Reference Photos

One thing I have noticed with my pintos is that I have been in a homozygous phase....in other words the patterns were starting to look too much alike. So I went on line and found a picture of a pintabian with a neat and different pattern. I can't wait to show this little mare this weekend!

This colt is 31/32 arabian, and is a bay pinto, but I really liked the neat front leg marking and balance of white front to back. I made the two disjointed spots on the barrel a little bigger just to add a bit more flash.

Would anyone be interested in a haired weather girl???? I really want to do one....any takers?

If only all the countries of the world could come up with a peace accord like Pixel and A, can you imagine what a world it would be?

Happy Easter!

I am still determine to have all orders done by the end of May, and its looking good! This request was for a super snotty snorty liberty arab. I just love weather girls! With this one I have to do a whole new neck with a metal armature for the mane and tail.


Easter is suppose to be about sharing love with family and friends, I don't think Pixel loves sharing her pink princess bed with A......

This was the inspiration for the remake, but she wanted her head and nose up a bit more for an ultra snotty look.

This should be a fun liberty class and showmanship entrant! She hasn't been sanded much yet, and her pegs are covered, but she is coming along!

Four Day Week!

As a teacher, I live for four day weeks! Tomorrow is "Friday" and I am looking forward to three works days in the studio. Granted Easter Day I won't get a lot of time, but it makes the end of the school year go that much faster. This is the next project I am clicking off my trade list. Christina Brown from England made me an incredible set of competition harnesses I will feature soon, and this is my end of the trade. "Mistral Hojris", a Danish warmblood gelding, is her favorite British dressage champion. She wanted a PS side passing warmblood as a portrait of this great horse. One thing I have learned about portraits, the head is everything. In this case, the real horse is always braided in traditional European "button" braids. He would look silly with smaller, American style braids. I went on line and got as many performance pictures of him as possible.


I turned the models ears, squared up the muzzle with new nostrils, added to the forehead and this is where he is at. To get his glowing chestnut coat right he will be finished off with oil pastel powder over an acrylic basecoat.

And these two got mailed off today! That list is getting smaller and smaller!

This little appy looks just like Dee Dee if you want to pet her while she is eating...its "Oh who do you think you are??????"

Karma

Remember the crazy moose stories from NAN 2009? It all started with Shannon and I getting bored, some pink foam board, and some duct tape borrowed from the Canadians (yes, they all really do have duct tape at all times!). That is where I met Lisa Salamandick for the first time. I did last year's NAN donation in her honor (see past blogs) but never shared the wonderful Pink Moose Live picture I was given. Thats Lisa in the middle holding those same pink foam antlers...hard to believe she lost her battle with cancer shortly after this picture was taken. I recieved the nicest email from one of her friends telling me how much the whole thing meant to her. Now I am not a preaching type, but I truly believe in karma. Give from the heart, love your friends and family, and good things will come to you regardless of what church you do or do not attend. This belief was again proven to me. Lisa's friend sent me these two presentation sets. They were amongst the last things Lisa ever made....I am crying just typing this

They are not both mine to keep. I never could have put "The Journey" together if it hadn't been for my BFF Kathy Wiggins. She gets first choice, I am tickled with either one. This type of moments makes me realize how lucky I am to have my friends and family. My family has taken a terrible hit this year with my parents divorce (after 30+) years and the fallout from that, but just when I am feeling frustrated with all that a wonderful moment like this comes.

My goal for this next month is to spoil friends, these next two pieces are getting mailed out to good friends this week. I want to finish all my little friend trades and continues with good vibes.

So give someone a hug today, it makes everyone feel better!

Show Report

Yesterday I went to my good friend Brenda Metcalf's show, IL-IA live. Its held in the upper northwest corner of Illinois, which is really a beautiful place. The flash on my camera was dead, so these are all studio pictures taken later, but if you ever get the chance to go to Debuque Illinois you won't be dissapointed. I took this chance to not only go over results, but to show off my Buxton pink beauties! The first is Anateke showing of the stock halter. This halter was really made for smaller models, but I squeezed it on his head. This guy took overall workmanship champ at the show. This was a big honor for me, not only because this special piece was created by me and the uber talented and uber friend D'Arry Jone Frank, but because with all the incredible Carol Williams pieces there, you couldn't ask for stiffer competition. The next is the cool stable halter shown off by Freedom Generator. He was reserve custom champion at the show. He did beat his wife, Lady Liberty, bad wife beater (had to put that in there to give Linda a hard time...giggle)! But just wait till you see baby!!!! She will be at the Breyer show and then eventually I suppose Linda gets to keep her with momma...gotta be careful Linda does know where I live!

