Phaze Studio Online Journal

Nuances of Conformation

2011-06-22T13:00:00.000-07:00

Alright all you halter judges out there! Here's a great exercise that I think would be much more helpful in the model horse world. Below are three photos of horses the same age and breed (3-4 yrs old, Appaloosa). Place them in order as you would a halter class, and explain why.

Canter Cadence Question

2011-05-31T08:34:00.000-07:00

Say that ten times fast!

So now that I have things starting to come together, I need to put the leg nubbies into a frame. A suggestion was made to put him on the ground, totally base and rod-free... which certainly appeals to me. Here is what I was originally thinking:

With the rear toe touching the ground, and a short acrylic rod in the down front foot for 3 points of contact. But, would people prefer something else? Here are some other ideas:

I'd be curious to get your thoughts on it!

The Muse

2011-05-30T11:04:00.001-07:00

Having a long weekend turned out to be a really good thing, because not only did I get to make an armature and then cut it up, but I also mapped out a torso and leg-nubbies. "Leg nubbies" are, for lack of a better description, bits of wire with joints attached to them. Right now they are separate from the body, since they aren't strong enough yet to support the heavy mass.

This piece is drawn from my own selfish desire for a loping pleasure horse (who still will be coming, mark my words!). After sending some of my confidants pictures of what I envisioned, I was told that they wanted something bigger, more forward, and more versatile. So... that told me that I needed to do something other than a stock horse. I still want to do something cantering, since there are a million and one trotting horses out there; and still wanted to do something that will be performance friendly.

I will always have a soft spot in my heart for draft crosses. They have this charming, naughty quality about them. Prior to Leggs, I had a draft cross who rode like a couch. She was a point-and-shoot jumper that made it so easy to fly around a course, and being so smooth it was like riding a cloud. This is the type of horse I wanted to capture in this piece. I had tried a small classic-sized version almost 2 years ago (that never really got off the ground), but now I wanted to try it again with new techniques and a fresh outlook.

In hunting for reference, I came across this guy. He is *perfect*... the body type I was looking for (heavy but not too heavy), and a face that is just gorgeous-- reading immediately both drafty but refined. The soft eye is just perfect as well. This guy, Charlie, is going to be my muse for this next piece. Pics coming soon of the armature once the leg-nubbies are filled out and it can stand on its own!

And here is the pose for this handsome guy:

Base or no base? I personally feel no base in favor of (short) acrylic rods... but I definitely need feedback!

Leggies all finished!

2011-05-22T07:19:00.000-07:00

Slow to post this here, I know! But, since the last post still showed her headless and bald, I figured I needed to update it with a finished photo.

After she went up for sale officially, I got a lot of people asking of what size she was, for the purpose of seeing if she would fit regular sized tack. Needless to say, I went to my tackbox (which I haven't been through in about a year) and dug out my newest saddle. It was SUCH an unexpected joy to tack her all up. Dave came home to me playing ponies at the kitchen table... it was the first time he's seen me do this, and he just smiled. He knows how long its been and how I've been in a performance-showing funk for what seems like forever.Just like the real Leggs, she has the perfect face for a bosal!

My own copy of Leggs will be a portrait of the real little princess. Bay!! My favorite color. I am going to continue to experiment a bit and try painting her in oils. Why not, right? I do all my portraits on canvas in oils, but never tried it on a model. I figure if its going to be a disaster, it might as well be a disaster on my own model, LOL! I'll definitely show the progress here.

I want to I plan on focusing more on sculpting over the next few months to see what propagates. Leggs was created by literally cutting an armature apart and building her in pieces. I found that this gave me much more control over symmetry in her face as well as overall quality-control; I could fuss over one piece of her without getting overwhelmed by the rest of the unworked sculpture. There were some minor issues putting the pieces together (requiring some dremmeling and resculpting), but the overall result was WELL worth it, and by far I think that this process was successful. Now that I feel like I have a method that works well, I want to keep pushing. I will be building a new armature next weekend, and I'll post pics of that as well. I think you guys would find it interesting (mostly because its unusual) how I put it together and then cut it apart.

The hard part now is coming up with a rough concept. I have ideas floating around for what to do next, but nothing set in stone. The model of Leggs was a piece born out of my desire for a portrait of the real Leggs, and a burning desire for a walking stock horse that I can performance show. I think working from a live model gave this piece a down-to-earth quality, so I want to keep up that look now that I've found a sculpting method that works. I'd be open to any ideas...

:-)

Slow... But Progress!

2011-05-07T19:28:00.000-07:00

As I wait for her face to dry and get ready for assembly (yay ears!), I thought I'd snap a few more in-progress shots of the body of Leggs!

Since the last pics, I made a few changes. My goal is to capture a 4-5 year old mare, mature through her frame but still delicate in her features. I thought that the way I had it sculpted prior, she looked too gaunt over her back/withers; there just wasn't enough muscling. So, to give her more youthful appearance I raised her back and added further muscling across her hips and shoulders. I also filled in the rib lines since I don't think that was working and I'd rather have her nice and smooth through the belly.

Overall she still needs detailing, sanding, and overall prepping. Her head will (finally) go on this weekend and I can finish her general sculpting through her neck and throatlatch. From there she'll get some serious smoothing and finishing before her mane/tail go on. She will have a short, loose mane and long, natural tail.

If all goes as planned, I will be wrapping her up this month, then off to MVS to be cast! Details on that though will be forthcoming as I actually get her finished and I hear what the time-line is from the caster.

May Day!

2011-05-01T16:59:00.000-07:00

About a month and a half ago I started a fantastic new job as the Project Manager for a luxury home builder here in CT. Beyond the job description, they brought me on also due to my art background--and so I've been doing all their design work, website, and promotional materials.

This past week, my boss gave me a roll of blueprints on a house we are working on (we are in the framing

stage) and told me to stretch my creative capabilities... in order to do a color rendering of what the house will look like finished. I haven't done a lot of architectural paintwork (um... ever) and with just the general idea of what it would look like in the prints, sat down to start laying out the lifework, followed by mixing colors, and figuring out shadows. After working on it all week, Friday I was able to snap this photo with my iphone to really look at what had come together. While not a great photo by any means, I think its good enough to share!

It will be getting scanned this coming

week in order start using it for promotional purposes. The size is 28"x28", and the copyright was added and not on the original piece.

Its been a long time since I've done a complete watercolor... actually, I haven't touched my watercolor paints for about 5 years, back when I was doing much more portraiture. This particular piece was an interesting challenge to say the least. What made it difficult was that there were no reference photos, just notes on what each component was made from (cedar, blue color swatches, copper roofing on the bells, etc)... so everything had to be cross referenced with the blueprints, and then also my boss who can see the finished house in his head. He seemed quite pleased with the results.

Being able to sit and paint like this was both mentally exhausting and hugely satisfying. It has me creatively inspired in all sorts of ways, and now that the studio is back to a workable space, I have all sorts of projects lined up to get finished. I also have put the website back up again (www.PhazeStudio.com) so that people can access the archives until I get the new site up and ready to launch. I have high hopes for May... I have to keep this spring momentum going. There are things to do! And things to create!

Illustrations that inspire...

2011-04-25T16:58:00.000-07:00

I came across this illustration when looking for pictures of miniature schnauzers for a portrait project. It both captivated and disturbed me... to where I felt compelled to keep it... and share it with all of you!

I am not sure who the artist is, so if you know, certainly chime in.

Enjoy!

The Creative Space

2011-04-24T16:07:00.000-07:00

Every artist has their "space"where they create. Whether it be a tabletop, a room in their home, or in another building, the studio becomes a highly personal space and an extension of the artist themselves. Regardless of how it looks to the outside observer, the way things are organized, where everything is put, or found, or placed-- has a specific reason or purpose; we organize our studios the way we organize our thoughts and our creative processes. The studio space becomes a place of comfort, of familiarity, and of creation. A place where we, as artists, can shed the weight of the rest of the world and sit down and create for the shear joy of creating... it is our safe place, sheltering us from the harshnesses of the outside world and allowing us freedom to let our imaginations wander and our hands to put those ideas into physical form. The studio is our bubble, it is our haven, it is a retreat where we, as artists, have total control over our domain from the moment we walk through the door and sit down at our desks.

The level of emotional connection to the studio space is something I did not fully appreciate until it was taken away from me. From the time I was 16 years old, the back room in my parents warehouse (what used to be a tobacco sorting warehouse) has been my studio. It is an oak lined room with a large sliding door, where through the 1920 through the 1980s, crates of dried broad-leaf tobacco used to be stored in order to sweat out the extra water in order to cut down the shipping weight. As I continued to do more and more in that space, both with painting and the model horse hobby, my father and I divided the room so it could be heated. It started with putting up plastic and a kerosene heater for cold days, and then when I needed to use it year-round, he built the walls with sheetrock... insulating it and then finishing it with brand new windows, paint, proper heating, lighting and fans. He built me a spray booth, put up drawing boards that I could tack pictures up on, shelving to put my horses and art supplies, and anything else I thought I needed-- he made sure was there... even providing me with a stereo so that I could listen to music.

It was a space that I grew into, that I filled with my reference materials, my beloved art books, and all my supplies. Over the years I spent countless hours in that room, working on everything from portraits, to art projects for school, to xmas presents... to when it became my full time studio for the model horse hobby. This room was my sanctuary, and I would retreat to it whenever I needed a moment to myself or when I needed time to close out the stresses of the rest of the world.

And, it became that way for alot of people-- a meeting place, where both other artists and friends would come to visit and just hang out.

It was for this reason that this room became my bedroom when the time for it was needed. It has been a room I have always found emotional shelter, and so I did not think twice to pack up my art things and convert it into a living space. Packing up my things-- my books, my horses, my paints... it all seemed ok since it needed to morph into something new for the immediate time being. And it served me-- it stayed my haven, for a long time... but in my heart a grew a hole from not having a space to create.

The hole continued to grow as I had no place to work, and so when I moved into a new apartment, it became imperative that the studio must become that again-- a place of creation and of emotional refuge. While empty, the room became a target of interest for other family members wanting it for their own purposes-- and it was when they moved personal items into my room that I realized how fiercely possessive I was of it. This was MY space, MY room-- and while I hadn't moved back in yet, the connection I had to it as a creative sanctuary became clear. It was a highly charged situation, since it is very hard to describe to someone who doesn't understand the need or the emotional connection of an artist to their creative space.

I moved back in a table and my spray booth, and my painting/sculpting supplies. My stereo, a few unpainted projects-- to be able to sit and create again. However, it was not back to how it was, it was not back to how it needed to be for me to fully remove myself from the rest of the world and just... be. While I've been able to plug away on projects, I have not been able to just walk in and sit down without thinking about all the things that still need to be put back in the places they were.

The process of moving everything back started with my books. My books are something that have huge value to me, and that they've been sitting in boxes for a year has bothered me to no end. My old classics-- an original copy of Black Beauty from the 1950s and an original copy of Misty of Chincoteague were just a few of my prized relics that met a fate with water damage and mold that brought me to tears. These are things that have brought me joy; things from my childhood (the classics actually were given to my mother by my grandmother, which were then passed along to me.) My grandmother's ancient oil paints and battered brushes, from when she was a girl, are scattered in a ripped, water-damaged box that they were stored in. To someone else, they are just old paints... but for me, these are items that I connect to the people who gave them to me... and now, that my grandmother is gone, they are that much more important to keep safe.

Putting everything back in its place has been more difficult than I expected, since it is so emotionally charged-- seeing my books ruined and the pages crinkled just tears me apart. Things I had put away so carefully... and because I am not the only one use the warehouse for storage, they have been shoved, moved, and put in harm's way. And seeing the space totally unkept, in total disarray as I moved in everything all at once, rattled me and I had to take a moment to compose myself. This room has been so much for me; and to see it in total chaos puts me in a bad place in my head.

It was yesterday afternoon, as I had to shut the door and walk away from the mess, it dawned on me that the act of putting back together the studio has become a metaphor for life much larger. Beyond organizing a creative space, it is about putting my life back together... in each facet, with every piece put back its place.

Getting back into it

2011-04-06T18:07:00.000-07:00

Starting a new job has made it a bit difficult to get things moving on Leggs, but I will have her face finished and attached to her neck this weekend! I'll get n a tail armature and a general idea. So far feedback has been great! I am excited to see her come together. More pics coming soon!

Sneak Peak of "Leggs"

2011-03-30T06:02:00.001-07:00

Here are the very first photos of "Leggs"-- The portrait of my mare. This is the piece that I have been quietly working on this past year, and will be releasing in a very limited edition if the interest is there. She is regular trad. size.

A bit about her...

This piece has actually ben a bit of a learning curve since I did it very differently than most people would. I created her armature, and then actually cut it apart-- sculpting her in pieces. She is comprised of 8 pieces, and then put back together. I just this past week assembled everything and smoothed the seams... and the last piece remaining is her face/head. I found it much easier to do it this way since I could really focus on detailing each piece, and also it was easier not having to hold and manipulate a solid heavy piece around when I needed to get to a certain part of it.

Overall, I think that the results (for me) have been great with this process. While she is far from perfect just yet, she is coming along really nicely and I am happy with how she is coming together. One thing I noticed when looking at these photos is that I need to bring up her topline a bit and smooth out where I attached her hips since its quite severe. I also think I'm going to blend out the rib lines I have on the left side... they aren't really working, and I don't think Leggs has ever had ribs showing in her life.

The reason I have left her face for last is that I am languishing a bit over it... I feel like on a model of a mare, the face is quite important-- you want her to look feminine and delicate, so she reads as a mare right away. A beautiful face can sell it-- a perfect example that sticks out in my mind is Stacey Tumlinson's "Scarlett". That horse has a beautiful face, and it really made her endearing.

My mare has one of those faces. Call me biased, but I think she has one of the most beautiful faces I've seen... not just on a stock horse, but on any horse. She has this large, dark eye,

delicate ears and muzzle. This photo isn't a great one of her profile, but it is a great one of that little nose. It is important to me that on her portrait, the face be perfect.

Here is the start I have on it so far. I think the eye needs to be a bit more open/rounder, so that will be something I need to get dremmeled and reworked. The other side right now is just fleshed out, without any detail besides eye socket, cheek, and nostril.

I wanted to get one side done first so I could match it to the other and hammer out how I wanted to handle sculpting certain aspects of her face. I wanted to capture that bright expression she has in the above photo, so both ears will be upright like she is walking right toward you with interest. I wanted her head up and relaxed, while still low enough so that she can be used for performance without having to be customized.

So, I have my work cut out for me... lots of tweaking to go from this stage forward. I will have larger, detailed photos by the end of next week when I get her head finished and in place.

My goal is to have finished photos of her by the middle of April. Feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Back in the saddle!

2011-03-29T05:27:00.000-07:00

If you also are on my yahoogroup, you know that things are kicking into gear here at the studio. I have it (more or less) put back together, I have a new piece that is almost ready to share with the world, and I just got a new job where I will be working normal hours again. All of these things have me filled with a new sense of hope and optimism. The piece I am working on, a trad. sized stock mare, is definitely the best thing to come from my hands yet-- and later today I will be posting some in-progress photos of her.

Releasing a new piece, regardless of whether an artist has been active or inactive, is always a bit stressful. Feedback only tells you so much, and its hard to tell how it will be received when it actually goes up for sale.

Its been a year since I have been out of the hobby. Comparatively, its not that long, (but long enough) and so I've been doing some 'due diligence' lately to see what's selling, and what's not. It surprised me to see that things are pretty much as they were last year... in the finished resins, there are LOTS for sale, for much lower prices-- some pieces I saw for sale at half their price from the original artist. This kind of trend is a little depressing... but what I also saw is a still strong support of the original artists, and that people are still looking for horses and tack as they always have been. The hobby is still alive and evolving.

I was talking with a friend of mine who is a miniature painter (as in, she does very small watercolor paintings). We were going back and forth over how things were and she said that the art world has been feeling the economy too-- she is not having the same sales that she used to, and has had to really shop herself out to new galleries to carry her work. In 2007, she was like 6-8 paintings a month... now, she is lucky to sell 1-2. Its amazing what a few years can do.

The difference between the hobby and the art world, however, is the type of collector. We are even different than the model railroaders (to whom we've been compared often)... because we use the pieces we buy to compete. This puts things into a very different perspective for the collector; creating two different types. The type that collects pieces to have forever, and the type that collects pieces in order to compete well at shows.

While there is no right or wrong approach to collecting, it does effect the artist community and what it is that we create and offer for sale. Scale is a huge one. For example, there are a lot of mini and trad. sized horses, but few classic/LB sized horses. Its funny how the hobby market dictates the preferred size of what models should be. Color is another huge one. Some colors just sell better than others.

