Weekly Update

I've been doing little refinements to Daffyd, and managed to work on his face last week. He's close to being done now, but I keep picking him up and doing little things. I'll have to stop that if I want him to be dry in time to ship him for NAN. I haven't glossed his eyes or anything yet.

Ravenhill has been getting a lot of attention. I'm fiddling a lot with the blanket right now. It's hard to get just the right color for the mane and tail. I don't want it to warm or too cool.

I've been working all over on Finn, just refining the color and working on his feathers and mane/tail. He's tacky now and rather shiny. I will probably let him sit pretty soon so I can spray him and see what he looks like dulled.

I have to let Lajjina sit now, too. I'm still just building up thin layers of color and experimenting with her tail color. She is a slow drier! She's got some blobby-looking dapples that I will refine as I go, I just wanted to set down the general area where I thought the dapples should be. The pangare will not be as stark, either.

Fenwick is coming along and I should have a picture of him next week. I'm really happy with the way everything is going right now. It feels like a huge relief when I get close to finishing a piece (Daffyd), too. 

Brush Review

Here's another one of my favorite detail brushes, the Black Gold by Dynasty. I love the size 3/0, but sometimes I get 10/0 also. This brush has a thin handle but it's the perfect length for my hand so it remains comfortable. The brush head itself is the perfect length and the bristles are not too floppy. I like a slight give in my brushes, not too soft.

This brush holds its point for a pretty long time, even when I'm using watered-down acrylics, which always seep up into the ferrule. When that happens, I usually just let the paint dry up there by the base of the hairs, and that kind of cements the brush into its point for a couple more uses before it starts to fray. Then I can use it as a stiff scumbling brush.

I use this brush for detail work, and once it starts to fray, I will paint minis with it, or use it to scumble details in hard-to-reach areas of larger models. This brush and the La Corneille 18/0 spotter are the two brushes I use the most. This one happens to be very reasonably priced, too. The last time I got it at Dick Blick it was $2.35. I have noticed that this brush is a little hard to find, and a lot of places only sell Black Gold brushes as part of a set. In fact, I think that Dick Blick's site shows sets first, and you have to scroll down or do a search to find the individual brushes. I hope they continue to offer this one individually.

I have tried out a couple of new brushes and hope to offer reviews of them soon, too. I really liked one and really hated the other one.

Fenwick WIP

You wouldn't know it from the paucity of pictures this week, but I've been painting up a storm in the studio. I'm getting very close with the Daffyd, and the Finn and Ravenhill are progressing very well. I also worked on Lajjina a little bit (she's still a little tacky so I have to let her rest) and some prepping.

I was even able to work on this Fenwick sales piece. I was very worried about starting the roan markings on this piece, but I think he's coming along well. He's got a combination of rabicano and sabino markings. He will have some splotchy roan-y areas, you can see I've started one below his withers. I made sure to count the number of "stripes" on the reference photo so I wouldn't make too many or too few.

Weekly Update

I'm running late this week! Not too much to show, I think I'll wait 'til next week for Ravenhill and Daffyd. In the meantime, here's Lajjina:

I've added some more color to her and put some paint on her legs and face. She still has a really long way to go.

I did some work on Finn's legs and his mane/tail. I shot these photos with a combination of daylight and photo lights, the colors look a little more lurid than they actually are. I like to shoot in the early morning when it's still dark, but now that spring is here I'll have to adjust my lighting setup (or when I take my photos).

I'm putting a lot of time into Ravenhill right now, so the photos may be a little sparse for the next couple of weeks.

Brush Review

I don't have any photos to show today, so I thought I would give a product review. I'd like to go through some of my materials and share what I think about them and how I use them.

First up is this miniature brush, the Loew Cornell 7650 series Spotter brush, size 18/0. I love this brush! It is a workhorse in my studio. It's very small, but has a thicker handle that fits my hand perfectly and is very comfortable to hold. I use it for fine details in both oils and acrylics, and once it starts to fray, it's great for dry-brushing tiny details in acrylics, and also for glazing and scumbling in oils. I literally wear these down to nothing before I throw them out.

There are two downsides to this brush. Number one, the point frays almost immediately. I mean, within two times using it. This could be because of the way I use it though; I'm very hard on my brushes and tend to "peck" at the surface and start rubbing with it before I should. I'm also pretty bad about letting paint get too close or even into the ferrule and then not rinsing it out right away.

Number two is the cost, it is $4-something which is very expensive for a brush that loses it's point almost immediately. So for that reason alone I am currently looking at cheaper alternatives. It's really hard for me not to buy this one, though, it's like a favorite toy or blanket that you don't want to give up.

I have found these brushes at Michael's, and I currently order them through Dick Blick (they're listed as "La Corneille Miniature Brushes). I'm not affiliated with the manufacturer or the stores, this is just for informational purposes.

I finally started on the pattern for Ravenhill. He still has a long way to go, obviously. I paint the pattern in a brighter white than he will eventually be, just so I can get more covering power. He's got two coats of white on him right now.

I started doing some hoof and leg detailing on Daffyd. I plan to "weatherize" the shoes so they don't look so brightly metallic. I also want to tone down the white markings a little, too.

Lajjina definitely has the uglies right now! I've just got a couple of thin coats of oils on her.

There, I did it! It's pretty sad when I can feel such a sense of accomplishment over something as simple as uploading a couple of pictures and re-arranging them ;-)

I'm getting close to the finish point on the roan Vixen, and have dremelled off most of Jezebel's tail for a third try, and hopefully I can work on a sales piece soon -- I have about 15 resins (and a couple of Breyers) sitting on the shelf waiting for me 8-/

Postponement

Blogger is not cooperating with me right now, so I am unable to upload photos. I have a couple of good ones to share, too :-(

I will try later today and see what happens.