Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Mindy and Imp

Here are a couple of commissions that I finished recently. The first is Imp, sculpted by Sarah Minkiewicz-Breunig and painted by myself to a baby buckskin (this is the *cutest* resin, he's so tiny but has a ton of personality), and the second is a Mini Indy sculpted by Sarah Rose. I painted him to be an overo-sabino cross, with one blue eye. More pictures can be seen at my website.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Victrix

Here is the finished Victrix resin that I've been painting as a commission.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

PAS

I'm detailing and finishing up my commissions right now, and in between I've been spending a little time with my PAS project. Since I last posted a picture of him, I've dremelled half of him away ;-) His legs are much thinner now and I'm just trying to get a basic shape down right now. I've actually done more to him since this picture, I worked on his topline and filling out his belly a little bit.

You can feel free to make suggestions/critiques, I know there's not much to see yet but I can always use the help and extra sets of eyes. I plan on posting him to some of the boards and bringing him to an artist or two in person to look at after he's farther along. Of course, that could be several years from now at the rate I'm going with him :-0


Monday, December 8, 2008

Medallion Surgery

I measured some more, and I'm pretty sure that I had the eye too low, so I'm moving it. I also believe the eye is slightly large for the head. The cheek will need to come down, too. The ear was slightly big, also.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Victrix

I'm spending most of my time working on this Victrix commission. I still need to work on the face, tail, and hooves/legs. I'm hoping that I can get the bulk of the work done on her this week.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Medallion

I have started to open up the nostril, but I think it still needs to be worked on. I also moved the ear up, and I thought the position was an improvement, but then I noticed something hilarious when I took a 3/4 view picture of it:
I put the ear almost at the center of the poll LOL! It looks like a horn! I didn't even notice it until I looked at the photo, I got a good laugh out of that. I'll have to re-check all my measurements, hopefully I'll have some more done on him in a couple of weeks. I'm going to be busy with Thanksgiving and a couple of other art-related things, so not sure how much I'll be able to work on him.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Hazel

Here's my latest commission piece, Hazel sculpted by Morgen Kilbourn. More pictures on my website.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Victrix

I've been busy painting commissions this last month, it feels so good to be painting several things at once. I hate when I'm in a cycle of only prepping, or radical customizing or something, I really do like to paint a lot.

This picture of Victrix is old, she is still in her very early stage here. I have blocked in the color with acrylics and am ready to start detailing the color in oil. The white will be added and cleaned up later. I went for a more dusky color of buckskin for this piece. I love the sweet face on this resin.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Medallion Screw Up

Here's another photo of that medallion I've been working on for ages. I had a terrible time getting the mane and forelock to look okay, and then with a bunch of other minor adjustments, I've concluded that I ruined it. I hadn't measured anything in a while, and now the cheek has blown up to giant proportions, the bridge of the nose is too big, and the neck is too thick (I think). It's supposed to be a Percheron or draft cross, but right now I think it looks like a pony. *Sigh* Back to the (sculpting) board...

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Hazel

This is a commission I'm working on, she will be a large spot blanket appaloosa when she's done. I just blocked in the color right now, I plan on toning down her pangare somewhat, and haven't done much with the head yet at all. I just love Morgen's work, it's been such a thrill for me to  paint two of her sculptures in a row.
I've been spending almost all of my time working on this piece, the blanket takes a long time to build up color.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Monday, August 25, 2008

Flitwick

I painted this wonderful Flitwick sculpture as a commission. I love the expressive features of Morgen Kilbourn's work, her horses look so "ride-able". I feel a little uncomfortable showing in-progress pictures of commission pieces at this time, simply because they go through so many "ugly" phases and I don't want to freak out my customers ;-), so this is the finished piece.

I did take progress pictures of this guy, though, and I made a little slideshow using Photobucket. For some reason this blog is not accepting Photobucket's html, but I can't see what the problem is, so as soon as I can figure out how to do that, I'll post it. I'll have some more finished pictures of him on my website in a couple of days.