So I am throwing this out to the community at large... what do YOU collect? And why? What makes your heart pump when you see it flash across your screen on the MHSP? What aspects are most important for you in a model?

Making sculpting fun again

2010-12-13T17:17:00.000-08:00

Its been a really, REALLY long time since I last posted anything. I am going to try and post more regularly, to keep people updated on whats going on not only in my life, but what I've been working on. I am trying desperately to get back into doing SOMETHING... however, the cards have no exactly been in my favor down to even having a place to paint. Now I have one more impending move in my future, and this one I hope will be the last for a long while. As of this moment, this season... I am just trying to start having fun again with creation.

The two dolls I did blew up royally because I grossly underestimated how long they would take to assemble. I had such high hopes... but now I think that instead of assembled I will just have to refund those who wanted them, and offer them unpainted. Anapay actually was damaged in one of my moves, so he will require some finessing before he can be offered again. They were the last things I was working on before my life got turned upside down, and while I do hope to get them offered and out there, those interested will definitely be getting them with some assembly required. I do have Hiamovi available, unpainted, and unassembled.

This was my first tackle back into sculpting. It actually is intended for a christmas gift, and I can't decide on whether to finish it in bronze or in a salt/pepper color. Originally he was supposed to be an ornament, but now I am thinking of putting him in a shadow box. I also have been toying with the idea of pouring a mold for it before it gets boxed up, with the intent of it being the first in my Mutz Art line (those of you who have been following this probably know what I'm talking about). Basically, Mutz Art is a line of dog-related art that I am putting together a new site for. I want it to be offering ALL types of dog related art, whose profits benefit shelters across the country. Hopefully as I get my stuff together I can start working on that again. My next little portrait piece will be a pointer, then a shepherd. After that I will be taking requests.

I'll be posting more photos of him as I get him in primer and then decide how to finish him. Any thoughts would be appreciated... !

Enapay

2010-02-27T15:35:00.000-08:00

The warrior, nearing completion! I just need to finish assembling his hips and legs and he'll be ready to head to MVS on Monday. I will be sure to take LOTS of photos of his joints so that you can see exactly what they look like. More pics...

His arms/hands are designed so that either can hold reins OR an object like a bow, hatchet, spear, etc. One more round in the oven and all the glossy parts of him should matte down the rest of the way like his face has.

Enapay is already up on my site for preorder: http://www.phazestudio.com/enapay.htm

An unusual encounter

2010-02-23T05:55:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was in the car, about 5 miles from the studio, when I noticed something very high up in the trees. A HUGE something... and from the distance I was, and the patterning... I thought "my god... its a bald eagle!" We have had 2 or 3 bald eagle sightings in the area (along the CT river) and I was all fired up. I pulled to the side of the road and grabbed my camera, wandering into the pasture I parked next to in order to get the shot.

As I zoomed in, I realized that it wasn't a bald eagle. Bummer! But, it WAS the biggest red-tail hawk I have ever seen. This guy was HUGE... with a wingspan of 5' easily.

I was merrily snapping away... when suddenly he turned and spotted me...standing out in the pasture...

And took off, flying towards me VERY quickly.

It was at this point that I freaked out and ran like a screaming little girl back to the car. I've never felt like 'prey' before, and while I doubt that he was actually considering a swoop at me, I sure as heck wasn't going to chance it! All I knew for sure was that this guy didn't want his picture taken and I better get out of his line of vision.

I'm sure in his mind... he's grumbling "Dang papparatzi!"

Hiamovi-- the Chief

2010-02-20T20:36:00.000-08:00

"Hiamovi" is a Cheyenne name meaning "high chief." With age and wisdom in every line on his face, this nobile soul looks on with a mile-long gaze and a gentle smile. I photoshopped the face of the actual piece into the above photo so you can see what he looks like in regalia. Hey, I know they look freaky without hair!

Here are the pics of the actual Hiamovi prototype, from the shoulders up:

I have a bit of smoothing left to do on his face, and will finish his torso tomorrow. The bust of the brave, "Enapay," will be finished by Tuesday afternoon or so and I will share photos of him as well. I plan on getting both pieces available for preorder as soon as Friday. :-)

Banded manes

2010-02-05T19:58:00.001-08:00

Its amazing to me how much we can learn as artists once we really apply ourselves to a problem. Today I tackled something I used to dread like crazy: banded manes. I have been working intermittently on a piece for myself (a portrait of Legs), and I wanted her to have a banded mane... so decided that today was the day that I figured out once and for all how to do it in a way that looks in scale.

I've done quite a few horses in the past with banded manes, and tend to dread doing them because they involved sculpting each little band individually. Root, band, ponytail. Root, band, ponytail. It was incredibly time consuming, and while they always looked nice finished, that they never were truly in scale always bugged me.

A great example is the banded mane on Secret Weapon (2007), where the bands are just a little too fat:

If I hadn't said anything, you wouldn't have noticed, right? The problem is that I noticed, alot. When I band a real horse, I do 75-80 bands down the neck. For reference, here's a pic of a real banded mane:

I think on SW he has around 25. Thats less than half of what you see on a real horse, and so scale is a huge issue to me when everything else is so painstakingly done. Today I sat down with this challenge grinding away in my head... and with my epoxy and sculpting tools in hand, developed a technique that produces a far FAR superior look. I still have some cleaning up to do in the hair and on the horse itself, but just had to share. Finally! Tiny bands!

AND, using the same technique, I also can do tiny SM scale braids. Check out this customized Working Girl I am in progress on:

I am really happy with how it is turning out. My next problem-solving day will be how to streamline the process of doing traditional sized braids. I have a horse coming up in the queue who will be braided, and she's got a LONG neck!

My brother's wedding and more

2010-02-02T18:59:00.000-08:00

For those of you who read my yahoogroup posts, you know that things have been pretty crazy here lately. This post is kind of like an update with fun photos to share the happy things now that life is (hopefully) returning to normal.

First... here are some photos from my brother's wedding, of myself and my brothers & sister. From left to right: Caitlin (younger sister), Kyle (oldest brother), Kip (groom and also older brother) and me. I don't think we've had a group shot of us since we were little! It's cool to have one of us all together, especially with all of us looking so nice, LOL.

Greg has also gotten a "new" car to replace our poor Mazda3 that was in the wreck. He has this strange love for old diesel Mercedes, ever since he had one before we were married. So, when a friend of a friend had one for sale... Greg was so excited he could hardly stand it. And here it is... in all its vintage glory: a 1980 Mercedes SD. I've never seen $500 car make a man so happy.

My mom is doing better, and was actually MUCH better halfway through Monday afternoon after the condition (transient global amnesia) ran its course. We knew she was feeling alright when she requested her laptop so she could research what happened and check her email.

Yea... things are back to normal around here! :-)

I'll have model horse pics soon to share, probably tomorrow. Time to get this hijacked blog back on track with plastic ponies propaganda!

Browser colors!

2010-01-15T17:49:00.000-08:00

I've been doing a lot of webdesign recently, and as I check my work on different computers... something caught my attention. I never realized how much DIFFERENT the color is depending on what you use to surf the web. Beyond just differences that you see between monitors... the web browser you use makes a HUGE difference on what you see in front of you.

Here is a striking example of how different colors can be. The site is one I am working for the Connecticut Appaloosa Association. On the same computer screen, the page was opened in two different browsers. The page in the back was opened with Safari. The page in the front was opened with Firefox. Viewed in Firefox, the colors are MUCH more vibrant than Safari, to the point of being two totally different color palates. The page was designed with the colors seen in Firefox.

This is VERY problematic for viewing artwork online. The colors that I see on my screen could be totally different than the colors you see on yours! I think this is why some people no longer buy horses without seeing them in person. I can understand this completely; there is so much variation on our screens that its hard to tell what you are really getting.

For those of you who use Safari-- I would also download Firefox as well. That way you will be able to compare pictures of anything you are purchasing!

Paul is a very bad cat.

2010-01-02T18:32:00.000-08:00

Sigh....

Surviving the holidays

2009-12-29T18:30:00.000-08:00

I'm in the clear! Now that the gift-giving holidays are over, I have some time to sit down and regroup. You see, every year I tell myself I will not take on any last minute projects in time for the holidays. And every year, I do anyway... resulting in a caffine-induced stupor, pulling all-nighters to get everything done on time. Ah, reminds me of college....

This year I had three photography shoots, two portrait models and an actual portrait. It was a holiday full of mixed emotions, since some of these gifts were spurred by the death of my filly's father, Henry. Henry was an extraordinary gentleman, and his tragic death send a ripple through the farm and those who knew him. The saddest part was the revelation that his owners, the Shepards, had no good photos to remember him by. And so seperately, the two of them commissioned me to do related gifts, for each other. The first were the photoshoots, one of each of Henry's babies, and then some holiday shots.

Here are the babies: Legs (my little girl), Barbie (who belongs to Mrs. Shepard), and Callie (other bay filly). There is also Murphy, Barbie's full brother, but being a yearling, he was a goober for his photoshoot. Then we did a few holiday pictures. All the mares are SUCH hams! They loved every minute of their glamour shots.

The portrait was of Henry himself. It is 22x28" in oils.

It has been nearly a year since I've painted on canvas, and I didn't realize how much I missed it. It was so nice to paint without limits-- no need to worry about brushstrokes or anything else-- just me, my palate, my reference pics... and whatever comes off the brush. After completing it, I know that I need to be doing more portraiture again. So, my books are open for portrait painting once more.

I will share the portrait models tomorrow. One of which is a portrait of Barbie, leopard mare. It came out GORGEOUS! I hope to borrow her for a show or two, hehe!

Coffee anyone?

2009-12-15T19:14:00.000-08:00

I got this photo from some friends who decided to end a chilly afternoon trail ride with some hot coffee and donuts. Spot seems to be checking out the "anytime eating" menu... I wonder if they decided to try the veggie flatbread or if they stuck with munchkins.

The holiday is bearing down on me fast and so I don't have much time to be on the computer. Or sleep, for that matter. It looks like studio-cat (now named Paul), has become quite comfortable in my absence. He was actually annoyed with me that I turned on the light to take the picture. I can't wait to be done with all my projects and life can return to normal!

Lesson #2... Don't freak out

2009-12-09T19:44:00.000-08:00

Or, if you do have to freak out, then set the horse aside until you regain your composure. The worst thing you can do in... well, any situation, really... is freak out and then rush into something you shouldn't.

In this case, you MUST let the matte finish dry... as hard as it is to see your lovely pony all awfuled up, don't touch it. Resist the urge to poke it with your fingers (or anything). Let it sit... Overnight is best, since that way there is no doubt that it will be dry. If you try to mess with it too soon, you could pull the paint up right down to the resin! AGH!! And then THAT would be a really tricky mess to fix. Trust me on this one... self control was a tough one for me to learn.

In the morning, you can start the task of fixing the horse. The good news: its fixable. And, you don't have to strip the horse. The bad news: you will have to do some repainting. And it requires patience and more of not freaking out. But, hey--you didn't have to start completely over, right? That's a good thing!

First, take a very fine sandpaper and buff the afflicted areas. On this lady, it was pretty much everywhere. This is a VERY light buff; its just to take off the worst of the offenders and do a light smoothing. Clean off all the extra powder from sanding (I use a blush brush) and then... and I am not crazy... Hit the offending areas with Krylon Gloss. Use an even, but not too thick, coat. The goal is to fill the wrinkles but not obsure the sculptural detail. Because the gloss is thicker than the matte finish, it will give you a huge head start in evening out all the imperfections.

The next step is similar to the first, in that you need to wait a day until the gloss is totally dry. Then, take out the fine sandpaper and sand all over. You can be a bit rougher with this round of sanding; the gloss coat will protect the existing paintwork. Your goal is the remove all the texture from the wrinkles. Basically, you are smoothing them down. You'll still see them, but at this point in time, you don't want to *feel* them. Run your finger over the areas until it feels smooth.

If you have very bad areas, where the wrinkle has been forced upward like two techtonic plates, creating a horrible wrinkley mountain chain... then sand it down as best you can, gloss just that area, and sand again. By the second time around, it should be nice and smooth. Most wrinkles melt away though in the first shot of gloss.

Alright. Now that the horse is buffed to a baby-bottom smoothness, you can touch up the areas. In my case... that was pretty much the whole horse. Looking at the bright side... I only needed two coats in most areas, and I didn't have to strip and repaint her. Woot!

Here is a closeup of the wrinkled area after the repair. At this point, I can go back in and start re-applying the shading. You do not have to repaint all the areas you've sanded. When you apply the next coat of matte finish, the scratches you see will melt away. This is why its important to use a fine-grit sandpaper; you are buffing the surface, not gouging it.

After the touchups, seal her again with the SAME can of matte finish that gave you the problem in the first place. This is important since it will prevent the same thing from happening again. If you use another can, you may have another chemical reaction and experience a whole new wrinklage... and that would probably REALLY cause a freak out. The gloss is an excellent sealer, but I'm not one to take chances. Mist the horse first with the matte finish. Let that dry. Then mist again. Don't spray it heavily!! Just keep misting until you feel satisfied that its sealed.

At last!!! Repaired. Pics of her finished will come tomorrow. :-)

Lesson #1...

2009-12-09T06:26:00.000-08:00

"Always complete a horse with the same can of matte finish you started with."

Why is this so important? Well... because this could happen. Go ahead, blow it up to full size for the full horrific experience!

This is an Eberl Oktopussy (the reining horse) that I had completed as of last week. She is golden palomino and came out just brilliantly... all she needed was a final coat of matte finish.

While working on a different project, the can I had got used up. No problem, I thought to myself, and went to the store to get a fresh can. I didn't think much of it, as I've done this before.

I shook the can, and started spraying. Immediately I smelled that the spray was different-- much more chemically-- but at that point it was too late. The wrinkling had begun, ALL over her body. All I could do was watch in horror as weeks worth of work went down the toilet as she crinkled and wrinkled. There were many tears, and a bit of swearing.

After coming to terms with what had happened, I made a phone call to Krylon. The feeling of the phone call was similar to the one I made to Plasticote when my favorite primer suddenly was different. "WHY is the formula different? And you couldn't have put something like that on the new cans? Because its definitely not compatible with the old cans, and I just ruined a piece of artwork since your company failed to disclosed that they changed the chemical formula."
And that was basically the gist of it. Krylon has changed the formula in the matte finish (AGAIN).

The solution for us, who use it: buy several cans at a time, to insure they are all from the same batch. These cans you can use interchangeably since they will be the same formula. ALWAYS finish a horse with the same can you started with. If you can't, then spray a VERY light coat of the new can to prevent wrinkling from potentially happening. Or, do test sprays!! Have a guinea pig horse who is painted even in just a basecoat that you can test spray on. My personal favorites are FAS's. :-)

As for the Okto... I spent most of the past 2 days repairing her so that I can do touchups. I will post today the step-by-step on how to repair wrinkles without having to strip and repaint the whole horse.

Long days!

2009-12-03T19:53:00.001-08:00

If ever there was a face to describe a long day... this is it!

While all the dogs take their "work day" very seriously, Lady is the one that gets most excited about the trip to and from the studio. As soon as the back door closes, she assumes the "travel position": smooshing her face in-between the headrests... and as soon as the car starts rolling... falling fast asleep.

Hayden, however, is more of a snoozer once he gets to the studio.

We all have been spending a lot more time at the studio now that the holiday rush is upon us. While I paint and sculpt, the dog-children are in charge of "NR&D"... that is... "Nap Research and Development". Yea... I'm not sure where the saying "working like a dog" came from... since I would gladly switch jobs with them any day!!

I've been quite pleased of the latest pieces that I have been working on. This Hazel was a joy to paint.... her owner basically gave me the reins on her, and it was wonderful to run with an idea. This was the result!

Her feet I was especially proud of. Previously, I had been doing feet with verticle striations. However, they needed something-- the horizontal striations-- to make them more realistic. I had tried several ways to do it, but none really created a convincing result. I am not sure why it had never occured to me before, but by doing the horizontal ones first in washes, and then using similar washes to do the vertical ones, I get the perfect balance. Any further details can be added with pencils (either oil or watercolor). The finished hooves look amazing!

From now on, all hooves will be looking like these lovelies. The next piece will have dark hooves, and I will be sure to post pictures of them as well!

Weird gray goop

2009-11-14T15:48:00.001-08:00

As another way to break up the painting, I have been working on a few "extreme" restorations. One of these pieces is, of all things, a Hutton custom. He was sent to me because he had some VERY serious epoxy lifting issues. Its taken me a while to muster the courage to start on him. My very first rule of restoration is similar to a doctor's: First, do no harm. I didn't want to start on him until I was absolutely positive I possessed the knowledge to repair him completely.

