Random Friday Pictures

Bet you didn't know Mr. G3 Friesian was a rolling custom!! Not really; I just had to flip him upside down so his hooves would dry. I've discovered that I have more control over detail when I paint hooves in oil rather than acrylic. Takes a bit longer, but the results are better.

Also, I don't think I've posted my reference picture for this guy. Here's a photo of the January image in the Horse Feathers calendar hanging on my wall.
I've debated doing a semi-portrait a month of each horse in the calendar, but while there are a few very cool horses there are quite a few black and white pintos, which would get boring after awhile. Calendars are a great source for inspiration and reference pictures and if you wait until after the first of the year to buy them you can get great deals, usually at least 50% off!

And finally, here's my attempt at a deco:
I'm experimenting with basecoats. I liked the result of my Dashing Through the Snow medallion so much (who was basecoated in copper) that I want to try other colors with this technique. This cute little girl will (if everything goes right) be a flaxen chestnut when she's finished. On a side note, the photo kind of looks like a Testors Dullcote ad.

A LOVEly update!

I always thought (and planned) that my last semester as an undergraduate would be a simple affair, filled with easy core classes and relaxation before starting graduate school in the fall. Ha! Yeah right.

In all truth, it would be an easy semester were it not for one very important detail. I'm going to spend most of March in the Andes of Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile! That's right, I will fly down sometime in early March to climb around on a bunch of volcanoes with the grad student I'm assisting and collect rock samples, map the volcanoes, and possibly do a bit of sightseeing on our down days. I'm incredibly excited about this trip, but I do have quite a bit to do before I leave.

That said, I have spent quite a bit of time in the studio these past two weeks. I've acquired quite a few Maureen Love classic bodies (many of them PIFed to me from a fellow Blabber!) and I've been happily sanding away at these pretties. I absolutely LOVE the Maureen Love sculpts. They have such incredible personality, detail, and accuracy that I think today's models lack. These three are almost ready for their first coat of primer.


And then there's this little guy. He's based on the January photo in one of my calendars of a gorgeous buckskin tobiano gypsy mare. I had originally intended for him to be a dark bay, but upon seeing the buckskin beauty for January I knew that color would be perfect for my little G3 Friesian body. The non-stick tape on his tail and leg is to keep him from toppling; these little buggers tip too easily!


I have a few others in progress, but I'm a bit too busy to get them out to photograph them tonight. Most of them are simply sitting around in primer waiting for me to finally pick them up and paint them! I've actually been having a very pleasant time prepping lately (it's nice to just listen to an audiobook and sand sometimes!) and the result is an abundance of pieces ready for when the muse strikes.

Finals Week Update

Finals week is supposed to be the worst week of the semester. So why have I had time to paint a medallion, go see "The Princess and the Frog," clean my apartment, and check Blab obsessively for pictures of 2010 Breyer releases? Because I only have two finals! One is a pretty easy take-home final due Thursday. The other is my Spanish final, which I could fail and still get an A in the class. Oh the joys of being a senior!!

The past few weeks have been pretty busy for me, though. I had several projects due for classes. I did spend quite a bit of time in the studio working on a stablemate CM for my Blab Secret Santa. Here is the finished piece, a portrait of my SS's TWH gelding.




Here's my favorite item that I got from my SS, Shannon Tostanoski. It's Morgen Kilbourn's gorgeous Echo medallion! I have to wait until after Christmas break to paint him, but unless I come up with a different idea, he's going to be a bay that is graying out.

I think I'm becoming a medallion addict because I also added this guy to my growing collection. This is Stacey Tumlinson's Dashing Through the Snow medallion/ornament. Basically, he's a mini Majestuoso in medallion form.
He is being transformed into a very coppery chestnut with a blue base. Here he is almost complete. I need to touch up the base and finish his eyes, but other than that I think he's done!

And here's my growing medallion collection: Cara Barker Yellott's New Orleans Mule, Echo, and Dashing Through the Snow. I really shouldn't buy anymore because I have enough projects right now, but they're so much fun to collect, they're cheap, and they're fairly easy to paint.
After this week, all studio work will come to a screeching halt because I'm going home for break. I'm so ready for a vacation! I can't wait to ride my own horses!

Random pretty pictures

I have midterms this week so all studio activity has come to a near standstill. I did sculpt a new mane for Wixom that I'm actually happy with, but I need to buy some more armature wire before I do her tail.

I've been taking a draft horse driving class through my school's horseman's club and I got some pretty cool pictures last week while driving and after we finished.
Sorry the pictures are so big, but I'm sick of fighting with Picasa web albums. You would think that you would be able to put a small image into the blog and click on it to see the larger image through web albums, but so far I've only been able to do that by uploading directly from my computer. Very annoying.

These are a few of my favorite things

My absolute favorite part about customizing is the annihilation stage where I take nice, innocent bodies (like Bluegrass Bandit and the classic warmblood mare) and cut them to pieces! MUAHAHAHAHA!!!

Seriously, it's a ton of fun. In the above picture, you can see most of the tools that I use to reposition a model. My dremel with a cutting tool is very useful, although before I had a dremel I did everything with the small hacksaw, which works equally well (though is a bit more messy). The WD 40 is for the hacksaw and helps the blade to move more easily through the plastic. I use a dremel sanding tool to clean up messy edges and the small drill bits to drill air holes between the hind legs to prevent the model from bloating. To move the model into the position I want, I heat the plastic using an embossing gun (you can get these for about $20 at craft stores and they are worth every penny...candles and hot water just don't cut it!). Once the plastic is pliable, I pull on the limb (or whatever I'm moving) to move it into the correct position. The goggles and gloves are for protection.