Friday, August 8, 2008

Semi-Rearing Appy

I've done some more work on this guy. I like the changes I've made so far, thanks to some good advice that I got on the RESS mailing list. I still have a lot more work to do on the blanket and roany areas, on all of it, actually. I've barely even touched the head! I'm not sure what color I'll make the mane and tail yet, I kind of like the lighter color I've got on it now. Comments and critiques are always welcome, even if they're bad (you can always remain anonymous if you don't want me to know who you are ;-))

Thursday, July 31, 2008

PAS

I've been working on this guy a little bit, now he doesn't even look like an Arab! The legs are huge now. I tried filling out his belly, but I don't know if it's an improvement or not. I need to change that left rear hoof, I think just the tip of the hoof should be touching the ground. My original reference photo doesn't show the hooves, he's standing in grass, so I've been looking at a bunch of other pictures. Also, I think the "butt" (semitendinosus?) looks too big now.

I don't know how other people can make this seem so easy! I study, I draw horses from life when I can, I take photos and study videos, I took a workshop, I ask questions, but when it gets right down to the point of applying material to the armature, all sense flies out the window for me, or I can't see it, or something. It's very frustrating for me. It makes me question whether I can even see in three dimensions (or if there's something wrong with my eyesight LOL!)

Maybe part of it is because I spent so much time in the 2D world, and have started trying to sculpt after so many years of not doing it. Drawing is easy for me, in fact it's a joy and I look forward to it, but I don't see a light at the end of this sculpting tunnel yet. Everything I try to sculpt looks like crap to me now, and I'm not at that point yet where I feel like there's hope that it will ever get better. Sometimes I think that I should just stick to finishwork, but I really want to learn more about sculpting, at least to be able to do minor changes like ears, manes and tails, maybe a leg movement or something. I think I bite off more than I can chew...


I will probably keep slogging away at this no matter what, it's hard for me to give up. It might take me ten years though!

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Semi-Rearing Stallion



I've been working on prepping a commission so haven't had a lot of time to work on this guy, but I have made some progress. This picture is from a couple of weeks ago. After airbrushing the base coat, I started hand-painting "details". I put details in quotation marks because this is the very first, coarse stage of where I'm trying to go with this model, and the actual details will be refined a lot by the time it's done. I'm basically just trying to get some color in the right place right now. This is the ugly duckling stage that seems to last forever when I work on a model, when I hate looking at it and can't wait for it to start looking better.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Percheron Medallion





Here are a few pictures of a Percheron medallion that I've been working on. Sorry for that blurry one in the middle! I have been told that it looks more Warmblood-y than Percheron, which is okay for me, too. I would love to hear what you think about it, good or bad. I haven't started on the mane and forelock yet, obviously, and haven't decided what to do with the background, either. If you feel the need to post anonymously, please feel free. I do moderate my posts, but I will definitely read everything that is sent to me and give it consideration, whether I post the comment or not.

Friday, June 6, 2008

Semi-Rearing Mustang



Here's another progress shot of this guy. I have not tried a chestnut this red before, I'm not sure how I like it. This is going to be a really complicated paint job and I hope I can pull it off. The barrel under the belly will eventually be all white, but there's a hint of colored mottling/roaning (or whatever it's called on an appy!) that looks like it's underneath the white. He's going to take me a long time to do, I think.

Incidentally, if anyone reads this blog and wishes to comment, either with a critique or if you see a mistake, please feel free to do so! I'm certainly not an expert with color, anatomy, etc., and can use all the help I can get, so I'm always looking for someone to add their two cents.

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Semi-Rearing Mustang



I just started this guy. He's going to have a large blanket, with some roany stuff around the edges, I'm not sure if that's considered semi-leopard or not. I'm working from a photo for reference. All I've done so far here is to airbrush the blanket and a base undercolor. Next I'll add more color, probably go back in with the white, and then start hand-detailing. Appaloosas are very challenging to paint!

I was looking through my body box, and right now I've got about 20 stablemate bodies, 8-9 traditional/Classic Breyer bodies (some of them are old, a few newer molds), and probably 8-9 resins. My goal is to get all of these things prepped and be working on them. I tell myself, "I'm not going to buy anything else until I finish up these bodies", but it never seems to work out that way...