The first thing I did was drill a breathing hole behind his boy-parts. The popping sound that resulted was incredible-- like opening a soda can. And the smell was that of plasticky vinager... not good. Toxic smelling.

From there I got out my carbide scraper to start on the lifting on his flanks. The moment I put my tool to it, I knew I had to get out my camera. It just didn't seem like other repairs I've done like this; and boy, was I right. I left the images big so you can click on them to get the full experience. :-)

When I repair a lift of this nature, I first "trace" the outline of the lift with my scraper. This cuts through the paint and gets at the source of the problem: the epoxy is no longer attached to the plastic. To repair it, I pull off the detached piece and re-attach with Zap-A-Gap (or, more recently, an *incredible* glue called Last Glue. I need to write about it... I will do that soon).

Normally, there is nothing unusual about this process. Pull off detached piece, sand both surfaces, put piece back on. But on this horse, when I cut through the paint and pulled up the edge of the piece, I got that same toxic smell. I put on a mask just in case. It was then that I noticed that the veins on him were also soft. And gooey. When I lifted the rest of the piece off, there was a mystery gray goop. It was gooey and pastey, and I have never seen anything like it. E=Mc2 was known for using 'non conventional' media on their horses, so I can only assume that this goop was originally some sort of adhesive? I have no idea. If anyone has any idea, I would definitely LOVE to hear!!

In any case, I removed all the gray goop with my scraper and Bestine.

Once both pieces where clean, I sanded them lightly and then re-attached it as I would have any other repair.

The catch: I have no idea how to deal with the veins. My thought is that some of them are not veins at all, but drips of goop that has leaked, and traveled beneath the paint. They are soft, and in my handing I opened one them-- to find a clear sticky goop. All this makes me very nervous, as my WORST fear is that there is some sort of chemical decomposition happening on the inside of the horse that I cannot fix.

I started on his other side, and found the same gray goop. Time to remove it, and piece by piece, get this guy put back together. I will continue to document this repair for all of you to see!

I am leaving each piece off for a day or so to let the plastic breathe and be exposed to the air. I am going to start at his rear and move onto his belly and then his chest. All the lifts look very similar, so I expect to find the same in each lift. I just wish I knew what it was! I also will show how I match the paint and media used. This I am still mulling over. I love these types of repairs-- they really make me THINK!!

Indian Summer

2009-11-11T07:55:00.000-08:00

The past few days have been just so gorgeous out.. its hard to believe that its the middle of November. Yesterday was about 65 degrees... the day before that was around 70! I'm not so foolish to think that it will last... winter is bearing down on us New Englanders and its only a matter of time before we are buried in snow. It is forecasted to get colder every day this week till its in the 40's.

While the warm reprieve lasts though, we all have been enjoying the nice weather thoroughly. I caught Legs snoozing in the warm sun today and it was so darn cute. I called to her, she opened her eyes and took a step ... and then started dozing again.
Although the show horses are all blanketed now, the rest of the horses are getting quite fuzzy. Especially the babies!! One baby I am particularly fond of... probably because she is Legs' full sister, named Macy. There are 5 babies currently on the farm, all (soon to be) geldings except her... and she is the boss-hoss without a question when it comes to the boys. The girl holding Macy in the first pic is Nora, and Nora is 5'5". Macy is 6 months old... she is one big baby! And the thing is, she is not even the biggest. Her half-brothers are all about 2-3" taller than she is. She will probably mature the same size as Legs. The family resemblance, especially in their faces, is just uncanny. Its like the same horse but in different colors.

According to Mrs. Shepard (the farm owner), Legs apparently was a bossy little brat too at that age. I don't believe it. Not MY sweet and wonderful Leggsie! It just goes to show how much babies can change from when they are weaners to when they are 2 yr olds.

This is the farm Legs came from: www.PrinceCharlesEnterprises.com
You can see Leggsie's sisters, brothers, and all the rest of farm there. :-)

This Old House

2009-10-25T17:58:00.000-07:00

As anyone with an old house knows, maintenance of it can be a full-time job. Something ALWAYS needs to get repaired or repainted, restored or replaced.

Our house was built in 1925, and was built and owned by the same family for all its years. The problem was... as the man and his wife aged... regular maintenance things started to fall through the cracks... like house painting. So when we bought it, EVERYTHING, inside and out, needed to be stripped. Our BIGGEST project has been repainting the exterior; which involves stripping 5 layers of peeling, awful paint all the way down to the wood; then priming and painting it. Towards the peaks at on the dormers, the paint was clearly original to the house. It was pretty incredible.

Its taken us a long time, but this past weekend Greg finally stripped the remaining dormer. When this piece is finished, we will be *done* with the house's exterior paintwork. All we need to do after that is repair both chimneys, the hatchway doors, and replace the windows upstairs.... it never ends!

dapples!

2009-10-22T20:32:00.001-07:00

Every once in a while, I need to do a "test horse". More often than not, these horses serve as practice, so I can move onto customer horses with confidence on how I want to do their piece. Other times, its that I want to test either a color or a technique but don't want to chance messing up on or over-working something that belongs to someone else. This little girl is a bit of a combination of both; I wanted to try a new dapple technique that had feathered edges and had a more "star" shape. This is something I could then transfer over when I do star-dapple grays.

As I moved along her, I added washes over the top of the dapples to help blend them a bit. I need to do a few more in some areas to fade them away, and then I think I will be happy with the result. I still need to finish her face, add white markings and some 'palomino mottling'. I've seen this happen on the light palominos; it almost looks like the mottling that champagnes get. I'll have to snap some pictures of it specifically from my 'muse'... a QH mare who was my inspiration.

During this experiment I also discovered that I can do a dapple by pulling up the paint with a bit of water, similar to how someone in oil paints would pull up paint with turpenoid or mineral spirits. This technique will prove to be extremely useful for subtle dappling on bays and chestnuts. Its something that I have always known I could do (I've done this for pulling up colors and shading that I wasn't happy with)... but I think in the future I can make the conscience decision to layer my paints in such a way that I can pull them up to make perfect, subtle dapples.

Once I finish this beast I can move on to the dappley critters who she was a test piece for!!

more on my little girl

2009-10-17T17:11:00.000-07:00

What can I say, I love her to pieces and so I love to share all about her! Here she is getting ready to be a naughty baby and pull her sheet off the fence.

I've gotten several emails about asking about her pedigree. She's got some pretty famous branches on her family tree, which you can see here:

http://www.allbreedpedigree.com/henrys+bird+hunter

On her mother's side... her grand-sire is BirdOnAWire, the same grand-sire of KY Derby winner Mine That Bird. Further back is Mr. Prospector... Native Dancer... and farther back, Man O War.

On her father's side, she has The Hunter, who is in the Appaloosa Hall of Fame. Further back is Impressive, Roman's Straw Man, and Prince Plaudit.

I hope to have a video soon to share of our adventures together. She is coming along just brilliantly under saddle... I really am so proud of her!

mmm.... perlino goodness

2009-10-11T06:11:00.001-07:00

There aren't many colors that I don't look forward to painting. I love all horse colors, and their subtle nuances... however, this guy turned out way better than I ever expected. Now, I am a traditionalist when it comes to morgans and the colors they come in. So, when I got a request for a perlino morgan... I was curious as to how it he would look all finished.

Well... to be honest... he was one I really enjoyed working on, start to finish. I'm not sure what it was... perhaps the ease of how the colors blended... or perhaps that I am such a sucker for a pink nose and blue eyes. Perhaps it was that I love Knightly Cadence in any color! He was just a joy, and I was so happy with the results.

In the side shots where I was able to catch a bit of the sun, you can see the shimmer to him, and more of his true color. Warm and buttery! If you click on the images, it will blow them up to full size. :-) The one of his eye is really nice!

Studio Cat

2009-10-07T17:59:00.000-07:00

This week has been one of heartache... in that my childhood cat, Foxie (who lives at my parents) went missing. Foxie was a very distinctive looking cat. He looked like a Maine Coon; tiger-colored with white, with a huge fully tail and long, luxurious fur. He was just beautiful. When he went missing, I called every local vet, the humane society, animal control, and asked all the neighbors. We put up posters all over town. No one had seen him, no one had any information. We have a lot of coydogs and coyotes in our area, and so as the days go by the chance of finding him or having him come home become slimmer and slimmer.

Today I had a bright shot of hope when I got a phone call from a lady who got my number from a local vet. She had called them to say she had found a cat, and they told her that I was looking for one that matched that description... even down to the fleacollar that he was last seen with. She got my number and called... and when I heard... my heart jumped in my throat. I told her to please bring the cat over right away.

Sadly... it wasn't Foxie. This kitty did match my description, with the exception of that he is a pastel tiger (tiger with the dilute gene). He actually looks a lot like Foxie's sister, who was hit by a car last year while I was in KY at NAN.

I was really sad that it wasn't OUR kitty, but it was a kitty who needed a home... and from the looks of him, a good meal. He is mangey and skinny, and looks like he's been on the streets for a while. I gave him some food and a warm bed in the studio while I tried to figure out what to do with him.

So, now I have a studio cat. My mom is still very upset over Foxie, but warmed up to this little guy when she came to see him and he jumped in her lap and purred. I am hoping that even though he will never replace Foxie, that he will help make the loss less painful since this little guy will need love. First and foremost he needs a new fleacollar, to get his shots, and to get fixed. He is 'quarenteened' in the studio until that happens. I left him tonight... I hope he is on his best behavior. I asked my mom to check on him before she goes to bed to make sure he isn't doing evil cat things. But, he seems like a pretty mellow guy, so I have the feeling that he is just going to get some sleep in a nice, secure place.

My dad is going to be harder to convice that this new cat is a good idea. But, I think he will warm up to it. He's a really nice cat, and I think my dad will like him.

I still hope Foxie comes home though.

My Birthday Present!

2009-10-01T18:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, so she's not REALLY a birthday present... but since my birthday is in 19 days, I thought it fitting!

I am *thrilled* to introduce "Legs"... who is officially mine this week. She is a 2 yr old Appaloosa filly who will be my new project over the winter, and I plan to show her in the spring/summer in hunter under saddle/western pleasure... and when she gets older, over fences. She is so fancy I can hardly stand it. She is so mellow... and such a little sweetheart... you just wanna smoosh her nose. Today I hopped on her bareback and we rode around like she was doing it her whole life. Initially I had a bit of apprehension of getting a young horse with a lot of TB in her background (if that wasn't obvious!) and a mare at that... but she is such a doll, I would trust even my husband on her back. Her face is just so pretty... such a delicate little lady!

It was really just this past month that getting a 2 yr old became possible. Lilly, my draft cross mare, is going to live with Jenn Scott. Jenn has a young horse of her own, who is not ready to take on the rigors of the type of showing Jenn wants to do (eventing)... and so was in need of a mostly finished prospect that would be ready to start showing as soon as this summer. Lilly fit the bill PERFECTLY... and so when Jenn agreed to buy Lilly, I started entertaining the idea of getting a 2 yr who was started but that I could finish with the intent to show. And, my first love being stock horses...and when I met Legs, I was smitten.

I will of course take lots of pictures to share before she gets too hairy for winter. Legs currently is living a mile down the street from my studio at the barn she was born at, which is an Appaloosa farm. Booger will be heading down there soon as the weather starts to get cold so I can ride right through the winter. It will be SO nice to have an indoor to ride in when there is snow outside!

ps.... I'll be getting her a nice new halter this coming week. :-D I'm thinking PINK!

Lilly... in her clay mold!!

2009-09-30T15:58:00.001-07:00

I just got these photos from Jenn Scott today of Lilly all clayed up!! How much fun is THIS??

Jenn is doing her casting and production. It is so exciting to see the process along the way. Most standing horses need a 3 piece mold. One piece for each side, and then one piece for in between the legs (that's why on most standing pieces you prep, you see the upside down V in the chest and under the tail).

I can't wait to see the next piece of her progress!!

Boogie's home!

2009-09-27T12:49:00.000-07:00

After 4 years, my gelding "Booger" is finally home from his lease. He was being leased by an 8 year old who was showing walk-trot... and now that she is done, I asked for him to come home. He got off the trailer today, and it was SO nice to see him. They have been taking really good care of him... I laughed to see him with such a big belly!

Booger is a once in a lifetime type of horse, because he is totally inflappable. He's been this way since he was a baby; nothing rattles him. Even though he hasn't been on our farm for years, and even though there were lots of changes (particularly next door at the neighbors, since they didn't have horses when he left)... and he looked around, thought to himself "Huh, that wasn't there before" and walked around a bit, rolled (stopping halfway to have a snack)... like business was usual. He didn't even seem to notice the 2 mares in the pasture next to him *freaking out* because of the handsome new man that they've never seen before.

I look forward to working with him this coming week. He hasn't been ridden all season, and before that he was ridden by a kid who weighs MAYBE 40 lbs.... so I'm sure there will be some grunting and groaning when I get on! :-)

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Sorry for the radio silence!

2009-09-04T17:50:00.000-07:00

Its been a while since my last post... and its because my show is FAST approaching-- just one week away! Its the first show I've ever hosted, and although its been fun, its also been a LOT of planning. Its going to be great!!

The eye-candy in the above picture is a Vegas medallion by Jenn Scott. He'll be available tomorrow at silent auction.

I will be sure to post all sorts of pictures after the show. I also will have progress pics of horses this coming week. I am trying to get ALL the last minute show stuff done this weekend so that this coming week I can focus on getting 2 horses painted in time to deliver!

Progress pics!

2009-08-28T17:16:00.000-07:00

I thought I would share some in-progress pics of what I've been working on! This is a Backbeat Thunder owned by Sharon M. In these pics, he has just had his body color finished, but still needs all his details like face, wrinkles, hooves etc done. He will getting a bit of white on his face and one rear sock. I am very pleased with how he is turning out so far! Feel free to click on the pics to blow 'em and see him up close!

Lilly webpage

2009-08-24T18:47:00.000-07:00

Yea... I know there is a LOT of cross posting going on! I just want to make sure everyone who has expressed interest in her, knows where to find her!

Here is Lilly's webpage: http://phazestudio.com/lilly.html

She'll be released Friday, around mid-morning. :-D I will get back to the regularly scheduled tangents and off topic rants now, LOL!!

Lilly, sneak peak!

2009-08-23T11:57:00.000-07:00

Just a few.... sneak peak! She still needs a bit more buffing and then I'll get some proper pics!

Horse feet, part 2: Shape & Structure

2009-08-21T16:01:00.001-07:00

I bet you read through that last post and wondered "What the heck does this have to do with model horses?". Well... I'll tell you... I have seen more incorrectly shod or trimmed model horses than I ever thought possible. It was one of those things I chalked up to people adding shoes after the fact, and that the people who added the shoes didn't know anything about feet. However, I have also seen artists improperly shoe model horses as well, usually with metal shoes on sale pieces (I have also seen resins with incorrectly sculpted shoes, but this is less common). This is really a shame, and a big problem, considering how important the hooves are to any horse, halter or performance.

One other thing I have noticed on far MORE model horses (nearly all of them!) is that most artists-- even the highest caliber ones out there-- sculpt all 4 feet exactly the same. Same shape, width, length-- absolutely the same, all the way around. Go ahead-- go and pick up any of your resins on your shelf, and compare all four feet. There are only a handful of resins I have come across (I can count on one hand, most likely) that have the feet sculpted correctly-- that is, the front feet of a horse are quite different in size and shape than the hind feet. In my opinion, sculpting them all the same is as big of a problem as improperly shoeing a horse, since the shape of the hoof is directly related to how that foot functions. This is what I was starting to get at in Part 1; we must always remember that form follows function, whether in real life or in model horse sculpture.

If you don't have a horse in your backyard to go reference, here is a diagram from the amazing black book "Atlas of Animal Anatomy for the Artist". You can clearly see the difference in shape and width of a front foot vs. a hind foot. But why is this so?

A horse does not carry weight on all 4 feet evenly. In fact, they carry 60% or so of that weight in the front, and only 40% or so in the back. The front feet are therefore wider and rounder to better support the larger portion of the horse's weight, made up of the chest, neck, and head (all of which is very heavy!). The back feet, by comparison, are designed for propulsion. Its similar to a car... the front end if for steering, the back end is for power. When a horse launches off into a canter, the longer toes dig into the earth and give better traction than a wider, rounder hoof. With another car analogy... its why a thinner tire does better in the snow and mud than a wider tire: it digs in and cuts through the earth giving superior power and thrust.

