SM Paso

I've made my first pass over the model now with colored pencil. It looks really stark in the photos, but in person it looks better. At any rate, there will be a lot more layers to go.

SM Paso

Now I've just sprayed a light layer of white with the airbrush just to get me started, so it won't feel so stark to me when I start roaning with the colored pencil.

SM Paso

I've added darker shading now to make him a black color. I've decided I don't like Com Art airbrush paints, they are so delicate! Just the slightest touch mars the surface if it's not sealed. I love that they're so thin in consistency, but their fragility just isn't worth it to me, I spend more time fixing things than anything else. I much prefer Golden and Chroma colors, they're more durable, though they need to be thinned. I guess with airbrush paints it's "pick your poison!"

SM Paso

I've been spending all of my time working on this commission. He's going to be a blue roan. Here I've simply airbrushed a base color with a little shading.

Shire

I have just started mapping in the white markings now in acrylics. This will be toned down a lot to fit in with the color of the horse, and I will probably do a couple of top layers in oils to shade it.

A Very Early Custom

My husband found this in a box in the basement a few weeks ago. This model was probably the last custom I painted before I gave up the hobby for several years. I was 14 years old when I painted it in 1980, and it represents the pinnacle of my painting abilities at the time LOL! I think it was around this year that I went to the Midwest Congress in Illinois. My mother drove me there, and I was just a spectator, but I was so blown away by the quality of everybody else's work, and so intimidated by how good everyone was, that I basically hung up my paintbrushes and gave up. Sad, but true. I think I was too young and didn't have anybody to encourage me to continue at that time (in fact, I had a lot of peer pressure to give up my "toy horses"), and I was overcome with embarrassment at how bad I was.

I remember that Kathy Maestas was at this show, as well as Julie Froelich, two of my idols at the time. Froelich had a silent auction going of a Saddlebred weanling that she had haired so beautifully, I was horrified at that time that the bid had gotten to $60! I wished I could bid on it, but being 14 years old I didn't have that kind of money.

Back to this custom I painted; I signed it BLC, which stood for "Bar Lazy C", the name of my model horse ranch. I'm so glad that I kept it and that my husband found it in such good condition. I really regret that I gave this hobby up for so long and let myself be intimidated into thinking I couldn't be good enough. I feel like I have to make up for lost time now!

SM Andalusian

It's starting to soften up a little bit now. Dapple grays take me forever to paint!