This was another treat. Leonardo Lena didn't win the paint class, he got second, but will all the Carol Williams amazing paint pieces in there I was happy! Halter competition is at the highest level in the midwest, and I am grateful for that since it really pushes me to always strive for improvement on my work. Carol is an incredible talent, I could only hope for a fraction of that ability.

This halter is a bit big for dainty Gizette, but she is so cute. I have been performance showing her for slacker Jen so she can compete in a bunch at NAN this year......oh on, better not tease a tack goddess she might cut me off!

The new arabian customs both won their classes so they are NAN qualified for this year. I won't break up the set before Breyerfest, and frankly, I don't want to part with them at all! I will honor the $1200 price for the set now, and plan to sell them individually at the Artisian Hall at Breyerfest, but I really don't want to see them go!

I need to show this gal in showmanship, doesn't she look awesome in her Buxton halter???!!!

Okay I should have taken her show tag off.....whoops

Feeding the Addiction

Its no secret I have a serious tack addition problem. Well not just tack, I love props, especially vehicles, too (oh and dolls!). The mare and foal set will be the last sales pieces I have for a month or so. My goal for the next month is to finish some cool pieces for my tack pushers that keep my addiction fed. This first one is a PS weanling redone to a paint filly for my BFF Kathy Wiggins. I am fortunate enough to worship three tack goddesses, Kathy, Shannon (even with that whole potato nonsense) and Jen Buxton. To be fair, Kathy insisted on buying this one when we were paying for the bathroom fixtures for the addition. She still needs eyeballs and little details but she will be going to the show this weekend. If you remember the head down matriarch from a while back, this is her baby. Daddy will be a rose reiner done in a similar overo to the baby. Wait till you see the wagon Kathy feed the addiction with to get daddy done! I can't say enough how lucky I am to have not only great trade deals with these wonderful tack artists, but to have also forged wonderful friendships with them all. I am truly lucky!

Kathy also spoils me with the most awesome surprises. I really do love rocks, and she has given me the coolest collection of rock skulls. The dragon one is my favorite.

And people have asked for the mare and foal from the other direction. Just a few more layers of paint and these guys can get their final details before the show this weekend.

I also have a few trade deals I want to settle up on and the weather girl customs, so the next sales bunch won't be for a while. I will post pictures of the different projects I am doing for these deals, and don't miss out on Jemez Kohl's makeover!

Remaking Progress

I had wanted to post last night, but thanks to a whopper of a lightning storm we wisely unplugged everything last night. No worse for the wear, here are the progress photos on the mare and foal set. The mare is a flashy super dappled liver chestnut, so she can be a purebred. But she fooled around with someone outside the breed and her colt is a elaborate tobiano. The mare is on pegs which are covered in tape still and the foal is mounted on a small base. Still a lot of work to go but you can get the idea of how they will turn out. The set is available for $1200ppd for the pair. For now I am not going to split them up, if they don't sell I may at a later date

When I do a performance horse, I always go from photos. Here is one of the photos I used to model the performance arabian. This real horse is turning a bit and the model is straight, so the legs are a bit different but the idea and phase of the gait is the same.

She is also on pegs which are tape covered for now. I made the model's headset a tad higher than the show ring extreme broken neck set you see, I just can't bring myself to set a model's head that low, and I did want this little mare to go junior huntset and endurance as well.

I got the best April Fool's joke. I have said many times of what a rip off it is that all the Idaho Potatoes are grown in Washington....so Shannon actually sent me a bag of real Idaho potatoes for April Fool's, and here when I got the heavy box I thought it was some rocks! No really, I love to bring rocks home from places I visit! Until I got this box, the guy with the hat was the only Idaho potato I had seen!