How the shape of the foot effects performance

Why is hoof shape such a big deal? In my time spent learning about feet and how they function, I also learned that the shape of the hoof itself has a huge impact on how that horse will move. For example, a horse with proportionately very small feet or a club footed horse will move with a very short, choppy gait. This is definitely not ideal many disciplines, including pleasure, dressage, and in hunters, who compete based on the fluidity of their gaits and movement. Similarly, a horse whose rear feet are short and wide will have poor forward propulsion in any event that would require quick starts and stops. It also may effect the horse's movement in the back end, since those feet would also not have the traction that a narrow/longer foot would have... potentially leading to the horse slipping back there, leading to a fall.

Of course, some horses have 4 feet which are all very similar, with minor differences in shape. However, you can tell immediately by sight the difference between a front and rear hoof, even if you don't see anything else of the horse:
Front foot
Hind hoof

Its very easy in this age of hyper-detailed sculpting to loose little things like this. More often than not the simple shape of the feet are one of those things that are glazed over-- which is a shame since, after all, they are what holds up the rest of the horse! Not to mention that it could greatly impact how the horse you are trying to show in performance classes would move in real life.

It is always good to remember: Form follows function! :-)

Horse Feet, part 1

2009-08-20T20:39:00.000-07:00

The hoof of the horse has always been an extreme curiosity to me ever since I was old enough to pick feet. We had an amazing farrier who would spend hours with me "talking shop"; he would allow me to trim one of the horses under his careful eye and taught me each part of the foot, its purpose, and how it should be treated. Years later, we have a new farrier who is the same way-- eager to teach and talk about what years of working on horses have taught him about the foundation that carries the animal. Without the feet, there is no horse.

There are a lot of things I've learned from our farrier, who is an artisan in his own right. One thing that sticks out in my mind is a discussion we had on the hype on barefoot trimming. I had been reading about it for 2 or 3 nights, looked up all the "specialists" and read all the articles about 'mustang rolls' and 'the natural way to trim, like how wild horses are'... and how (according the articles) the angles on a wild horse's hoof are different. Pretty fired up on all that I thought I'd learned, I called him and wanted to pick his brain about it. I started off telling him about all the reading I'd done, and all the terminology, etc etc, and started explaining about the angles.

"So this natural trimming focuses on that the hoof should be steeper, like a wild horse, at a 30 degree angle instead of the usual 45..."-- and that is as far as I got. I could hear him take a deep breath over the phone, and then told me something I will never forget.

"Do both you and and all your friends wear the same sized shoe? Or are you shaped exactly the same?" (to which I replied "no...") "Then why should your horse fit into a similarly man-made mold? And why would you trim your horse according to what they think wild horses look like? You don't have a wild horse... your horse doesn't do wild horse things, or have the same diet as a wild horse... how are they even comparable?"

He went on to describe how most hoof problems that horses have are actually man-made... from people who want their horse to fit that 45 degree, 30 degree, or whatever angle based on some idealized # in a book. You can't trim a horse according to a book. Each horse is different, and sometimes, all 4 feet on the same horse is different. You can't force a round peg into a square hole, and if it ain't broke, don't fix it. If yours horse is sound with one front foot being 46 degrees and the other being 42 degrees, don't mess with it because that's how he was born, that's how he is comfortable, and unless something radically changes in that equation you shouldn't try to make him something he isn't.

The comment on how ridiculous it is to trim a domestic horse like a wild horse really hit home with me. He basically said that these "barefoot specialists" are making a fortune charging well-meaning people huge amounts to do what any good farrier does already. Any good, honest farrier will know how to balance a horse according to how that horse will move best.

Of course, there are those farriers out there who will try to charge you for every gadget and new thing that comes out. I've dealt with those farriers too... they are especially fond of those who do a lot of showing, praying on people who want to squeeze every last bit of potential out of their mount. They will happily put on the most expensive shoe (x4 feet) and any supplement or miracle cream they have to make a dollar. Emperor's new clothes come to mind... they are happy to sell you anything that makes YOU feel better about your horses feet. In reality, its all just hype and smoke/mirrors.

Why does this all come up? Well... the reason I started my education on feet is that I always believed in the "less is more" approach, and Lilly has been sound as can be with just a regular trim and I am jumping her 3x a week. Lacey (my sisters WPH), however... is a horse who, since she was broke to ride, we were told would NEVER go barefoot. Her feet were too fragile.. white feet... appaloosa feet... brittle, bad, never go without shoes. And she has a club foot... and we were told that a shoe is the only way to fix it. This of course was all told to us by farrier who specializes in every specialty shoe on the market, while Lacey was showing. After having such major success with Lilly being barefoot, I had a hard time believing that Lacey couldn't go barefoot too. I mean, with shoes on her front feet she had terrible bruising and cracking... and she just looked uncomfortable.

That was the reason I started looking into barefoot trimming in the first place. And then, after talking to Don (our new farrier), we decided to pull her shoes and see how it went. He said that the bruising was caused by the shoe preventing the natural growth differences around the hoof (kind of like how the end of your nail sometimes grows faster than the sides)... basically, the hoof couldn't grow and wear down naturally, and so in the places it grew faster it would not wear down...creating pressure in the coronet band... creating a bruise.

He mentioned the history of horseshoes... how metal shoes were put on horses who worked long hard hours on tough surfaces like pavement-- which would cause excess wear on the feet. The shoes were designed to keep the feet from wearing down at such an excellerated rate. Now adays, he grumbled, people seem to think that shoes will solve every foot problem a horse has... when, in reality, the hoof is just fine as nature created it. Hammering nails into an already perfect structure only weakens it, sometimes creating more problems than it solves. He agreed that some horses do need shoes for traction, and to reduce wear and tear... but that most horses don't need shoes... what they need is an experienced, honest farrier.

Long story short... Lacey has been barefoot nearly a year now. Her movement is cleaner and lighter than ever, her feet are perfect with no hint of cracking or bruising-- and there is not any sign of the 'club foot' she once had. Its amazing.

I suppose the moral of the story is... horses feet are best left as nature intended, unless there is a valid reason to add shoes to the equation. Each horse is unique in and of itself, and so each is a special case, and cannot be forced into particular angles or ideals. Imperfections or things "not according the book", whether it be conformation or hoof/pastern angles are part of being a natural, living creature... be wary of those who wish to "correct" what does not need to be corrected. To use the old mantra... Less is more.

Part 2 will come tomorrow, and be about the internal/external structure of the hoof and how it functions (re: why does it look like that?). There is so much we can learn from how a horse's foot is put together... its amazing.

Progress!

2009-08-19T18:31:00.000-07:00

Alright... so I know that at least a few of you looked at my sad little armature and thought to yourself "Yikes..! That is really ugly!" Oh common! I know you thought it. And she was, in a lumpy, charming sort of way, LOL.

I've been plugging away on her... and here she is currently! LOTS of work done. I have been working on her body/legs thus far, but will be working on her face shortly so its not so... scary. Tomorrow I need to get her rump and right front leg finished, and then from there I can start thinking about her mane/tail as well. So far so good!

Horse shaped Object!

2009-08-11T19:51:00.000-07:00

I know... its been a LONG time since my last post! I have a good excuse though. This past week my good friend Jenn (Irwin) Scott came for a visit.

It was an awesome week and we had so much fun. Studio time, riding, and just hanging out... the week just flew by. On Saturday we had a show were we both were judging, and afterwards a group of us went to Friendly's for dinner. Jenn had never been to a Friendly's, since they don't have them in Colorado. She got really excited about the ice cream.

Yes, thats a 5-scoop Jim Dandy in front of her!! And she finished the whole thing. She's my hero.

Jenn also brought her new LB stock horse resin "Second Glance" for show and tell. Let me tell you... this little guy is SOOOO adorable in person. I had no idea how wonderful his details were until I actually got to hold him in my hands. I loved the scale of him; he fits so nicely in your hands, not too big or too small. We talked a lot about sculpting... and she really encouraged me to get something started myself. So, today I put together an armature and started fleshing out my portrait of Lilly, my draft-cross mare.

Of course, this is still just the beginning stages. I had to order more epoxy since I went through so much of it getting to this point; I should have enough left to fill out her legs a bit more tomorrow, and start really defining her muscling. Lilly will be large classic scale... larger than the Breyer classics, but smaller than regular traditionals. I haven't measured her yet since she is still so in-progress, but once she actually gets some detail on her (like feet) I can give dimensions.

I'm really excited about this project... I'll be sure to share the process along the way. :-D

More sharing!

2009-07-30T15:16:00.000-07:00

And here is a Finn who was also finished last week. I had forgotten how *adorable* this piece is; he was so much fun to paint. I would not be opposed to painting more, if anyone has some nekkid ones! Ha! I want one for myself. You can click on any of these images to blow them up large to see the tiny details on him.

This little guy also has a new kind of dapple technique... where I actually pulled the paint up in those spots instead of painting on the dapples in washes and then blending them out. I know that Carol Williams will do dapples this way sometimes, but she works with oils, and thinner-- this is the first time I have tried it with mt acrylics-- and I really like how it looks.

It started as an accident, mostly because its been so horrendously humid and nothing is drying... I got a little bit of fuzz on him, and went in with a paintbrush to remove it, and scrubbed a little too hard! The paint came up, revealing the layer underneath. Well, it looked like the perfect dapple, ao I did a few more... and this is the end result. :-) I love it because it looks SO much more natural and soft.

Just sharing!

2009-07-29T18:50:00.001-07:00

Some pics of a newly completed piece! :-) This little baby came out so darn cute, and so soft. The pictures don't really do anything for her.

The new mower

2009-07-26T18:32:00.000-07:00

When Greg and I made the decision to make our lives as green as possible, we started actively looking for ways to reduce our carbon footprint in every part of our lives. So, when our rider mower recently stopped working, and our lawn needed trimming, Greg made a decision to go with a more "hands on" approach.... a Classic Mower from Scott's. Yes... that is a push mower, powered only by Greg, to trim an acre of lawn and to try and tame the woods encroaching on it.

Here is Greg pushing the mower... with our old mower in the foreground. He's really into this type of equipment, since it is completely green and emission-free. The truth is that gas lawn mowers have a HUGE carbon footprint. Mowing a small yard is equivalent to driving 300 miles in a car! The emissions are enormous.

We have also considered getting a (cordless!) electric mower which we can charge with solar power. We are not sure yet what exactly we will get, but here are some choices:
http://products.howstuffworks.com/electric+lawn+mowers/All/award-all]
Doing even little things can help the environment. Composing the clippings or getting a mower like this to do your lawn makes a huge difference-- and cuts down an enormous amount of emissions put into the air. Its great exercise! Not for everyone, but they are inexpensive and do an amazing job!

Sneak Peak!

2009-07-18T16:47:00.000-07:00

Sneak peak!! This little lady is a custom I am working on, to be offered next week. Can you guess what she is? A few hints... she is a trad. sized plastic... a *really old* plastic... one with exquisite mold detail, that I've spent many hours enhancing! She is such a little doll... I can't wait to do the full reveal.

She will be a bit more 'rose' colored when she is completed; these pics are just in progress. I need to a bit more blending too. So far so good though!

Eyes, the blue ring

2009-07-18T15:23:00.000-07:00

The links were broken in the previous post, so here are pics that illustrate the blue ring seen on horse's eyes. :-) It also shows that brown sclera!

All about eyes

2009-07-17T09:15:00.000-07:00

Recently, I had a client ask me about why the eyes on her horse (a dark bay) where so dark, when she sees other horses that I have painted with much more light colored eyes. It occurred to me then that perhaps there needs to be more information out there on why eye coloration happens the way it does, and why her dark bay horse has darker eyes than some of the palominos or chestnuts that I've done. Its not there is less detail in those dark eyes... it just is harder to see in lower light.

The EYES have it

Just like in people, the color of horse's eyes are genetic, and is effected by the same genes that pigment the skin and body color. Just like how its rare to see a very pale skinned platinum blonde with brown eyes, or a very dark skinned african american with pale blue eyes-- the color of the skin/hair effects how dark the eyes are. It has everything to do with the pigmentation of the overall creature.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wLIulHENwY4/RrDdotwzKkI/AAAAAAAAALs/5UAc9Nu5JDo/s400/twoeyes400.jpg

In horses, the same rules apply. Black/bay horses will have the darkest eyes, and the lighter the body color, the lighter the eyes tend to be. Here are some color examples:

Bay horses:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/239/3161147474_fce82ede54.jpg?v=0
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2450/3550755828_264a5b8cce.jpg?v=0

Gray horse (used to be bay):
http://www.azalearabians.com.au/pictures/eye.jpg

*Gray horses will have eyes that go with the color they were born. For example, a chestnut-gone-gray will have lighter colored eyes than a bay-gone-gray. Similarly, a light bay will have lighter eyes than a dark bay.

Chestnut horse:
http://www.equipedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/close-up-face-chestnut-horse.jpg
http://image.equinenow.com/119556_1/face_hind_horse.jpg

Palomino horse:
http://www.sugarfootfarm.com/Codyhd.jpg

The wild card are buckskins. Traditionally, they would have eyes similar in color to palominos, due to the dilution. However, if there is a lot of black on the face, or are smutty (darker colored) then their eyes will be darker as well.

Sclera:
White sclera is most common on patterned horse, such as appaloosas and paints, which count it as a breed characteristic:
http://static.squidoo.com/resize/squidoo_images/-1/draft_lens4888762module38060412photo_1244197970Eyes_Appy_vs_afraid.jpg

However, most horses have brown sclera, making it very difficult to see against the dark eye:
http://www.uh.edu/engines/horseeyereflection.jpg

Often times there is a blue ring around the eye as well. Here are two great pictures of that ring and also of the brown sclera:
http://k43.pbase.com/u16/crs/upload/5107082.HorseEye.jpg
http://i.pbase.com/u13/laurent_laveder/large/38511389.PC190021.jpg

Although there are some exceptions, most 'solid colored breeds' like TBs, QHs, and Morgans have very few individuals with white sclera. The exception comes in when patterned horses are present, or introduced, into the gene pool (for example, pure arabs come in sabino, and there is a lot of interbreeding between Paints and QHs), and this can change the pigmentation of the sclera because of the patterning.

Basically what it comes down to is... the darker the horse, the darker the eye, and visa versa. :-) Of course there are always exceptions, but this a good general jumping off point!

Equi-potomus

2009-07-16T20:15:00.000-07:00

This handsome guy was another one I was able to finish last week and get on his way home. Although I love how he turned out (chestnut is one of my favorite colors in general!), and love the sculpture, he really took a toll on me to get finished. I grossly underestimated the surface area on this fellow, he just is one massive dude... I had to come up with some clever ways to hold him so I didn't get cramps in my hands. For most of his painting, I had my knees up at about chest level so that he could sit on them and so I could have both my hands free.

I have some new fun projects coming up soon too, which I can show the whole start-to-finish on. One is a Polaris that was actually started by Mel Miller. She gave him a new mane, but he still needs a new face (it is just a stump right now) and a new tail. I also want to do some more body work to make him a bit lighter. I'll be posting his progress as I get working on him-- he is a great piece to do 'tutorial' type entries on since he needs SO much work!

Cajun-style Chimney

2009-07-13T07:06:00.000-07:00

This morning I went out and took pictures of our poor chimney.

From what we can surmise lightening hit the chimney on the side where all the wires enter the house from the street, including the cable. Odds are it traveled right down into those wires, toasting the circuits as it went. So far, we've had to replace all the cable wires for tv/internet, and all the outlets/wires/switches in the kitchen. Our microwave hasn't quite been the same since either, but... its working, so until it gives up the ghost we going to keep it around. Greg's dad has been awesome in helping us put things back together... he spent most of the weekend pulling out and replacing wires and circuits. Of course, now we have holes to patch, BUT, I'd much rather have the holes than no electricity!

My studio space

2009-07-12T11:01:00.000-07:00

My studio currently is in one of the out-buildings on my parent's farm, which used to be a large tobacco farm and processing center. Originally 20 acres, it was purchased by my grandparents nearly 100 years ago. My grandfather grew broad-leaf tobacco, which is used for the wrapping on fine cigars. In fact... this area of CT, which includes South Windsor and East Windsor (along the CT river) is called Tobacco Valley. Back at the height of production, there were 4 tobacco sheds on the property (where it was cured and dried), and a warehouse where it was packed, crated and shipped from. This warehouse is now where my studio is, in a room towards the back. This room was the "Sweat Room"-- a room where the packed crates were literally 'sweated' in high heat to remove all the moisture from the leaves and wood. Even still, on humid days, you can smell the tobacco in the wood. Its very different from cigar or cigarette smoke-- it is distinctly sweet... and reminds me of my grandfather, who loved, and worked on, tobacco in some facet till the year he died.

