (aka not chopped up). There are far too many unpainted horses on this shelf, namely Hazel and Xtara! My goal is to finish both of them by the end of the year. You'll also notice quite a few SMs. I'm having lots of fun coming up with ideas for them! One thing I'm never short of is ideas. I am very short on time!

Happy New Year!

Sorry for the long silence. I haven't forgotten about this blog, but I just haven't had any time to work on anything. Since my last post, I've been to Bolivia and back to work on a volcano, graduated from undergraduate, started and finished an awesome internship at the Cascade Volcano Observatory, started grad school at Oregon State, and spent 7 weeks again in Bolivia and Argentina working on different volcanoes. Whew!! It's been busy! You can read about my academic life at my other blog: http://volcanoadventures.wordpress.com/

I did have a chance to work on some things early in the summer. I finished my red dun classic quarter horse mare, the red dun Seabiscuit, the G3 Friesian, and the Wintersong CM. I went to a show early in the summer in Oregon and did fairly well with them, especially since I was competing against resins. I didn't win any NAN cards, but several of my CMs were the highest placing CMs in the class behind resins. I haven't had time to take completed pictures of any of them except for the Seabiscuit.


I started a few other projects too. The first is a Native Dancer G1 SM to an akhal-teke. He's actually almost done now. I just need to clean up his black points and do detail work.


I bought some of the G4 SMs and I love them!!! Some of them do have the wonky SM features suck as thick legs and large hooves, but I feel that these models are easily customizable, especially if you want to make them into stockier breeds. I'm turning the paradressage horse into a Cleveland Bay. He needs a tiny bit more resculpting and then he's ready for primer.


The new vaulting horse will be a pregnant mare with lots of windblown hair. I've already added her belly and I still need to sculpt feathers on 3 of her feet.


I don't intend to stop painting and customizing in grad school. I have a wonderful new house with an awesome sun room that I plan to turn into a studio. I've ordered some cool new horses, including an Esprit, Valentine and Heartbreak, two Morgen Kilbourn medallions, a couple of Stone pebbles, and a Wee Wyakin. They are all waiting patiently to be painted! I've been itching to pick up a paint brush for the past few months, but I've simply been far too busy to. My New Year's resolution, though, is to get back in the studio. Let's face it...I'll have to if I want to keep my sanity! Grad school can burn you out quickly and everyone I've spoken with has told me to keep a hobby to turn to when I can't think about school any longer. School takes priority, of course, but I hope to be much more proficient next year than I was in 2010!

Draft Horse Driving: Cultivating, Log Skid, and Fun Class

Cultivating was the next event in the competition. I had never seen anyone drive a cultivator before yesterday, so this was entirely new for me. The pattern is set up in a U-shape. Along each arm of the U are even rows of 50 water bottles. A team enters through a set of two cones and heads down the left arm of the U. The horses and the cultivator straddle the water bottles, the goal being to knock down as few as possible. After the first row, the team turns and realigns with the second row of water bottles. Again, the team and cultivator straddle the water bottles and try not to knock any over. The event is timed, with time used as a time-breaker.

This team of mules did a nice job in the cultivating class. Here, they enter the pattern and the time begins.

Down the first row of water bottles


Big U-turn and realign with the second row.

Down the second row.

Out the gate and time stops.

After cultivating was the log skid. In this event, a team pulls a set of two 16' logs through a weave cone course. The cones are set 16' apart. The course measures 35'x81', with the first cone set 8' from the starting gate. This leaves only 25' to turn the log at the last cone to weave back through the slalom.

My instructor and her team made an excellent run. First, she crossed the line to start the course (and time) and negotiated the first cone.

Second cone.

Although the team in this picture is past the third cone, once they make the turn they will both miss the third cone and keep the logs clear of the second cone. Once half the length of the log is past the cone, the log should clear the cone.

Around the third cone and towards the fourth.

The team must make a complete circle around the fourth cone. Although they have 25' to do this, it's very tight.

Back around the third cone towards the second.

See the red marks on the log? As a final challenge, the team must stop the logs so that the red strip on the end rests on the chalk start/finish line. This requires a big stop...

...and done! Perfect!

The final event was the fun class. Since it was Valentine's Day, each team drove a heart-shaped pattern. The event was timed, with penalties for knocking gates or cones, just like in obstacle. This pair of Percherons did a wonderful job at this. These boys were only 2 1/2 years old! They've only been a team for the past 6 months. Despite their inexperience, they did very well in all of the events. Both horses were very focused and alert. A few of the gates and other obstacles caught their attention and both would stare hard, but despite this they never took a bad step!

Here, the young boys enter through a gate and pass to the left of a cone.

Heading for the next set of gates. Each set is numbered and the course is completed in numerical order.