Bandit (btw, this is NOT the Bandit that won a NAN card for me at the show last weekend!!!) is becoming a "better" walking horse. I really like the Bluegrass Bandit mold and it is one of the very few molds that I would like to conga. However, I do feel like the mold has some issues, especially in that it does not represent an ideal TWH. This custom is what I would look for in a TWH.

As you can see, I removed her mane, tail, and horrible forelock. I planted her right rear so that she is doing a proper running walk (remember, in a walk three feet should be on the ground at one time). Her rear end was too rectangular, so I cut off much of it and will give her rounded hindquarters. I also gave her some more front end action. Even flat shod horses have more action than Bandit displays. As a final touch, I lowered and tucked her head. Head set varies in walkers. I associate high headedness with sored horses, and flipping through TWH magazines, I can generally pick out those flat shod horses that have been sored by their unnaturally high action in their forelegs and a high head. My real horses, who have done it all from showing (successfully), versatility, endurance, and trail, all have relatively low head sets like this girl. I think the low headset on this Bandit CM represents a more versatile horse. She's obviously working, she's focused, and her head isn't in the clouds. She could just as easily be on a quiet trail ride as showing English in a rail class. I have some more repositioning work to do with her (the left shoulder is too far forward), but I'm very excited to get her finished!!


This next gal is also going to be a walking horse!! I envision this girl as doing a slower flat walk (the Bandit CM is doing a running walk, IMO). I need to sculpt an entirely new neck, but I want to do some CM work on her face before I chop off her head.

I also regret to inform you that I stripped my Wixom CM because her original oil coat was too gloppy and was causing issues with later coats. Since the show last weekend, I've also decided that all my CMs should be performance friendly, and poor Wixom's mane was in the way of a saddle!! She's since been stripped of her mane and tail and will someday sport a new, tack-friendly mane and long tail!

And finally, here's an update on Wintersong. This is the reference photo I'm using (from an old issue of Horse Illustrated Magazine):

Here's what he looked like a few days ago:
And here's what he looks like today:
I've been using black pastels to set his reverse dapples into his coat, and I think it works pretty well! I think I'll darken his dappled areas a bit more, but I've been busy working on the rest of him. He's a very dark brown/black with lots of red and blue highlights. This guy has a very autumn feel to him and I'm very happy with how he's coming. I've been trying to think of some performance set ups I could use him in, but I think I'll have to get more creative because he's kind of misbehaving!

Back from my first show...with a NAN card!!!

I attended Missoula 5 Valley Model Horse Show yesterday and had a wonderful time! I am so hooked on showing now that it isn't even funny. There were so many fantastic horses to drool over and I fell in love with performance. I have so many ideas now that my head is about to explode. Oh to have more money to bring my ideas to fruition!!


I only brought one model...my OF Bluegrass Bandit who I ordered hand picked from H&H. She was in a class against three other BBs and two Blue Velvets and took 1st! I was thrilled! I really wanted to bring some of my CMs, but as I worked on them last week, I realized I would be sacrificing quality if I tried to finish them before the show. I decided it would be better to observe at this show to see how I can improve my CMs.


I must admit, I would not have been ashamed to put any of my CMs on the table. I don't think I would have done spectacular, but I think my models (or at least my paint jobs) would have been competitive. There are many areas where I can improve, but I am very happy that my models don't suck! I did see some models with truly incredible paint jobs, and I now know what level of quality to strive for.


This show also helped me to better understand sculpture quality. I saw many big-name resins for the first time...Stormwatch, Independence, Lonestar, Indian Silver, several Eberls, El Embosco, plus a few others. They were all beyond my wildest expectations. I actually think Lonestar is my new favorite resin. I was never wild about him until I saw him in person. He's so versatile!



And finally, I must mention the other showers. I have never met a kinder, more helpful group of people! It was a small show, so everyone knew that I was new to this and were eager to help me. I had judges giving me tips and explaining what they were looking for and why they pinned classes the way they did. I got to examine some really cool models and tack close up. I talked to other artists about their painting methods (no other oil artists there, but I spoke with people who airbrush and pastel). Everyone took care of me and guided me along. It was great.


I am sold on live showing. Unfortunately, most shows near me are at least six hours away. In the winter and spring, they are almost impossible for me to get to thanks to the snow. I might proxy show some models when I finish them, but I really want to show them myself! Hopefully I will move to some area of the country next year when I go to graduate school where I can attend a few shows a year.

Basecoats

I had a very busy day today, resulting in some very oddly colored horses! I put acrylic basecoats on 2 1/2 horses (I got kind of cross-eyed on Flash's spots so I stopped) and I'll start with oils on my Wintersong CM tomorrow. I would really like to have him done by next weekend to take to my first show, but I don't want to rush him. Ideally, I would absolutely love to have both him and my Nokota CM finished, along with the two red duns to take to the show (have to finish white markings on both of them), but that's hoping for a lot. Anyway, these guys all look kind of funny in their basecoats and I can't wait to get some oil on them and make them look pretty! I'm still working on Wixom (her pangare areas take a very long time to dry) but she's looking good. I also have a Hazel resin on the way! She should arrive this week. I've wanted a Hazel for a VERY long time and have always envisioned her as a blonde, dappled, Belgian draft cross (pretty much the same color as Wixom). I think it will be awhile before I paint Hazel as I want to be much more comfortable with my painting abilities before I attempt something so expensive. For now, I think I'll stick with my own CMs on Breyer bodies.