The property was later divided (in the late 70s I think) between my mom and one of my uncles-- half was given to him when he got married to build his house on and farm (he also grew tobacco for many years), and my mom took over the homestead. Two years ago my uncle sold his house/property and moved to Florida, much to my mother's heartache-- she had hoped to unite the property again but it just didn't happen. So, things have changed a bit on the other half of the farm and it doesn't look like this anymore. My parents property, however, has evolved the original buildings, updating them and giving them new purpose and life.

This is a photo taken from a helicopter about 6-7 years ago, of the entire original farm. I drew a line where the property was split, and labeled the buildings. The biggest changes that have happened over the years: the tobacco shed in back was converted to a barn; the original 'barn' was converted into a beautiful 3 bedroom appt where my sister lives, and the processing warehouse is now used mostly for furniture storage. Well, except for the sweat room in the back-- my inner sanctum, of sorts.

The sweat room is actually a very large room, which can be closed off from the rest of the warehouse by a large sliding door. In order to save on heating/cooling costs, my dad and I decided it best that we section off a part to be my 'studio'. It was a little over a third of the original space, which we (well, mostly my dad) installed lights, electricity, fans, insulation, and built an amazing spray booth so I spray primer and finish right in the room without exfixiating myself. The spray booth has become an invaluable tool over the past few years.

Over time, the other part of the room started to get filled with 'stuff'. Other people's stuff, mostly-- you see, when you have a warehouse, people just assume you have room to store their stuff. So, everyone a friend/family member moved, their stuff would end up in the warehouse. Couches, matresses, entire bedroom and living room sets. This past season I made a big stink about needing room to expand my studio, and so my mom and I made a concentrated effort on removing all the crap in the "other half of my studio" so that I can have a sitting area/gallery area/larger open space to work in. With all the rain lately, and nothing drying, we actually made quite a bit of progress. This is what it looks like now (you can click on the images to blow them up bigger):

Still pretty cluttered... but if you saw it before, you'd be amazed. I labeled some of the stuff in there so you can get an idea of what it all is. My goal is by the end of July to get the rest of the other people's stuff out of there so I can perhaps have a clinic in this room in August or September. One of the things in this space is a curio where I keep my own horses, all of them unpainted, LOL. I keep my own pieces seperate from my client's pieces to prevent me getting temped to work on them. Out of site... out of mind... and they are safe there.

Next edition... perhaps I will be bold enough to take pictures of the "real" studio... that is, if I can get it clean enough!!!

What a week!

2009-07-10T18:03:00.000-07:00

The crazy weathered continued at the beginning of this week... and on Tuesday we came home to quite a surprise... our house was hit by lightening!! Thank goodness that there wasn't a lot of exterior damage--just a few bricks off the chimney-- but the power surge toasted our cable wires, electricity on two circuits, and generally has wreaked havoc on our electronics that were plugged in at the time. Basically... we are without power in the kitchen/living room and no tv/internet.

Today our internet was restored (which is great, since I was going CRAZY over here!), but our electricity is still on the fritz in the kitchen. I don't need lights though... as long as I have email! LOL!

Because of all the chaos at home, I've been trying to put in some long hours at the studio. This week I was able to get quite a few horses detailed and shipped at the beginning of the week, but now on Friday... I am struggling to get the next round completed and packed up. Sometimes things do not go like you plan! Arg. I hope on Monday I will have another few boxes ready to head out to their expectant owners.

Here are some pics of the two horses who shipped out in the beginning of the week. First is the champagne Ravenhill, who got to go home for an in-person look-over. Second is a lovely Venator in my favorite shade of bay. I just love this guy... he looks like such a gentleman.

Enjoy the pics!

More rain... and a champagne

2009-07-03T19:55:00.000-07:00

When we actually counted it up, we had 24 days of rain in June. July doesn't seem like its going to be much sunnier... this whole past week has had terrible humidity broken up by huge thunderstorms. I am continuing to get frustrated as nothing is drying, even with the air conditioner on full blast. I am taking a proactive approach this weekend and getting a second dehumidifier. Blarg!

In order to keep myself from fussing too much on tacky horses (the more you fuss on them, the worse it gets)... I've started MANY horses to keep me occupied. So, I have various horses all in different stages of completion in the studio, including the Guest Artist Ravenhill that Stacey auctioned off a few weeks ago. His owner picked a color for him that I never would have expected... champagne tobiano!!! I must admit though, I am having a lot of fun with him. I love doing dilutes, especially unusual ones like perlino/cremello and champagne. He needs to go a bit lighter per her request, but I am pleased with how he is looking so far.

He still has a ways to go... lots of detaily type stuff. I will lighten up his body color a bit and then do deatils this weekend. I want to have him dry and ready to go on Monday, along with a few other pieces who are near completion. They aren't quite as exotic as this guy though! I left the pics big, so feel free to click on them to see the detailwork so far. :-)

Braggin' Rights!

2009-06-28T16:14:00.001-07:00

I am so happy to post these... the Winners and Top 10 placers at NAN!

Rockefeller... NAN Top 10 in Morgen Breed

Prince Charles (Mork!):
NAN Top 10 in Appaloosa Breed, Top 10 in Appaloosa Workmanship

Mary Magdalene (owned by Gail S.): Reserve Champ Pure/Part/Heavy/Stock/ Spanish pony

Eleanor (owned by Betsy V): Reserve Champion Mule, Top 10 Appaloosa workmanship

(bottom 2 photos taken with the official NAN backdrop)

Crazy weather and an old friend

2009-06-27T14:35:00.000-07:00

As I hover obsessively over the incoming NAN results (I sent out 3 horses for halter/workmanship, two of which got a top 10 so far! Now to watch the workmanship classes)... I also have been prepping horses with my old friend, Plastikote sandable primer. Plastikote is my all-time FAVORITE primer in the whole wide world. I cannot sing its praises enough; it creates an ideal painting surface and is just wonderful. Primer may seem like such a small thing, but since Michael's stopped carrying it (they switched over to Valspar, which is terrible) I have been experimenting with other primers, like Rustoleum and Krylon sandable primer... but nothing has that same ease of use. Plastikote has the most wonderful finish, with no burs, powder, dripping or mess. Just a super smooth, ultra velvety finish that nothing else can compete with. So, I've basially been searching high and low for it for MONTHS. I've tried craft stores, hobby shops, and every autobody shop I could find... all with no luck.

Last night Greg and I went out to dinner at our favorite Japanese restaurant (he was trying to make me feel better since I couldn't be at NAN), and I spied an autobody shop in the same plaza. I went in to get another can of Rustoleum, which what I have been using in this interum period, and GASP... sitting there on a shelf, in all its magnificent glory... was Plastikote sandable primer. Sure, it cost $7 a can, but I didn't care. I bought all 4 cans and triumphantly came squeeling out of the store. The guys there must have thought I was nuts. Greg understands though... he hears me swearing like a sailor every time the other primers have misbehaved. Plastikote though... it never lets me down.

So today I've been prepping away, enjoying it very much now that I have my trusy primer at my side. I've mostly been sitting outside, since its actually nice out today. Humid and hot, of course, but at least its not crazy outside like it has been the last few days. We actually had a tornado yesterday!!! Can you believe it?? In CT!!! First it was sunny and god-awful humid... then it was so windy it was unbelievable... and then we had quarter-sized hail. Greg actually took video of it, and we are trying to get it off his phone so I can post it here. The hail was coming down so hard it dented and took paint off my car. Poor Subaru. I feel terrible for the farmers in this area... I hope their crops are ok.

The only nice part about the freaky weather is that we did get a fantastic rainbow last night. So, it had a happy ending. Well, except for my car. :-(

if you don't like the weather in New England..

2009-06-24T20:20:00.001-07:00

...then just wait a minute! That saying has never been more true... especially lately. Its been raining while the sun is shining, freezing cold one night and sweltering the next, and for the past few days the humidity has been just incredible. I looked at my humidity gauge today out of curiosity, and it read 68%! Blarg. No wonder nothing has been drying. And tomorrow the weatherman predicts temps in the 90s, with 80-90% humidity. And crazy heat lightening in the evening. Awesome!

The only things that seem to be enjoying this miserable dampness are the flowers. I took these pictures this afternoon... and get this... it was NOT raining. This is moisture that has just collected from so much water in the air!

Vistors this week!

2009-06-17T14:14:00.000-07:00

This week my brother Kyle and my niece (Kaylynn) are visiting from Reno, NV. Last year Kyle came out with his two sons, and this year was the trip where Kaylynn got to come to grandma and grandpa's farm. Of course that means production here has come to a grinding halt. I'm fine with that , they only visit once a year! Above is Kaylynn with Daisy Mable.

The funniest part is that year after year, the best and favorite part of the visit for the kids--are the dogs. Lady loves to swim, Daisy loves to cuddle, and Hayden is all about fetch and running around. Swimming all day... riding the golf cart... playing in the grass.... as it turns out, the best playmates are the furry kind.

Kyle has been snapping pics like crazy for the past 48 hours. He is the one with the dark hair/beard; my dad is the one with the gray hair/glasses. Enjoy!!!

Hudson Valley

2009-06-16T19:20:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I went to Hudson Valley, a show here in Region 10, and actually got a chance to do some performance-- with a brand new horse to boot! The last time I showed performance was before NAN 2008. It was good to tack something up again. I took the western pic, but the other pics were taken by Corrie McDermott who was at the show. Her pics are WAY better than mine!!

This is "Aztec Silver", a customized Eberl I *just* finished for myself this past week. This poor guy was in process for the better part of 8 months. First I kept fussing on the resculpting, then I couldn't for the life of me decide what color he should be. I need to do a proper photoshoot of him now that he is finished; he is actually a fleabitten dapple gray but its hard to see in pictures. I am really pleased with how he turned out. I need to get some closeups of his details.
He is to be my new performance horse, and he did quite well! I did 5 classes with him, and he ended getting blues in all of them. I was so excited! And then did quite well in halter, with a 1st in workmanship and a 2nd in breed! WOOT! I also took "Glambert" for his debut, and he came home with a blue/NAN card and Workmanship Top 10 ribbon. Such good boys!

Here also is a picture of the elusive "Mork" portrait horse. You can't really see the spots on him, or all his delicate pinking, but its probably the only full-body shot of him I have right now. He is off to NAN along with 2 of his friends, and I have my fingers crossed that they make me proud and are on their best behavior. I really wish I could have gone!!

Critter picture of the day

2009-06-15T09:00:00.000-07:00

One could argue that we have 3 and a half dogs, since our little calico has identity issues. She only knew dogs until she was about a year old (when we got another cat). Even though she now does evil cat things, she still prefers to sleep with her canine littermates (much to Hayden's terror). They all insist on sleeping together even if there is a another bed right next to the first one. Sometimes I just want to crawl in there and snuggle too...

The happy couple

2009-06-08T12:24:00.000-07:00

I am very pleased to share with you the lovely couple. :-) They got sent home this past week to their owner and I hope she likes the new little lady!! Here are some more pics of her:

Oh, the life of a basset hound

2009-06-07T19:34:00.000-07:00

Don't you wish you could spend YOUR days laying out in the sun? Never asked to do anything except not pee on the floor and occasionally come when called? I think perhaps in my next life I'd like to come back as a basset hound.

Daisy is the ultimate sun-bather. She will literally sleep in the sun all day if she has the opportunity. Location doesn't matter, as long as its sunny and warm... On the grass...in the driveway... Any place a nap could be possible.
And the indignation of asking her to get up! Getting her loaded into the car with everyone else is a big project. You would think we were asking her to jump over the moon. We have to pick her up to put her in the back of the car because she is too short to get up by herself. Its easy to forget how BIG she is because she is shorter than the other dogs. What she makes up in height, she certainly makes up for in length and density! Even being so fit and trim, she still weighs in at 55 lbs... (of dead weight). Little Hayden weights in at 40, and Lady weighs about 46 or so.
Once the car starts, all 3 sleep in the sun until we arrive at the studio. And then naptime begins again...because, you know, the whole process of getting there was so exhausting.

Hayden finds a treasure

2009-06-04T10:29:00.000-07:00

Since Greg and I are trying to eat healthier, especially for breakfast, we picked up a watermelon the last time we went to the store. This morning Greg cut it up and took the rind outside to the compost pile in the far corner of our yard.

Later this afternoon, while the dogs were out sunning themselves, I got up to get something to drink and saw Hayden running full speed from one corner of the yard to the other... with something in his mouth... a very LARGE something. I ran outside thinking he had gotten into the laundry again... but then when I saw what he had... I had to get my camera. That little snitch had stole the whole rind out of the compost pile!
He took it up to his favorite sunny spot on the hill and put it on his paws... delicately picking out all the bits of red melon still left on the rind. He looked so pleased with himself, nibbling on his prize... it gave me an idea. I think I might pick up another watermelon and give it to Lilly, my naughty horse. That might be a fun "enrichment" activity and photo-op...

Long day today

2009-06-02T19:24:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while I have a day where nothing seems to happen the way it is supposed to. Today was one of those days, and I didn't get nearly as much done as I planned. I spent much of the day running errands with my grandmother, and by the time I got back, I couldn't get seem to get my act together. I had promised pics of a horse to its owner... and just ran out of time this evening... and had send her something! So I sent along this in-progress pic of her new little lady.

Here is that in-progress headshot. I will be taking a proper photoshoot of her tomorrow. She is a semi-leopard (I know, hard to tell from the pic!), and is the companion to the bay appy mustang that was featured here earlier. They really make quite a duo... I look forward to seeing the two of them together!!

Mutzart... website and blog!

2009-06-02T11:12:00.001-07:00

Alright... a make-shift website and blog are up!! This is the last I'll post about it here, so that way people who are interested in this side project can follow it separately from the my model horse endeavors. :-D

http://www.mutzart.com/

All those who have submitted photos so far.. THANK YOU so much. You'll get a copy of whatever I end up doing with the pics! :-D

Wee!

A new venture

2009-05-30T19:46:00.000-07:00

Today I made a big decision, partially on what direction I want my art to go in, and partially in a way to help the furry friends that I hold so dear.

Its no secret that I love dogs... heck, I have 3 of them that I bring with me where ever I go, and then another 3 (1 that belongs to my neighbor, 2 that belong to my sister) that normally come up to hang out in the studio while I work. Dogs are some of my favorite people, and my love for these fur-children really has started to direct me on a new path... fueled even more by having the opportunity to look through a Hagan Renaker book for the past week and marveling at some of the pieces that they used to produce.

After doing a LOT of research on dog figurines... it came to my attention that they are all very breed-specific. Boxers, danes, pointers, pugs... but there are no underdogs, no common dogs... no mutts in the mix. And so my calling became clear... it is time for a line of figurines that champion the dog so many of us love so much... the rescue pups who became the loves of our lives. Not just figurings, but all types of dog art that highlights these unsung heros.

Tonight after getting home from a show I sat down and started to plan out some pieces. LOTS of sketching, some website building, and some business planning. The figurines will probably LB to classic scale (curio sized), of all shapes and sizes. I bought the domain tonight: MutzArt.com and its going to be devoted to love of mutts in all sorts of artwork, with a portion of the proceeds going to rescues. I plan on starting things right away; I want to get a few fun things up there and the first in the line, which will be of Hayden. The website won't lauch until I have quite a large body of work together. But, I do plan on putting up a "coming soon" message so that people know its in progress.

So for those of you who read this... if you have a canine companion that you'd like to be MutzArt, drop me an email and/or send along some pictures. I want to get one piece completed every month (both flatwork and 3D work) until I have enough to really launch the site. I'd LOVE to do the figurines in china. But, we'll see how that goes as I get farther along. I plan on doing very small editions of each piece, with Hayden being an edition of 15-20, all numbered and with a COA. I've also been thinking cold-cast bronze. But, its still very much in its planning stages. If you've got thoughts or ideas, I'd love to hear them!

Lambert

2009-05-28T09:16:00.000-07:00

Whoa... its been a while since I've posted! Sorry for the radio silence over here... its been a whirlwind of a spring. With the warm weather comes lots of spring projects, both model horse, real horse, and house related. It gets so busy so fast!

Not to mention that this season I became completely owned by American Idol. Actually, it wasn't so much the show, as it was one particular individual... Adam Lambert. I have never been so struck by a performer in all my life. He is quite possibly the most talented artist to ever grace the AI stage, and I get such a kick out of how he has totally wrapped the media (and american public) around his finger. Myself included, of course. sigh.... I would absolutely die to be able to meet him in person.

