Horses and A Day in the Life

I just recently received a new order for a custom, and this is the picture I received: I took a look at the picture and had the typical thought process of, "What a pretty horse. Plain, simple bay. That will be easy enough. Silly guy has clearly been laying down, look at all that dust [I realized my mistake later]! What a nice barn... etc." And the the detail pictures started rolling in and I got the shock and thrill of my life. What a fun custom to do! And what a strange color. As her o wner says, " I like to say she’s part zebra."  Yes, I would say that is accurate... Look at those legs! Part Okapi might be more accurate. And look at that back! Does this count as counter-shading? The colors doesn't stop there. It also extends to her front legs... And her brightly colored face. Thank you C for letting me post these pictures on my blog! Your mare is stunning and I look forward to getting started on her!

I am so good at posting stuff regularly... once a month. I ought to be ashamed of myself, but somehow I just can't bring myself to be so. I recently finished a foal custom and sent her off to her new owner. I also finished my BreyerFest Diorama. It is going to be submitted tomorrow. I'm pretty satisfied with it. There are a few things that could use tweaking but I think I will leave it as is. Finally, I also received a new Black Horse Ranch Resin Clydesdale today. Yay! I name almost all of my horses after United States ships including Johnston, (a destroyer): By U.S. Navy photo NH 63495, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2277243 Phoenix (a cruiser): By U.S. Navy - U.S. Navy photo [1] from Navsource.org, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2241808 And Intrepid (a carrier), who has not yet arrived: Image credit goes to BreyerHorses.com By Unknown author - U.S. Navy photo NH 97468, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org...

It has been almost a month since my last blog post. How cringeworthy! Meanwhile, I have been working on several customs. All of them have been traditionals. These first four are all from the same customer. The custom Brunello and the Dark Bay Idocus with four socks don't have their final gloss coats in the pictures. Unfortunately, I forgot to take final pictures before sending them off. The foal is still "under construction" at the moment. She still requires a couple of back socks and a blaze. I will try to get final pictures for her. I also finished a Silver Dapple PAM And a small Bay Lying Foal As well as a custom Shagya Arabian I feel very productive. That's seven customs in less than a year. They aren't LSQ but I am learning. For example, I learned that if I sprayed every layer of my white paint (just as I spray every layer of pastels) with a matte spray, it doesn't collect the dust. I feel like Columbus discovering America all over again.

I have been working on a lot of customs lately. I have been able to try new bodies and colors (and find out which horses I would like to add to m herd without having to pay for them). The nice thing about commissioned customs is a lot of horses cross my desk, so I can decide which ones I like and son't like without actually having to keep them. Meanwhile, here are the progress pictures of all (most)   some  of them. You can see the re-sculpted Brunello in his new base coat sitting behind the PAM. For my horses, I use a base coat of acrylic. My favorite color is Brown or Red Iron Oxide. I can use this color on virtually any horse from Bay, Silver, Chesnut, to Black. Next, there comes layer after layer of pastels and matte varnish. After that, comes the mane, eyes, and markings. These are my final stages of painting. After that comes the finish of the buyer's choice. While matte is by far the favorite, gloss finish is the more durable of the two. How ...

Lately, I added a new horse to my herd. She is a big beautiful CollectA Belgian, with the sweetest personality for a model horse I think I have seen yet. My Breyer PAM is sweet, while my Ravel has an excellent personality, but I think this horse tops them all. Not only does she have a sweet personality, but she is BIG , and DRAFTY,  and HEAVY. I think this has to be one of my favorite additions to my herd so far. And of course, I couldn't have a new horse at the same time as new snow without trying to get some new photographs! Just look at this face, will you???!!!  What a good girl! I can't decide on her name though. I have a few ideas. I like the name Bella. I also like the name Mariah. What about Ellie? What about a good old fashioned Nelly ? I can't decide! Meanwhile, I have been working on looking to maybe  add a Peter Stone to my herd. I really love the Arabians, and my favorite has to be a Padron's Psyche. Image credit goes to the Peter ...

I was looking back at my photos and finding old customs that I have done in the past. Some are customs I have sold, some are customs I have kept, some are customs I hate, and some are just... customs. I will now review them, and tell you where they are now! All of these pictures are examples of past photography attempts, except for the overo Missouri Fox Trotter. This guy is sitting in a  body box with a broken leg after a tumble from a high shelf. He is also covered in a new coat of pastels where I let my little sister play on him. This guy still exists at my house. Right now he is trying to have his splashed white pattern finished.  This horse, too, is also sitting on my shelf. She will be donated to a local Mustang Center. This girl is a custom for my sister. She loves Black Tabiano Georgian Grandes, so I made on for her. This horse was sold a long time ago. I like to believe he is sitting on a shelf somewhere being loved. This was my first Traditional...

I know, two weeks since the last post! I had a couple of posts I could have done, only it seems that my camera seemed to find this an amusing time to disappear. I'll find it some year, but apparently not today. However, I do have a few photos on my laptop that I can use for a post. Recently, I started up an Etsy page . One of the things I have started selling are custom horse portrait sketches. They are a lot of fun to make, and not too hard. Of course, they aren't perfect replications, but they aren't too bad in my opinion. I would say that the trotting horse is the least perfect of all of them. He needs a little work. Well, one post! It's not much, but it is something! Once I find my camera, there will be more interesting things to put up here. :)