Studio Planning

Sometimes my full time job & part time job take time away from my art. This has been the case these past couple weeks (and I caught a cold-bleh!). Even though I wasn’t able to paint as much these past couple weeks, there has been lots of planning.

October is Inktober. Thanks to my DeviantArt watchers, I am participating, but with my own theme: Monster Mash. Two randomly generated animals will be combined to create an all new creature. So every ten days I will share them here for everyone to view.

I do intend to continue working on the Stablemates & minis for the Oct. mini show as well as acrylic paintings (maybe even some watercolor paintings as I’ve been wanting to do those again too).

Enjoy a couple horse pictures of the lesson horses from my part-time job as a riding instructor.

Till the next time!

Mini Madness

While October 26th is still far away, I still find myself focusing on Little Bit/Paddock Pal scale models and smaller. Predominantly those micro minis!

Micro minis, while small, and some might assume easier to paint, present their own challenges with their small size. While they do take less time to paint based on their smaller surface area, tiny, intricate details are not as easy to achieve as there are few brushes or tools that are small enough to be effective on their scale. Few to single haired brushes are the ideal, I sometimes use a tooth pick or a fine tipped shaping tool sometimes too for tiny details.

Probably most surprising, that while I mentioned single haired brushes...I don't own one. Hence my reliance on toothpick tips or shaping tool tips for details like eyes & spots. For the overall blending of the body I use the small brushes/few haired brushes. To refine details like body, leg and facial markings, I use colored pencils that are sharpened to fine points so that the pencil marks are not overly thick.

For the next several weeks, you'll be seeing a lot of teeny, tiny horses on this blog. Here are the ones that were finished this past week. Both are micro mini pewters sculpted by the talented Maggie Bennett.

Till the next time!

Weekend Works

Whew! It's been a rough past two weeks between the weather (all this rain-blah!) and then my left eye having a pain in it that made it impossible to paint (it's better now).

This weekend has been a weekend of painting, and I'm so happy to be back at it! After these last couple weeks of rain, I know that I need to invest in a lamp so that I have better lighting in my studio space rather than relying on natural lighting. Next paycheck I can hopefully do that (also hoping to add a heat gun for more customizing shenanigans!)

In original finish-dom, my friend was kind enough to feel up a bunch of blind bags and snag me not only the blue Alby-corn, but also the chase piece from the Spirit Blind Bags-the war paint Spirit! I'm super excited! On top of that, Wal-Mart had the new unicorn bags in, finally, and I got the red Alby-corn as well as the teal Clyde for my congas. My mini Alborozo conga is nearly complete only needing Sarge and the silver charm chase piece from those blind bags. I also recently purchased California Chrome (darn you Breyer for retiring him-do you know how hard your race horses are to find after they retire?!) as well as the CollectA donkey foal and the adorable silver dapple Shetland. I will need to order another one to customize as it's just too adorable to not be in other colors.

Then there's the resin I purchased at the end of August: a raw casting of Bourbon by Seunta. It's a raw casting and I am even more in love with it than I was when I first saw it on their website a year or two ago. Super happy to have it in my collection now. It just needs paint. Still debating if I want to attempt the Appaloosa pattern I have in mind, or send it to another artist to paint. We'll see what the future holds!

But back on topic/what you're here for--customs! Here are the ones that were finished two weeks ago, but never got their glamour shots:

(Fun decorator reminiscent of veined ore)

(Mummy horse for Spooky Swap)

And then here are the recently completed pieces including my NaReViMo model (who just needs the mohair at this point and white touch-ups on its stockings-same with the little bay):

(Buckskin Akhal-Teke)

(Little bay inspired by the Thoroughbred-Golden Lad)

(Buckskin Peruvian Paso with Bend Or Spots)

(Isabella Palomino for a friend-will be haired at the same time as my NaReViMo horse)

(NaReViMo horse-so close to being finished!)

That's all for this post. Till the next time!

Studio/Stable Mascots

Within the model horse hobby, some studios/stables have mascots...I'm one of those studios.

Originally, my studio mascot was Boggle-a Sherman Morgan who mind boggled me with his finish. He's a shiny bronze/copper-esque model who is SUPER heavy! I could use him in self defense-that's how heavy he is. I learned at a live show that he is most likely a custom from the resin Fashionably Late. The run was known for flaws and many were customized. This also explained the wire that was exposed in his leg when he had a tumble thanks to my Quality Control Manager-Renji.

With Boggle's mystery solved, I felt best leaving him at home. With the recent show, I wanted a new tag-a-long. Enter Rexy, my Schleich T-Rex. With a movable jaw that was more than capable of holding things, I figured this would be a fun addition to my table at live shows.

Today I finished the studio mascot I've been wanting. Hez Gotta Lil' Paint, or Paint, for short, will be my paint thickness tester, but only where his blanket hides it (much like the grey Arabian painted to black in Hidalgo). He's a fun addition to the table & will hopefully help to generate some conversation. Plus, he might be able to show in "other performance" at shows too.