Anyway, back to model horse matters. I am so thrilled to get such an awesome response to my NAN Auction donation!! For those going to NAN you'll get to see him in person, which is even better since the pics I have of him don't really do him any justice. I hope he sells well and makes his new owner really happy. :-) I've been browsing the auction page this year and am amazed at what COOL stuff is up there... I have already been saving my pennies so I can bid on a lot or two. If you haven't checked it out, I really recommend it!!

Beyond finishing up odds and ends and starting some new horses, I have been working on some very special projects. I posted this to my group, but get to share pics here, hehe! I have been asked to do a guest artist piece of Stacey Tumlinson's re-release of Hilary's Ravenhill. I am TOTALLY stoked about it, since I loved the original Ravenhill and this new guy has the same feel but with a little different personality. My guest artist piece is a bit of a twist since he is Buyer's Choice, and he will be the ONLY buyer's choice piece offered. The details of that were posted to the group, so if you are interested in him then check that out there.

Stacey sent me a copy to paint to prepare for the GA piece, and this handsome fellow was the result. I have not named him yet, but his 'barn name' is going to be Lambert. He's all about glitz, flash and glamour... and has those piercing blue eyes... what else could I name him? LOL! He is going into my own collection. Its so rare that I get to keep a piece, I can't wait to stick him in my curio.

Here are some pics of him. If you are interested in bidding on the GA piece, which can be ANY color (including something similar to this if you'd like!), you can email Stacey directly at tabasco2@dishmail.net.

NAN 09 Auction Donation: FINISHED!

2009-05-03T07:37:00.000-07:00

Alright my friends... here is the finished lot! I'll upload the link to his page on the auction site when I have it; it will have ALL his photos. This is just a few shots to share. :-)

a better pic

2009-04-29T18:51:00.001-07:00

Here is one more pic of the boy, now that I have his hair under control! Feel free to click on the image to make it bigger. :-)

almost there...

2009-04-29T17:35:00.000-07:00

While I continue to work feverishly on painting the Mud Pony, I wanted to share the other half of this story-- the Pawnee boy. The interaction between him and his pony are just awesome in person.

The boy is an original sculpture and is large trad. scale. He still is a little ways from being finished... he needs his moccasins/loincloth, and his hair styled a bit better, but for the most part he is nearing completion. I kept him a bit stylized (he is from a storybook after all!), but wanted to capture that terror/amazement that one would have when they see a clay pony come to life.

NAN Auction horse... progress!

2009-04-22T19:35:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share this progress pic of the NAN auction horse, in just his basecoat. He is going to be haired, and I'm trying a new idea (thanks to Jacquee G!) that completely covers any and all glue that might be seen in his mane/tail. It will be invisible! I can't wait to see how it looks all done up.

After all the dremelling (so... much... hair...!!!) and resculpting to get him this far, I am so happy that his painting is officially in progress... and I'll have finished pictures of him next week. As of this posting I have his body color nearly worked out and am really pleased with how things are going!

Tiny people

2009-04-21T10:47:00.000-07:00

Before I started doing model horses full time, I worked in a stop-motion animation studio, making puppets. Although I love sculpting horses, sculpting tiny people is what I enjoy most, and its what I think I am best at. I love doing characters with wild expressions!

I've done quite a few for people to use with their model horses, and a high proportion of those have been native americans, or specialty dolls of different ethnicities. If only I could sew, I could make the coolest art dolls! Art Dolls is a collector's hobby all by itself, and perhaps when I get some free time I will do some in a larger scale. I may try my hand at doing larger scale clothes at some point, like for a 18" doll. That would be fun to sculpt!

Here is an old lady I am working on for a client to use with a model horse setup. She still needs ears and the rest of her head, but I thought this image so funny I had to share. I can just hear her yelling... can't you? I'll posts pics of her again when I'm further along.

And he's up for sale

2009-04-20T09:05:00.000-07:00

Atlas is now officially up for sale! Find him here:

http://phazestudio.com/MH_whatsnew.html

ATLAS!

2009-04-18T14:14:00.000-07:00

A special Saturday sneak peak... this is "Atlas"! This handsome hunk is about 75% finished in these pics. He still needs detailing, especially on his feet, and a bit of tweaking here and there.

A bit about him...
"Atlas" started out as a Miss America. My vision for him was to capture the saddlebred "essence", while keeping him natural and elegant. I also wanted to push him into a gait that isn't often seen in the model horse world: the Rack. Also known as the running walk, single-footing, or tolt (in Icelandics) all gaited horses have this movement. Saddlebreds probably have the most exaggerated gait due to all the crap they put on them to make them pick their feet up higher (not a fan). Here are some pics:

I didn't want him to look all jacked up like some of those show ASBs, so kept his overall look rather relaxed and fairly easy-going.

Although all very subtle, he has had a TON of work done on him... straightened neck, larger belly, reworked throat, crest, and face, reworked legs into a rack, larger (but natural) front feet, stallion parts... and of course a new mane/tail. Never one to re-invent the wheel, I had this lovely Cadence tail here from a former project... and it just worked perfectly for him. He came out exactly how I pictured him.

More pics will be coming soon; I just need to get him finished before I offer him on Monday to my group.

Balling mini morgan

2009-04-17T13:03:00.001-07:00

Along with the trad. sized ASB I'm working on (who will debut here tomorrow) I have a few more minis I've been plugging away on that will be for sale. One of those is a Balling mini morgan who is a bit of a collaboration piece.

I got this little guy from Morgen Kilbourn, who had intended him to be haired. She had him started and fairly far along, and I am working on finishing him. I also plan on giving him a sculpted mane/tail, perhaps this weekend if I can get to it. He will be quite a little looker when he's finished! My biggest concern right now is blending out those dapples. I blocked them out, and now have to go back into them and smooth the edges so they aren't painted-on looking.

He will probably be offered at the end of next week. More pics to come as he gets more finished! :-)

Unrelated real horse stuff

2009-04-14T07:34:00.000-07:00

As some of you may know (and some of you have met him!) I have a white appy gelding named "Mork". Mork was my very first show horse as a child, the first horse that was my own, and my greatest teacher. When I first saw him, I immediately was struck by his pure white coat; and connected with him immediately. I loved him from the moment I saw him.

He was, however, no pushover; and one of the most important things he taught me was humility-- he could be so stubborn sometimes!! He was my friend and mentor through my childhood, and I accomplished things on him that I never thought possible. Above is a photo of him in his prime (I think here he is around 15). He was just striking when he was polished up; and this is how I will always remember him.

Mork now is 31 years old and living at my parents in retirement. He is a bit senile, as old men tend to get, and spends his days standing in the sun or wandering about the pasture very slowly. I know my time with him is limited, and I know that it will be devestating when it comes to an end. I just recently finished a portrait model of him, who actually is the white face up in my header. It was important for me to get him finished, and to have him be front and center.

The reason I bring it all up is that just recently I requested a FarmTek cataloge, a farm supplies company that sells things like mats, building supplies, general farm stuff. Greg and I have been talking about the possibility of building a barn when the time is right; and so I wanted to start leafing through material to see what was out there. As I went through the cataloge, a familiar face jumped out at me (click image to blow it up):

I had forgotten all about this photoshoot, since I was so little when it happened-- 10 or 12, maybe? It was right after we had finished restoring my parent's barn (it used to be a tobacco shed, but was transformed into stables)-- FarmTek approached us about using the barn and the white horse (Mork) to show off their interlocking mats. In return we got a set of mats for that stall, which are still there today. This was probably at least 12-15 years ago.

It really made me smile to see Mork in the cataloge... in all his former glory, preserved for posterity for all to see. :-)

What do I want to do?

2009-04-07T11:53:00.000-07:00

Just recently I have begun an original sculpture of Lilly, my draft cross. She is curio sized, a size that I think is very underused and under appreciated in our hobby right now. Its a fabulous size to work on, it fits perfectly into one's hands, and is a pleasure to paint. As I've been working on her, I find myself looking more closely at the work of other sculptors I respect, studying their sculpture along with the real-life reference I have in front of me.

It has been said by quite few that people are "a sum of their influences"... and this is no less true in the art world. As artists, we look and process a zillion images every day. Studying the work of others helps us define our own art, using what we like and don't like to build our own unique look and style. Additionally, the greatest works often come from those who have a community of artists who can give each other feedback in order to improve and evolve. Critique is crucial to any artist in order to continue their development, and we must never fear what others have to say, whether it be positive or negative. The bottom line is that regardless of subject or medium, artists are constantly learning from each other whether consciously or unconsciously.

This is no less true in the model horse hobby-- however-- by virtue of being what it is, we have narrowed the spectrum of 'acceptable' work to a very, very small margin. It must look like a horse, as realistically as possible, with little room for extrapolation. This can, and is, quite stifling to many artists who work professionally within the hobby. That being said, even with this small acceptable margin, there still exists very different sculptors with very different bodies of work. And there are very different painters with very different bodies of work. So, even within the narrow hobby we see a range of work, all of which look like horses... and yet falls into 3 very different styles: the impressionists, realists, and hyper-realists. All are equally valid, and all are equally correct since they all are built on the same anatomical structure. Each has its pros and cons, benefits and drawbacks. And of course there are many artists who fall in the gray area between these styles.

In working on my own sculpture, found myself looking at pieces that fall into each category. There is something to be learned from each; and as I develop my own personal style and portfolio I am now trying to make a conscious decision as to where I want to go with my own work. I can't stress enough in this particular breakdown that all these styles are equally valid both as art, and within the anatomical confines of the hobby.

Impressionism vs. Realism vs. Hyper-realism

Impressionism: Impressionism focuses on realistic scenes of modern life, with emphasized vivid overall effects rather than details. Characteristics of Impressionist paintings include visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage of time), ordinary subject matter, the inclusion of movement as a crucial element of human perception and experience, and unusual visual angles. In sculpture, this translates to pieces which look "stylized"-- built on an anatomically correct structure, but whose details are done in such a way to give the piece an exaggerated sense of expression or movement. They often have an amazing personality and the viewer can feel what the emotion/expression in the piece. In the model horse hobby, two artists who immediately come to mind who use this technique are Lynn Fraley and Ann Harris.

Realism: Realists render everyday characters, situations, dilemmas, and objects, all in a "true-to-life" manner. Realists tend to discard theatrical drama, lofty subjects and classical forms of art in favor of commonplace themes. Realists tend to not 'sugar coat' the truths of real life; they portray it as it is, flaws and all. In the model horse hobby, the realist that comes to mind immediately is Brigitte Eberl. A common comment about her work is that people love it because it looks like REAL horses, conformation flaws and all. She does not idealize the subjects she sculpts; she portrays them exactly how they are.

Hyper-realism: Hyperrealism is a genre of painting and sculpture resembling a high resolution photograph. Hyperrealism is a fully-fledged school of art and can be considered as an advancement of Photorealism by the methods used to create the resulting photorealistic paintings or sculptures. Hyper-realists present work that is "overly real"... not just anatomically accurate, they often go above an beyond to accentuate the underlying structure of bones and musculature as well as surface details, also idealizing the form to its most perfect state. Artists who immediately come to mind who work in this style are Sarah Rose and Carol Williams.

Why do I bother writing about this? Because it is important to know the history and movements behind each style which presents itself in our hobby. It also is a way for us to objectively study the sculptures within the hobby and also see their validity not just as "model horses" but as art. As someone who has not done much armature-to-horse sculpture, knowing and understanding what other artists are doing is so important for my own development, as I decide with real-horse reference in front of me how I want my piece to progress. Of course it completely comes down to what I am capable of doing/sculpting with my own hands. It will be interesting to see how this little piece turns out.

custom plastics

2009-04-07T06:28:00.000-07:00

Here are some more pics of the mustang stallion, including some closeups.

All too often I think that custom plastics are looked upon as second-class citizens in the model horse world. There are a variety of reasons for this; one being that so many of us start on plastics when we begin painting and experimenting, creating a much higher percentage of poorly painted and/or remade plastics when compared to resins. That's just the way its always been, and probably always will be.

That being said, there is no reason that all custom plastics be looked up on as 'less than' resins. They are equally valid as any resin, and a good custom will be able to compete with them if done properly. This is something I have learned first hand when working not only on this guy, but also several other plastic pieces. Sure, they may have less detail. And sure, they may have prepping issues. But that becomes the fun challenge... restoring them to their original beauty. I don't ever see myself customizing plastic, in the same way other artist's do. It is not my choice of medium when I want to change it up/repurpose a horse. I see myself more as a restoration artist when it comes to plastics-- I want to make them how they once were... and I have a special fondness for the old molds like those by Maureen Love and the PAF by Chris Hess.

So these pieces, even though they are plastic, should be treated with the same love and care as any resin would. You can't see them as "just plastic"... you have to see them as a piece of artwork that happens to be reproduced in plastic. All those OFs you see discarded in the body box originally came from the hands of artists. Artists who cared about that piece, from start to finish, and continue to live on through each reproduction of it. Once you see this, you can go about removing those seams and redetailing the piece with new purpose... its not just a plastic; its a sculpture with an artist, a sculpture which has been distorted over years of reproduction but could be brought back to its former glory.

Michele's Mustang

2009-04-06T11:29:00.000-07:00

Here is Mr. mustang man now in progress. I've been working on a new technique with the haloed spots using oil pencils; I generally like the way it looks but can't use pencils alone, they still need a wash over them to blend them out. So far so good!

He now needs white on his face and tuning up all over. His face is going to look something like this:
http://stabledays.typepad.com/.a/6a00e553bd675c88340111684bec47970c-800wi

I'm really enjoying working on this guy. I never thought I'd admit that about a plastic!! He has been a fun challenge and a nice reprieve from the resins.

Mustang Stallion

2009-04-04T07:21:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share this guy with you all; it is the progression of a classic mustang stallion.

Although pretty boring in monotone, I think is a good way to see his entire progression. My goal with him to not so much 'customize' him as to 'restore' what he lost in the plastic. I found it to be a really different type of prepping; in that it was less sanding and filling, and more sculpting with a dremmel, trying to channel the original piece underneath. I would love to make him indistiguishable from his china counterpart; having him look as the original sculpture would have when Maureen first created him. From there, much of the detail will be carefully painted-in, accentuating the structure beneath.

It seems so silly, but the big triumph on this boy was his boy parts. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about on the original body... no definition between his tail/legs/parts... what a mess! Now that has all been worked out. One thing I noticed after this particular photoshoot was that he was missing... some parts... and since then that has been fixed so he is a proper stallion. :-)

A new look for Spring!!!

2009-03-31T07:49:00.000-07:00

For those who haven't been to the site in a while, Phaze Studio has a new look for spring! This is new banner for my page. Special thanks to Bridget Corcoran for all her design work!

Dinky...spots

2009-03-24T15:33:00.001-07:00

Remember that Dinky Duke I showed progress pics of a while back? Well, he'll be ready to head home tomorrow (finally)! I had to put him on hold for a while I got some other horses completed, but as of today now he's ready to go. Horray!

These pictures are from today as I finished his blanket. If you click on the images they should blow up nice and big. You can see the dapples now are all blended in as well.
The hardest part about painting mini appies it making sure the spots are in scale. I was feeling bold after tackling the Imp, and so opted for a more intricate pattern. I am pleased with how it came out! Tomorrow I'll post studio pictures of the whole finished piece.
Bitty Bosco is up next, he'll be put up for sale on Monday. He is just STELLAR... he is a dappled liver chestnut. I love how he is coming out! Pics coming soon.

"Vegas".. painted!

2009-03-21T16:18:00.001-07:00

This week I got a bit distracted when I got my first box of unpainted "Vegas" medallions. I sculpted him to be a benefit for my show which will be in September (I know...its a long ways away!). I was dying to see what he looked like all painted up, and so you know how it goes... one thing lead to another and before I knew it this guy was looking at me from my table. Overall, I think he cleans up pretty nice!

My show, North East Congress, is the very first show I have ever hosted. Its been an interesting learning experience, and I have enjoyed the planning process quite a bit. However, one thing occurred to me which I wonder about.... in all the shows I've been to, the fund-raising (raffles, silent auctions, etc) usually always happen at the show, or right before the show. And my question with that is, there are a lot of things that have to get ordered or paid for way before then that are not minor expenses... like the showhall and ribbons, which can get pricey. This leads me to believe that perhaps a better way to do it is to space out fundraising in the months preceding, so that you can use that money to pay for show-related things and keeping it from coming out of pocket.

That all being said, I have been pondering the idea of offering some of the painted medallions in the months leading up to the show. I am very grateful that some of my very favorite (and talented) artists have agreed to paint a copy of Vegas for me, and so if some arrive early, I could auction/sell 1 painted copy each month until September, where I would release the rest of the edition, including 15-20 u/p copies.