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Classic Mustang



I finished this guy a little while ago, but haven't had a chance to take photos of him until today. I'm really happy with the way he turned out.

Saturday, May 3, 2008

Classic Mustang




These pictures are actually over a week old, I've been really lazy about getting them up on this blog, I'm getting close to the end of him now and should have more pictures soon. I might give him a white sock or two, I'm not sure yet.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Classic Mustang




I originally painted this guy to a chestnut pinto, but it was one of my first repaints and I made a lot of mistakes with the mapping, and in general I thought it looked sloppy, so I decided to strip it and repaint. I'm planning on making him a buckskin with a sooty forehand. This is after some work with the airbrush. He looks a little too yellow for me at this point.

Monday, March 31, 2008

Mink Medallion Finished



Well, he's done! The photo reference that I used for this horse had a brown eye, but I thought I'd give him a blue one, for the practice. He will be a donation piece for the 2008 NWC.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Mink Medallion



Here is a work in progress of the stunning Sarah Minkiewicz medallions that were given as prizes in the vintage classes at Emerald Custom Classic in Washington state last year. I am donating this to Northwest Congress for 2008. At this stage I have blocked in the color with acrylic and gone over it a couple of times roaning, both with acrylic paint and colored pencil.

I haven't decided yet what colors to paint the background, I'm open to suggestion!

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

SM G1 Arab Pinto




I meant to show in-progress pictures of this model, but I got obsessed with working on it and couldn't put it down to take pictures, so here he is almost finished. I still need to gloss his eyes and hooves.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

PAS





I've been slowly working some more on the PAS. I finally broke down and blew up a tracing of the reference photo I'm using for the pose, so that I could block in the basic shape. I'm terrible at measuring and the proportions always come out wrong.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

SM Arab



I've just started painting this one. I spent a little time fixing the legs and other minor problems on this mold, these old SM molds can be horrible to prep. They're usually warped and the casting isn't very good.

He will be a chestnut tobiano when I'm done. He will probably be somewhat darker, too, though I actually kind of like this bright chestnut with the pattern I'm going to use.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Breyer Shire



I finally finished up the Breyer Shire mare that I've been working on for years, literally. It took me forever to do the custom work on her (face, mane/tail/feathers, moved head and leg). She is painted in oils, too, which also took a long time. I don't know how others can work so quickly with oils, it takes me a long time, even if I use a drying medium. Maybe it's just the way I work, by building up layers and doing a lot of glazing. Also, at one point I accidentally got powder all over her when I was holding her with latex powdered gloves, and somehow it settled in to the paint and I couldn't wash it off, so I basically had to repaint her. I'm so glad she's finally done!

Since it takes me so long to do any customizing, I only do one custom piece at a time while I work on other finishwork. Next up will be the PAS monstrosity, which is going to be a very difficult challenge indeed.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

SM G1 Drafter



This is a commission that I worked on all last month, whew, I'm glad he's finished! Cassie Thomas did some nice minor custom work to his forelock and lip, I think it really added to his charm. I really wanted to show a slide show of this model's creation, but I haven't figured out how to make a slide show yet. When I do I'll post it here. More pictures will be on my website soon.

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Famous Horses


I have been looking for this book for a couple of years. I had it when I was a child, and read it over and over. It was one of those books that made a huge impression on me, getting me interested in horses and art at the same time.

It's filled with beautiful illustrations for each story, and to this day I still think about El Cid and Babieca, and Baron Munchausen's adventures, and Caligula's horse.

I very foolishly gave away or got rid of almost all my horse books once I reached adolescence, and when I came to my senses in my 30s, I kicked myself ever since for letting go of those childhood memories.

I had a hard time finding this book because I couldn't remember the name of it. I knew it had something to do with famous horses or legendary horses, and followed a false trail for several months of a similarly named book, but I finally found this one on alibris and it's finally in my hands again. I can't wait to read it!