The "V" of the heart is a tight circle around a cone. The chalk circle is 4' in diameter and the right rear wheel is supposed to stay within the circle for at least 3/4ths of the turn.

Around towards the far gate.

Through the second to last gate.

Look how alert and focused these guys are! With training, they'll be a very nice team.

Again passing to the left of a cone and through the finish gate!

Draft Horse Driving: Obstacle Class

Instead of spending my Valentine’s Day with my (nonexistent) valentine, I went to Bozeman’s Winterfest and drove/watched the Working Horse and Driver Contest. I competed as a team from my school, Montana State. We had two teams of three driving the school’s Belgian/halflinger mares Brandy and Star. There were four events so each of us drove one event and one person drove a second.

I wish I was a performance shower after watching some of the competitions! I have so many cool harness ideas now! The three main events at the contest were obstacle, log skid, and cultivating. In addition, they had a fun class in honor of Valentine’s Day where you drove a heart-shaped pattern.

I drove the obstacle class with Brandy and Star and did pretty well (I placed fourth)! It was a very narrow course filled with tight turns. The goal was to complete the course with as few faults as possible. Completion time was used as a tie breaker.

We entered through a “gate,” which was a set of two pylons a foot wider than our wagon. Then, we wove through a pattern of three cones. A circle 3ft. in diameter was drawn around each cone. Your wheels had to cut through that circle, meaning that you had to be very careful to stay as close to the cones as possible without knocking them over. Also, the distance between the cones was slightly less than the length of a team, so you had to turn your team to avoid the next cone while navigating the first cone. Here, me (in the hat) and my team steer around a cone.

Next, we had to pick up and deliver the mail!! First, we stopped at the mailbox on the right to pick up our mail. Then, we dropped it off at a second mailbox about ten feet farther on the left to deliver it. In this picture, our instructor drops off her mail in the second mailbox driving a borrowed team of gray percherons.

After the mailboxes, we made a sharp turn and entered a keyhole. The keyhole is set up with a narrow gate (again, 1ft. wider than our wagon) and a large box marked by string with a cone in the middle. We had to enter through the gate, go to the left of the cone, turn the team within the box, and exit through the gate. This part knocked me down in the placings. My left horse, Brandy, stepped out of the box.

Through the gate.

Watch that cone!!

Get ready to turn. I learned today that if you stand up in the wagon, you can see so much better! Also, in this picture I’m trying to use as much of the box as I possibly can to avoid hitting the cone in the middle.

Brandy!!!! This is what got me. You can see in this picture that her right foot is on the string. When she steps down with her left foot she’ll be out of the box. It was my fault; I was sloppy.

Around the cone (still standing up)…

…and out the gate!!

The next element was the most difficult part of the course. After exiting the gate for the keyhole, we had to hang a sharp right and enter a backing area along the wall. Because of the sharp turn and the presence of the wall, it was incredibly difficult to straighten the teams out and back them. Also, short wagons are very difficult to maneuver. It took me a bit, but I finally got my wagon straight and backed straight to the set of poles that my back wheels had to rest against.

Straightening the team.

No one got a picture of me against the poles, so here’s my instructor and her team executing the obstacle perfectly.

From the dock we went straight forward and made a sharp L-turn. Here’s my instructor again with her beautiful gray team, Blue and Belle.

The final obstacle before the exit was one that I had never seen until last weekend during a practice run (and didn’t fully understand until today). It’s called a manhole and consists simply of a round piece of plastic (like a Frisbee) on the ground. To properly perform this maneuver, you drive your wagon within a foot of the manhole. Once your front wheels are past it, you cut a sharp left (when the manhole is on your left) to swing your wagon so that the manhole passes between the front left and rear left wheels. While still turning sharply, you move forward so that the back wheels straddle the manhole. After that, you’re clear!

I situate myself alongside the manhole.

Turn! Turn! Turn! You can just see the manhole behind my left wheel.

This bay team (Belgian/percheron crosses) did a nice job over the manhole. I colored the manhole in red so you can see where it is in relation to the wheels. Here it is between the front and rear left wheels.

The left wheels have cleared the manhole. The back wheels are on course to straddle it.

Having straddled the manhole, the back wheels now clear it. Done!

Finally, we exit the ring. After all of those complex obstacles, you would think an exit would be simple. However, there one more obstacle to get through. As a final test of your control of the team, you must stop your team on a chalk line, making sure that your left front wheel (if you are coming in crooked) stops in the line. Like this!

That's it for the obstacle class. I have plenty of other pictures from cultivating, log skid, and the fun class that I'll post either later tonight or tomorrow. I have larger versions of all of these photos. If you would like to use any of my pictures as references for performance classes, just leave a comment or contact me through Blab and I can hook you up!