I'm not sure yet. I'd love to get feedback on this idea. And I'd love to get feedback on my NAN auction donation idea... ! ;-)

"Eleanor"

2009-03-21T07:34:00.000-07:00

I don't think I ever shared photos of "Eleanor", the yawning mule, all finished! Here she is! AND, she qualified in breed/workmanship with 2 firsts on her first time out!

NAN 2009 Auction Donation!

2009-03-19T16:36:00.000-07:00

Ah, the deadline is coming up fast! I was flattered to be asked to donate again, and this year there was no theme like there has been in the past. My head started spinning with ideas. What would this year be? What could I do that would be special? The answer came while I was showing the 8 yr. old next door my studio. She looked wide eyed at all the horses, nearly all resins... "You do this for your JOB?" she asked in disbelief. "Yes, I do, I'm here every day painting and customizing these horses" I replied.

And then it occurred to me... we all started out as that horse-crazy girl (or boy) with Breyer in hand. That is something all of us in the hobby share; the common thread that unites us all.

My idea revolves around this book I had as a child called "The Mud Pony". I wanted to do something really special and different this year, and my love of children's books has been rekindled lately since I've been buying so many for my niece... so I started thinking about books that I remember from when I was little, and how they effected me. The Mud Pony was a story I always loved, and thought it would be perfect since its a story about making a model horse.

I don't know if you've ever read it; its actually a Pawnee legend of a poor native american boy who doesn't have a pony of his own, so he creates one out of clay from the banks of the river. He ends up accidently getting left behind by his tribe, and so the pony comes to life to take care of him... you can read the whole thing here, on the First People site:

http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Legends/TheMudPony-Pawnee.html

The book actually ends a bit differently, not quite as stark and sad.

So, this year what I wanted to do is have a little bit of a diorama (not over the top, basically just a base to tie everything together) and do an original sculpture of a boy, kneeling by the water, mud pony in his hands, wide eyed... and in front of him coming up from the mud is the real pony, materializing in front of him as if coming from his dream. I wanted to customize Mephisto/take him off the base, and then make a new two new bases for him; one with mud swirling around the grounded foot, and then another so that the new owner could show him without all the extras. That way both pieces can be shown separately, but together they embody the story of a young boy's dreams coming to life.

Here he is with the customizing started. Pretty scary when it first starts out! He's had his mane and tail removed and body customized, and now is ready for finessing. I've been tossing around the idea of hairing him... but I don't know if that would actually take away from it, rather than make it different. The boy will have viscose hair. The horse will be sorrel with flaxen mane tail... to mimic the tiny clay pony in the boy's hands which would be mud-colored with a straw mane/tail.

For those who also read the yahoogroup, that is why I was asking about viscose hair vs. sculpted mane/tail earlier. I am curious to get some feedback on his beginnings, and of course will post more pictures as he gets further along. :-)

2009-03-08T18:07:00.000-07:00

Just found this...

"A Swedish study of memory recall in rats found that radiation from cell phones affected the rodents' brain power. Researchers at the Division of Neurosurgery, Lund University in Sweden found that rats that were exposed to mobile phone radiation for two hours a week for more than a year had poorer results on a memory test than those that had no contact with mobile phone radiation. In earlier findings from the researchers, microwave radiation from cell phones affected the brain's ability to protect against nerve cell damage. The lead researcher Henrietta Nittby has a cell phone but uses hands-free equipment to avoid holding her phone up to her ear, according to ScienceDaily.com."

Time for me to get a hand's free, I think... before I loose my memory completely!!

Spring!

2009-03-07T15:09:00.000-08:00

Today was the first nice day we've had this season... and BOY, was it beautiful out!! It was around 60, and I was able to open up the studio windows and let some much needed fresh air in. I even took the dog-children out for a walk. Poor kids... they were probably expecting a short walk up and down the street, but I was enjoying the day so much that I just kept going. Daisy, the basset hound, was exhausted by the time we got back. We only did about 2 miles, but for a dog with short legs, I bet that seems like an epic journey. I've often thought about fashioning a Radio Flyer so that the other 2 dogs could pull it, and that way when she gets tired I can put her in the wagon and keep on going. Hmm... that would be quite a sight...

The only bad thing about a heat wave is that EVERYTHING turns to muddy goop. The pastures are a mess of muck!! The horses don't seem to mind at all, and Lilly, my draft cross mare, loves splashing in the puddles.
In more "hobby" news, the first show of the season is 1 WEEK away! Oh god, I am not nearly prepared. I wanted to have so much more done... including two horses for myself. But, I've had to put them aside for the time being in order to get some commissions done that want to bring with me to this show. One of these was for Vicky Norris, who got a spotty Hazel. I traded a *brilliant* parade set with Vicky for this piece. I've already gotten the set, and it is just so incredible... I hope Vicky loves her Hazel as much as I love my tack! Here is a progress pic of Ms. Hazel so far. Feel free to click on the images to blow them up big! I am pleased with how she is turning out.

I've also been plugging away on Imp, and just recently got my copy of Bitty Bosco! Its mustang mania over here. Imp is shaping up pretty good, but he has got a LONG way to go.

I've been fussing over him in between other horses, since I'm on a tight schedule this week. I really shouldn't be working on him at all, but I couldn't help myself. He's so darn cute!

Bitty Bosco also is something that I am just tickled with. He is SO much more detailed than the pictures show, he is really something special. If I dare say so, I like him better than big Bosco. My thoughts are mulberry gray for him, and I spent some time today prepping him. I'll post progress pics of him too as he gets his color.

I also have Mr. America (he really needs a new name...) almost worked out. I'll post some pictures of him too next week, along with his sales info. :-D

Liesl

the next few horses/sales

2009-03-03T07:02:00.000-08:00

Bambi has arrived safe and sound at her new home, and I know she'll be much loved there. I am so happy with how that sale went!

As I told her new owner, the little mustang foal was such a breath of fresh air to work on, I enjoyed every minute of it. Its been my new-found love of the old Hagans sculpted by M. Love that really made me want to get my hands on some of their plastic counterparts. In china, they have so much more detail... I wanted to take the plastics and perhaps give them some of that back, but in a different way.

It actually inspired me to hunt down some of my other favorite OFs to work on, including a very old PAF who I've been tinkering with (I found one with amazing mold detail), and a very old PAM, whose detail also is just lovely. My plan for them is to customize them very subtley, kind of like the mustang foal, to bring out their natural charm and accentuate their detail. I want to really bring them back to how the artist originally envisioned them, with a little twist of my own to make them special.

Although the PAF is farthest along, I have actually gotten the mustang mare and stallion about 60% ready for paint. They won't be getting the same level of fluff that their baby did, but instead I am redetailing their coats and adding detail to their manes/tails. I've also gotten the little Imp prepped (boy, that was a trip... he is one tiny dude). Admittedly, because of this I am a bit nervous about painting him. I honestly don't think I've ever painted anything this size.

Here is what I have planned for him; I haven't decided on chestnut or bay yet for the base color.

I also will be going to my favorite art store (Jerry's Art A Rama) and getting some new tiny brushes just for him. I need as fine a point as I can get for this one! Its probably an ambitious color, but I think its going to turn out fantastic.

My first show is March 14th, so I'm trying to prepare for that. I have a few pieces I need to finish up before I can try to offer another sales piece. My goal is to start offering something every month, or if its something small, 2 somethings every month. That way it pushes me to keep a better schedule and also forces me to balance the remaining commissions with sales pieces.

So... the next piece I will offer for sale will be around March 16-17th. It will be the Imp, followed shortly after by Mr. America who was *supposed* to be offered back in Feb., but thanks to my poor time management skills he's a month late. Blarg. Ah...He's well worth it though; he's one sexy guy!

Imp!!!

2009-02-28T19:17:00.000-08:00

Oh MY!!! I got my copy of Imp today, and I had no idea how TINY he is!! He is just the most adorable little morsel.... my mind is swimming with ideas for him. SO CUTE!!! I've got frame overo on the brain... against my better judgment (I have other horses I really need to be working on!!) I think I'll be getting him ready to paint this coming week. I will post pictures of him here before he goes up for sale.

mmm... fuzzy...

Why my airbrush hates me (and visa versa)

2009-02-22T18:51:00.001-08:00

When I first started painting model horses, like so many I started with an airbrush. I tried for years to try and make it work for me, and tried several different types of airbrushes and types of paints, but we never got along. It was a love-hate relationship... I would have LOVED for it to work, but each time I used it, I HATED it. It was early in 2007 that I pitched my airbrush into the garbage and started fresh painting by hand. And this I believe was the biggest turning point in my work.

Although I will never attempt completing a horse by airbrush again, it wasn't long before I realized that base-coating by hand took me FOREVER. So, I caved and decided to get another airbrush for base-coating purposes only. I did some research and found the Paasche H, which has an external mix and a gravity-feed cup.

For those of you who love your airbrushes... who take good care of them, and meticulously clean them after each and every use... now would be the time to look away, lest you run screaming into the night...

And with that disclaimer, here is how I keep my poor airbrush. It sits in a Windex/water solution full time, and I change the solution about twice a week. What I do is after I am done spraying, I flush it through with straight Windex to get the excess paint out, and then just set it into this cup. From the looks of it, I need to change it again....

I love the Paasche H because of the external mix. The paint never goes through the actual airbrush, and so it won't get wrecked it if you don't clean it exceptionally well (or at all...). I don't have the patience for cleaning it over and over and over (probably another reason I hand-paint). I use Windex because it keeps the paint from drying in the workings. It does dry out the rubber sealer around the tip, but that is a cheap part to replace and I've only needed to replace it once or twice in the 2 years I've had this thing. The cost of the airbrush is $65, the replacement parts (the whole mixing assembly) costs $10 to replace. I replace the mixing assembly probably once ever 4 months depending on how often I am using it and how mean I've been to it. The cost of the compressor... well... its a bit more. I got a good one for $350, and it has an automatic shutoff and a regulator. You really need between 60-90 psi to keep the paint from glopping up.

Now, I don't recommend you treat your airbrush with this much hate and disdain... but hell, if the Paasche H works through these conditions, there is NOTHING anyone else can do to it to wreck it. The Paasche H is the workhorse of all the airbrushes... and although I use it exclusively for base-coating, with a fine tip you can probably do more detail work. It saves me a lot of time and is really dependable. And, I've fired other stuff through it too, like bronze coating. I don't recommend that either. It doesn't like that. But, I've done it successfully!

So, if you are looking for a good general-use airbrush which takes a LOT of punishment, the Paasche H is the one for you!

Bambi and eBay

2009-02-21T07:33:00.000-08:00

She's now officially up at auction, and this is one of those VERY rare occasions I opted for eBay. I had sworn off eBay quite some time ago, since its so full of fraud and the fees are just ridiculous. But, since I didn't know how to price this particular piece, I figured eBay would declare the fair market value. However... I didn't realize though how MUCH the fee structure changed until after I listed her.

You can see it here: http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/fees.html

They seem to be catering not to the sellers who have a few odds and ends they want to sell, or people who have something high-end to sell... but instead are catering to the Walmart/discount-type sellers who are buy in bulk to resell at lower-than-retail prices. This makes me sad, since it is another shining example of how our economy and culture is changing from mom-and-pop stores to favoring the huge buy-in-bulk giants. We've gone from a people who believed that all things good are worth waiting for to a people who only care about instanteous gratification. Quality and uniqueness all to often becomes secondary to a low price and having it now.

Sociology has always intregued me (it was actually my minor in college). One book in particular, called "The McDonaldization of Society" really outlines this trend and offers a really keen insight on it going on in our world right now. It was written by George Ritzer, and is a pretty interesting read if you've ever gotten frustrated with how there is a McDonalds or Starbucks around every corner. You can find it at Borders:
http://www.borders.com/online/store/TitleDetail?sku=1412954304

Back to eBay... the overall greed of eBay/Paypal is what really turns me off to the whole system. Here is what I found out when I actually did out the math. It cost me $7 to list that foal. That included the ad being bold and also a reserve price ($3). I also found out the charge for the reserve price no longer goes away if the reserve is hit. Hmm.

The new fee structure also says that eBay gets 8.75% of the first $25 (which is basically $2.15... I don't know why they don't just say that) and then 3.5% of the remaining final value. Ok. So lets say that the foal sells for the current bid amount, which is $200. So, according to this fee structure, I would have to pay eBay $2.15 + $6.13 = $8.28. PLUS the initial $7. So the total fees for listing the foal are $15.28. This is 7.6% of the total value of the sale. Then couple that with fees from Paypal (another lovely eBay company) which are 3.5%... and between the two of them, they've eaten into over 11% of your sale. YIKES!!!

Of course, by the time I actually did this out she was already listed. I will not be using eBay in the future, and I really encourage other artists to do the same. I will probably start using Auction Barn... if more artists use it, it will become THE place to find all the newest and hottest pieces, then it will enjoy huge popularity... and that of course benefits the whole hobby. But, as a hobby we need to make that effort. Of course its going to take a while to get it really rolling, but it has the potential to be the answer to the exorbitant fees that eBay whacks us with. Its kind of a Catch 22 (also a great book)-- no one wants to use it until it becomes popular... but it won't become popular if no one uses it. The more artists choose to use Auction Barn, the faster Auction Barn will gain popularity. So, the next time I need to auction something off, I will list it there.

Sneak Peak... "Bambi"

2009-02-19T11:18:00.000-08:00

I don't normally paint plastics, since normally we don't get along. Give me a resin to take apart any day... but plastics are just an enigma. That being said, I am so enamored with all the pieces that Maureen Love has done, especially the classic mustang family. They are just so charming, and have this amazing personality that all her pieces share. I had this little mustang foal hanging out in the studio and decided to use her for some experimenting. She's been in process now for a while, and just this afternoon I was able to finish her.

The first thing I did was make her fuzzy. I recently had the honor of doing a restoration on the amazing "Elvis" by Sarah M-B, who has a fuzzy texture to him. This got me thinking about how to go about that, and used my little mustang as the test piece for this technique. "Bambi" was the result! She has been redetailed and painted, and I'll probably put her up for sale tomorrow. Here are some sneak peaks of her face. I'll take studio photos tomorrow.

Intro: Painting in Acrylics

2009-02-18T15:13:00.000-08:00

On a lighter note, I thought some of you might find peeking into the process of how I paint. I will always take photos of horses in-progress so I can study them larger than life on my computer screen. Sometimes its easier to see flaws or weirdness on the screen than in person, especially when painting minis since I can blow them up REALLY big to look at the details.

Its rare that I'll actually share photos of something before it is finished, since I know its hard for people to see how the horse will look complete when he is looking all weird and awful. And with that, I'd like to share with you this Dinky Duke. He was one of the in-progress pieces I had to put down last week, but found some time to fuss over him today since he really needs to go out. I'll share the finished pics tomorrow.

Intro: Painting with Acrylics

This is going to be a quick rundown of my process, but I will get more in-depth with it on a different piece (something larger and easier to see). My process is a bit different than how others paint I'm sure; half because I am using acrylics, half because I work from dark-to-light instead of the other way around. I start with base-coating the horse with one of the darkest shades I plan on using. Here, Dinky started out black since he is going to be seal bay.

Once his base-coat is dry, I start working over it in washes, moving the very lightest color next. The wash ratio I use is about 75% paint to 25% clean water. Since I mix the paints themselves with extender; there is no need to add more. Another note--the paints I mix have a higher concentration of pigment, so I can add the water and it doesn't make it too translucent. Even still, it takes several washes to make it opaque, and takes a long time to get it the right place.

Here you can see where I've started on the pangare. I have 3 washes on his right side, with no blending just yet. Another quirk of mine is that I work front-to-back. I start at the muzzle and work back to the tail. I even do this when customizing something; it helps me see where I've been and how far I still need to go. So, on this side, you can start to see a bit of blending down his neck.

Once I get the lightest values blocked out, I can blend in the middle values to create shading and depth of color. I've gotten a little farther on his left shoulder/neck.

Here you can see his finished face, before any coats of Krylon (this is why it still looks a bit streaky; that is caused by the different mixes/intensities of the paint layers). Once it gets sprayed with finish it will be completely smooth and even.

This dinky is going to be an appy. That, along with finished pics, will be tomorrow's entry!

Life... interrupted.

2009-02-18T08:51:00.000-08:00

Art and life are irreversibly tied together, as so much of our work is impacted and influenced by what is going on our day to day. In my world, this most notably is seen in how long it takes something to be finished; as a bad day here or there, or something going on so quickly eats up the time that would have been spend painting.