It took some work to get Paint ready for painting though. His left cheek jutted out awkwardly, and once I'd sanded it down, I needed to build up his right cheek to match it. He's quite dashing now, and he's definitely one of my prouder moments in regards to the work that went into him.

Does anyone else have a studio/stable mascot? Do they stay the same? Or is it whatever you feel like bringing along for the day?  I'd love to hear about them!

Till the next time!

Race to the Show: Part II

In the end, I decided that I would not overly stress myself by trying to paint 16 models. I did, however, paint two. I finished the Breyer Classic Ginger to flaxen chestnut with chrome & a cremello Magnolia.

While I did not have many customs at Midwest Model Mania Live, I am not disappointed with the placings my models got.

In the Custom Divisions, I was pleasantly surprised when Shannon's Sunshine Superman, a mini that I made earlier in the year that she purchased from me, got 4th in the Warmblood division.

(Shannon's Sunshine Superman)

Then, in the Mustang division, Nifty, my 2018 NaMoPaiMo horse got 6th, while my black Schleich Mustang, dubbed Shadow Wind, received 4th.

My other models, in the Custom divisions didn't place, but I was more than pleased with what had placed.

Then my ultimate moment of the day came in Custom Workmanship Divisions. The all time high of the day came when Shadow Wind got 5th in the Black class. I was floored! The class was of a medium size and their were some prominent artists on the table. To receive 5th in such a competitive class was humbling, as well as gratifying. 

From there was the small Unrealistic Colors & Fantasy Workmanship classes, as I had the majority of horses in each, it wasn't as surprising or meaningful when my horse got 2nd in Unrealistic Colors, and I wasn't surprised with my dragon horse's 5th, as compared to my other two entries (by other artists) as well as the other three horses on the table, he was low on the totem pole. 

With Midwest Model Mania behind me, I can now focus on minis until the all-mini show in October. I will share progress pictures as the weeks go on! It's still a race to the show! 

Till the next time!

Race to the Show: Part One

In the model horse world, there are few thrills that can match up to a live show. Of course, for an artist, a live show equals an opportunity to showcase one's work while also seeing if said work is competitive in the show ring. As this is my first year, in some time, for both painting a multitude of models as well as live showing, I realized that I do not have a sufficient amount of work to showcase at the upcoming show I'm in: Midwest Model Mania Live.

While two weeks sounds like plenty of time to get models painted in, I have a deduction of days: specifically 8 of those 14 (and really we are down to 12 days as of today). For those 8 (well, now 7 as my full-time job ate into today) of Equine Kids Camp at my local Equestrian Center where I assist in instructing the children as they ride.

The last 4 days, are really only down to 3 as the last day is the Friday before the show and if anything is sealed that day I do not want to transport it. So three days to at least paint to finish and then seal models quickly after camps.

I have about 16 models that I would like to have ready for the next show. Do I think I can finish them in that time frame while retaining quality? Probably not. I'm not going to sacrifice my quality, but I will be striving to get them done in a timely manner. If I work throughout the three days (or even two of those three days) I should have at least 4-5 done if not more, as the majority of the chosen models are Stablemates. Plus, one is nearly completed already, while two others are partially done, but still need work.

This is going to be a fun race against time!

Till the next time!

NaMoReViMo Begins

August is now National Model (Horse) Retro Vintage Month! The event is hosted on FB (private group) by Sarah Minkiewicz-Breunig. It's a fun event honoring/commemorating the vintage custom model horses of yester-year. The rules for the event are simple-grab a model, paint it how you want, and have fun. Of course, due to it being vintage/retro themed, we have many different interpretations of this event.

In my opinion the best interpretation was from a vintage custom artist in the group: while they worked to have fun with their customs back in the day, they were striving for realism. The models weren't throwaways (though they could be considered experiments). As many hobbyists have seen, vintage customs were/are drop dead gorgeous and many were very life-like with epic paint jobs and real hair mane and tails. A lot of hard work went into them.

So I set some parameters for myself based on this general idea of "have fun, but strive for realism"

-No online reference photos
-Acrylics only
-Hair mane & tail
-Real horse color

I am striving to be as "vintage" as possible, hence no use of internet for a reference photo as they didn't have that back then, acrylics-as it was the predominant medium of the hobby at the time, hair mane & tail because they were a HUGE deal back in the day, and of course, a realistic horse color, just because.

Originally, I wanted to use a Misty's Twilight model as the body, unfortunately, I wasn't able to acquire one. With the help from a friend, I made my first alterations to a model. I changed Breyer's Trotting Warmblood Stablemate to more closely resemble Misty's Twilight.

From there Apoxie was added to the cuts and now she just needs a good sanding followed by primer. Then she's ready to paint. I selected a dapple grey as my color of choice off of the cover of one of my horse books.

Is anyone else participating in NaMoReViMo? What are you painting? Are you going to add a hair mane & tail? Flocking? Let me know!

Till the next time!