The past two weeks have been quite difficult in terms of finding time to paint. I usually like to have a stretch of 6-8 hours of quiet, unadulterated time to work on things. I can't focus if there is a lot going on, and the work suffers because of it... and so if things get crazy, I normally put the paints away until I can my quiet time again. I don't function well in chaos (which may surprise some of you who have seen my studio)... its actually more of a people-related chaos... I prefer to spend my afternoons alone with my paints and dog-children. When people start getting added into the mix, I tend to become agitated and frustrated very quickly.

This agitation usually comes because of being bothered by 1) my mother, 2) my sister, and 3) other members of my family who need me to do this or that which I can just drop everything and do for them because I am working from the studio (re: I must be available since I don't have a 9-5 job). This has been an ongoing problem since I started working at the studio at my parent's; although it affords me the space to spread out and make messes away from my house, its created a whole different problem of being called upon constantly simply because I am there. The schedule I keep is actually rather strict and I do make deadlines for myself (I have to, or else I'd be fussing over horses till the end of time).. however because my car is in the driveway and I am in and out of the kitchen at my parent's, I make myself a target to take care of things that they don't have time to do because of their "real" jobs. (this annoys me to no end).

What ends up happening is that I let my clients know when their horse will be finished/shipped... and then a day or two later I get pressed into service again and my entire schedule is thrown off. This makes me look quite unprofessional, and I know I need to deal with this, since its long become an epidemic. The problem is that I can't say no. Its so hard for me, since I don't want to let anyone down. And, recently, I feel I can't say no because its been in regards to our real horses and my grandmother, both of which if I wasn't there to take care of, then it wouldn't get done at all.

Part of the problem is that my dad has been away taking care of his brother, who is now in his late 80s. His daughters are not in a position to help sort things out and he and my aunt really need to be in an assisted living place. So, my dad traveled out to Indiana (2 days drive) to try and sort through things. Dad's been gone for 2 weeks now, and while he has been away, I've had to get to my parent's house at 8 am to feed and turn out the horses, clean the stalls, and bring them back in at night. This wouldn't be an issue if my mother AND sister didn't live at the location that I am driving 35 minutes to get to. Its been made a bit more complicated in that my grandmother, who is 93, was hospitalized last week for a very serious bacterial infection. She is home now (she lives at my parents), but all the medications and the infection has left her very weak and so she really requires all-day supervision and help moving around. So, now, along with the barn chores, I am in and out of the kitchen to make her breakfast, tea, lunch, help her around, help her clean up, help her clean the kitchen... there goes my unadulterated day of painting. I don't mind looking after her; I grew up with my grandparents living in the same house and so they raised me as much as my parents did. I am more annoyed that I am bearing the brunt of the responsibilities when there are in fact other people who live in the same house and they can just walk to the barn. I can't seem to get my mother to understand that *I don't live close by* and that its costing a fortune in time and gas money to go back and forth and run all the errands.

This has how it has been for the past 2 weeks, and so I am approximately 2 weeks behind. This translates into about 100 hours behind!!! This is insanely frustrating to me because the show season is FAST approaching and I need to get my own 2 show horses as well as a few customer orders done in time to get qualified for NAN. BLARG!

I do feel better after complaining a bit. Sorry to unload...!!

planning a live show

2009-02-02T08:18:00.000-08:00

This weekend I found myself greatly distracted since I've started planning a live show of my own. I've never hosted a show before, and so all the planning, preparations etc has my head spinning! My plans are for an all stock-horse show, to be named "North East Congress Live". A preliminary classlist can be found here:

http://phazestudio.com/NECongress.html

I am still waiting on exact dates and locations, but it will be in South Windsor, CT in the beginning of September. As I started planning, the first thing that came into my mind was awards. And thats when I got REALLY distracted and against my better judgment, started sculpting a special medallion just for the show. Here he is: "Vegas"! He was sculpted after the 'real' Vegas, who is a Zips Chocolate Chip baby. It was his photo I used in the logo as well. I'm going to offer the medallion unpainted in a limited edition run to help fund the show, and then very special OOAK customized pieces will be given as awards. The whole medallion is 4"x4".

I still have some work left to do on it; the pieces are not attached to each other yet, which is why there is that shadow underneath his neck. I would love to have some other artists finish some of the awards for me; or perhaps do some auction pieces. Its still very early for all of this; I need to be working on other stuff! But, he just kind of happened along and I am happy with how he turned out.

The other side of the coin is that in doing him, it has REALLY made me want to start working on a full horse. I love doing medallion sculpture, but I am really wanting to get an armature built and start working on a full sculpture. I'm still trying to work out the details in my head of what exactly that should be. I still love the idea of doing Lilly, but also want to do something that hasn't already been done to death. I have some sketches of ideas... perhaps I'll scan those in to share later in the week.

2009-01-28T11:21:00.001-08:00

I've seen recently an increase in artists sculpting/releasing a horse in resin... and then offering 2-3 "versions" of the same horse (with different manes/tails or a slightly different pose), and//or then offering it in mini-size... in 2-3 versions...

There must be a market for all these horses, since it keeps happening at such a high frequency. Although not always the case, the first thought that comes into my mind is that the original artist saw a few customized pieces, liked how they looked, and wanted to get a piece of that success. Although this is not always the case.

This is a slippery slope for me to tread on, since while on one hand I am in favor of the original artist benefiting from these new 'versions'... I am REALLY against having so many different variations cast and sold of the same piece, with slightly different hairdo's or very minor (if at all) body customizing. My first and foremost reason is that every 'version' that comes out which is basically the same as the one before-- cheapens that earlier run.

My second feeling is that it devalues all those customized pieces that happened before it. When a resin is released and sold to the public, many artists will see it and think "OH, wouldn't that be cool to do THIS to make it different!". And so they customize the original release, making it one of a kind. Now... what happens if the original artist then releases a second version of the original resin, with the same/similar customizing that a different artist did previously? The one of a kind horse is not anymore. It took away the value of that custom, and is a bit demoralizing for the customizing artist, since now she wouldn't be able to get the same price for that piece that she would have before Version 2 came out.

Now, think about it this way, as a consumer. Here are two real-life examples of what happens.

Example #1: Say you REALLY want resin A. Its a nice piece, and a limited run of 150. You are so excited about getting it and its the newest, hottest thing out there. On the release date and you wait by the computer and as soon as it is available you get one. You are able to secure one. Horray! Victory!

But then, three months later the original artist comes out with a second version, which is basically the same thing only with different hair. You try to sell yours (at cost) because you need money, but no one wants to buy it at the price you paid because this new version is available. So, you have to sell it at a loss.

Example #2: Say you see this amazing customized resin for sale. It was a popular resin, and then what this artist did made it so different and unique, and you love it. You spend a lot on it, but thats ok since its one of a kind and a LOT of work went into customizing it.

But then, 3 months later the original sculptor of the resin comes out with another version customized basically the same way. This devalued the horse you bought because now someone can basically buy the same thing for the u/p resin price, instead of paying for all the customizing. So, if you have to sell this horse, you will not be able to recoup what you paid.

Now again, I can see how there can be multiple arguments on this. One could argue that the multiple versions may make the original version more valuable. There are examples of this happening. However, more often than not this is not the case. It floods the market with these "limited editions" that basically are the same piece, diminishing the secondary market value. Why does this matter to us? Because people are less likely to buy an unpainted resin if they are unsure if it will hold its value.

I personally am of the mindset that if you are going to spend the time to create an original sculpture, don't keep recasting it and recasting it. There are ways to make the edition profitable while also being fair to the secondary market and protect the buyer's investment.

1. Offer an open edition, allowing people to buy as many as they would like. This insures that the artist is the main beneficiary of sales.

2. Offer a limited edition, with a set number of numbered copies all coming with COAs. This protects the buyer's investment in that they know it is truly a LE, regardless of number. If you are genuinely worried about scalpers benefiting off your hard work, offer these pieces at auction and let the market decide the final cost. This also means that sold out means *sold out*. Stay honest and don't have one recast every time you need money.

3. If you do want to do multiple versions right from the start, there is nothing wrong with that!! Its probably a good idea to state what versions you plan on doing in the original release, especially if its something you think may have a lot of interest. OR, say that you do not want people customizing it, thereby keeping the 'specialness' of a customized re-release.

4. Not everything has to be mini-sized. Its ok to just have one size or another. There is also something to be said for doing a brand new sculpt if you want to mini-size something. Shrinking things down digitally looses a LOT of detail, and it takes FOREVER to put it back in. I realized how exhaustive this process is from watching Morgen Kilbourn re-detail Bitty Bosco. The finished piece was incredible, but it took a LONG time to put back all the detail so that he was as great as the original. What I learned is not all shrinkies are created equal, and putting out a really detailed mini, either a fresh sculpt or a shrinky, takes a long time. And a magnifying glass.

If you have a popular resin that you really want to make into a mini, either really put the time in to re-detail in it, or if you'd rather do a fresh sculpt, change it up a bit to keep the idea fresh.

5. Don't wait until you see a customized piece to do another version. Remember that this hobby was built upon people customizing. Its wonderful that people can build on your ideas and customize your horse. But, just because it looked great, doesn't mean that you should do the same type of thing and then offer it as an edition yourself. Don't dwell in the past... start a new piece and keep pushing yourself to do better.

A lesson on copyright

2009-01-27T06:57:00.001-08:00

Recently on Model Horse Blab there was a long discussion on copyright infringement. Here is the short version:

There was a girl ("GingerC") on DeviantArt.com who has been tracing photos of Breyers and resins, calling it "line art", and selling them as original artwork. Included was Orinocco, Let's Fly, Baby Sundae, El Cid, as well as the Stone Arabian and several Breyers. Very well known profiles, and very easily spotted. These were not drawings using these horses as reference, these were direct tracings. Beyond just having them on DeviantArt.com, she is selling these "drawings" on eBay as originals.

If you would like to read the whole thread, you can find it here:

http://www.modelhorseblab.com/forums/showthread.php?t=81790

Tracing or sketching from other artist's work is as old as art itself. Sketching from the Masters is something that is still done in art school, and it is a very valid and valued practice since there is much to learn from these great works. However, there is a huge difference between sketching the Mona Lisa for practice, and trying to sell that sketch as original work.

It is no different than trying to sell sketches of resins or Breyers. The copyright belongs to the original artist, and is their creative property. It is illegal to post these derivative images in a public place, like the internet, or to try and profit off them.

To draw a comparison, it would be like a musician re-recording a Beatles album and claiming it as their own. Or, it would be like someone re-recording a Beatles album and selling copies of it without getting the rights to do so. Both are illegal. This is why people are having their videos yanked on YouTube all the time if they contain copyrighted material.

Example: say you make a home video and set it to a "Hard Days Night". You did not get permission to use that song in your video. Although you are not making money off it, YouTube is through their ad revenue. So, they are profiting from copyrighted material. The result is that your video is pulled. Same type of situation.

That is the problem with the internet. It is too easy to steal and pirate other people's creative property, and often times the people doing it don't even know. This is more widely understood in the music market with the bringing down of Napster. You can't steal music without paying for it. Similarly, you can't steal other artist's creative property without paying for it.

By not giving credit for the creative property, and also trying to sell the tracings, GingerC committed MAJOR fraud and copyright infringement. She needs a serious smack upside the head.

The bottom line: if you are going to copy another artist's work, for practice or to better your own artwork, that is fine. But don't put it on the internet, and don't try to market it as your own.

Another music analogy to better understand:

My husband is a classic and flamenco guitarist. He wanted to put together a compilation of songs for an album. He would be playing all the songs, so they would be his interpretation of each piece . However, the songs themselves were written by other people, and so their creative property.

In order to record these songs and offer the album to the public (this means sell the album OR give it away), he had to go get written permission AND pay a fee PER song to the companies/people who owned them. The cost varied from song to song.

To bring it back to this particular Orinocco situation: even though GingerC did her "interpretation" of Orinocco, the original piece belongs to Sarah MB. In order for her to put the resulting image in a public place, like the internet, she needed express written consent from Sarah MB and to pay for its usage.

Sarah M-B said it best in this post on Blab thread:

"You can read the full code here: http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/

Aside from the law providing the copyright holder the sole right to reproduce said image for public display and/or profit (106: http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/1...6----000-.html), there are two more intrinsic dangers here peculiar to modern technology:

(1) People stealing another artist's original image (or unauthorized use) and placing it up on a publicly accessed website puts that image in danger, on a global scale (aside from the confusion of authorship that causes, too). This is why "public display" is specifically mentioned in the code. If you read the article I mentioned in a previous post (from Plagiarism Today), you'll read that unscrupulous people from the public sector mine dA for images to use illegally. In other words, because that pirated Orinocco image was put up there by that clod (and God knows for how long), I now have to be concerned about that unauthorized "line art" of my sculpture showing up on other products for sale from folks who may have snagged it before it was taken down -- and I won't get credit or payment for my work (and Liz won't get the same for her effort taking the photo). Copyright law is a tort law, too, meaning that everyone involved in the direct benefit of the infringement, no matter how unaware, is equally liable in a lawsuit. In contrast, as Lesli mentioned in a previous post, this "innocent" kind of copying was relatively non-threatening in the past (like little Susie does all the time at home in her scrapbook today -- hey, I'm sure we all did that in some measure ). However, the moment the option to post these "drawings" on the net became possible, for sale or not -- that changes radically. What was once a tightly isolated and containable occurrence by some innocent person now becomes a global problem because that "innocent" image is now exposed to unscrupulous people, and often without the original artist even knowing about it! Add into that the myriad ways to apply that digital image on "stuff," and the issue becomes a kaleidoscope of a mess. It's an issue of access and scale.

Now one could say that artists encounter these problems all the time when they display their work, especially in this digital age, and yes, that's true. However, we do so on our own terms and take measures to protect ourselves.

[Side note: Collectors of an artist's original work should be concerned as well because piracy endangers the exclusiveness of their collected works, and policing this kind of thing is distracting for the artist -- she has to take time away from studio work to bonk on the heads of those who would steal what comes out of it. Aggravating to say the least.]

(2) When people steal another person's creative idea, they're stealing property. When it comes to a working artist -- there are only three things she will ever have: Her time, her reputation and her materialized ideas. Copyright infringement steals all three. This is why it's wrong to put these stolen images on public display, no matter how innocently created or intended, and doubly wrong to put a new copyright notice on it, as though it was "new art" that could be under this person's copyright. It's triple-wrong to attempt to profit from such bogus images, too.

Sarah MB"

A small note

2009-01-21T19:42:00.000-08:00

tonight as I organize my thoughts for a longer post over the next day or so.

As history unfolds, and despair felt around the country is replaced with a feeling of hope and renewed optimism--I have never been more proud of this country then right now.

A Tribute to Moon Boots

2009-01-19T15:42:00.000-08:00

Yea... you all laughed at Napoleon Dynomite that he wore moon boots all the time... but MAN... he was onto something!!! If you've never worn a pair, or even tried some on... go and get some. Right now. I'll wait.

Ok, got them? Now put them on. Ahhhhh.... its like having your feel wrapped securely in a soft down comforter. I'm telling you... once you experience moon boots, you'll never go back to regular boots again.

If you couldn't tell already, I am a moon-boot believer. I haven't always been though... I was just like everyone else who looked at them and thought that those must be the ugliest things I have ever seen... which actually is quite a statement coming from me since I've always had a love for ugly footwear.

The story behind my very first pair is that my sister actually got them for me as a joke... but then when I started wearing them... I soon became convinced that they are most awesome boots ever. It started when I put them on to take the dogs out in the snow... and then I started wearing them to the studio... and then I said "The heck with what other people think!" and I started wearing them out. And ironically... the most common thing I hear is "those boots are awesome!". And they ARE awesome, my friends... they really are!

The moral of the story is... don't judge a boot by its cover... LOL!!

Snow day!

2009-01-18T10:57:00.000-08:00

Last night/this morning we got another snow storm... and since we can't get down the driveway when its all snow, Greg and I took the 'kids' out for a afternoon romp in the powdery white stuff.

Hayden LOVES the snow. He makes these little doggie 'snow angels', and then gets up and tears through it at full speed with his mouth wide open... nose in the snow, catching as much of it in his mouth as he can. Then all 3 start running around... up the hill, down the hill, around the house, through the woods... until they are all so pooped they can barely catch their breath. I snapped these photos to share!

back to painting

2009-01-17T08:12:00.000-08:00

This is another piece I have been trying desperately to finish; she is the yawning mule. In these photos she has about 15 hours left on her. Mule spots are CRAZY!! Above is the reference photo I have been working from.