A sneak peak

These two quite different horses are some of what I'm working on. The CM Abel in back is my NAN auction donation piece. Still got a good ways to go on him--I haven't even gotten any primer on him yet. And I suppose I need to work out his forelock as well. What you can't see is that his mane and tail are removable. I plan to give him a hair mane and tail as well--so if you like hair, or for performance classes, you can have mohair, if you prefer sculpted--no problem there! I've done some parts a bit differently than I've seen them done before. There shouldn't be any visible join once he's finished.

The little guy (Little Bits scale) is my latest sculpture. He's (obviously) an Andalusian/PRE stallion, in a forward Spanish trot. I still have a ways to go on him what with smoothing and correcting musculature and overall detailing, but he's getting there. I just shot him with his first coat of primer, so now I can see all sorts of things to fix! I plan to have him ready for sale by Breyerfest. He does need a name...

Some works in progress

So: some things I've been working on! All these pictures are rather poor, I'm afraid--not great lighting today. Ah well, you can get the idea. Just note that my camera has introduced some graininess that is not in the finish work!



First up is a red bay Willoughby, a commission. I'm waiting to hear back from his owner before finishing him up. He still needs a star at least, and some more hoof and facial detailing, and I haven't even started on his base.





Next is a bay Zim, also a commission. He's going to be a pinto of some sort--just waiting until I hear back from his owner before adding any more markings, since I'm not sure if he needs to be a sabino or a tobiano! He also needs his hooves and other details finished.





















And then we having the Rearing Abel. He's the first of ten similar piece I have planned, each customized from an Abel resin to a rearing pose. Each will be slightly different. This one is a liver chestnut, and he's nearing completion--needs hooves and some other details done! He is/will be for sale--$800.

And another custom Silver!

This one is a bit more drastic, although I would still consider her a "moderate" custom--I feel the word drastic is overused for CMs, and since there's still plenty of ol' Silver left in her she's just moderate! New head, neck, and barrel, and her hind end was resculpted too. I tried to keep the muscling and sculpting style similar to the original, and I think her new hindquarters still flow nicely with the sculpting style of her shoulders.

She is finished in acrylics and pure pigments; her mane and tail are mohair (multiple colors in both white and chestnut to give depth and variation).























She, too, will be for sale.

A completed custom

One down, who knows how many to go!






























I may have said this before, but I'm finding I really enjoy customs. I love learning the process of adding mohair, which is something new to me, and I love the realism it can give. It's hard to be fooled by a model with a sculpted mane and tail into thinking you're looking at a photo of a real horse, but it's just about possible with the haired models. This guy, "Ekhlypse", is a customized Breyer Silver with an Abel head (Silver's original head is quite crooked!). Ekhlypse is so named because most of the work on him was completed during the week of the lunar eclipse, and his color reminds me of the darkened moon. Ekhlypse is/will be for sale, although I'm still not 100% sure on sales method yet.


Here are some of the other horses I'm working on now: another CM Silver to chestnut paint (just about done, I'm styling her hair now and she needs some details finished), a Depeche resin to dapple grey, a resculpted Salinero to fleabitten grey (just needs a few more tiny details), an Abel with his head raised and a tummy tuck (still needs work on his neck, will be a dapple grey), and a CM PS draft (will be a napping mare).

What's going on

I've been quite busy lately--thus the lack of posting. I'm doing some CMs--several Breyer Silvers for starters! I'm also taking on some commissions, which will be fun. I've opened up the Shah Azim edition ($350 each unpainted), and I'm selling Abel resins as well.

I've been having too much fun customizing both plastics and resins to work much on any new sculptures, although I did rough out a little Caspian stallion (traditional scale but classic size). I have tons of references from my October trip to the National Drive of a team of Caspians, and I'm excited about doing a sculpture of one eventually.

Painting painting painting

I've been enjoying painting lately. I've painted a couple of Bartimaeus resins (one dapple grey, one chestnut with hair--which still needs a bit of work, turns out the reason there aren't many haired minis is because they're hard to do), and the first painted Abel resin.

The Bartimaeus resin came out really well, I think--the dapple grey one at left. I'm very pleased with him. He will be for sale; I'm not sure if I should do eBay or private offers or what. With eBay's changes to pricing and feedback structures I'm not sure I'm interested in selling as much there as before.



I also am working on an Abel to buckskin. I'm delighted with how this guy is coming out as well. He's done in a combination of media--acrylics as a base, then powder pigments followed by colored pencils and more powder pigments. I was excited to try this color, because I saw a gorgeous (real) horse in this color that I had taken several photographs of. I think that my rendition of it came out pretty close to how the real horse looked.

The powder pigments are interesting. I had to add a lot of black and white (grey) to my mixes to keep the color from being far too intense for the softness of a buckskin. This is opposite to my experience with normal pastels, which tend to have very soft colors, not intense at all. I like it--better too intense and needing to be toned down than not intense enough!

Working hard!

I haven't dropped off the face of the earth, I've just been working hard! Lately I've been doing much more painting and less sculpting, mostly because I have two horses that I am waiting to receive back from the caster's. I'm expecting to get the first batch of Abels in today--I'm really looking forward to that!

In the meantime, I've painted a Bartimaeus to dapple grey--I'm very happy with him-- finished repairing/improving the yawning PS Draft CM, and I'm working on a haired chestnut Bartimaeus. This is only my second (third if you count how I had to hair the Drafter twice due to the repairs) time hairing, and I'm not sure how well it's going to work in SM scale, but I want to give it a try! I have some nice fine hair, so hopefully it'll work!

I'm also finishing up a CM Salinero to a super-complex fleabitten grey--he's resculpted as well, to an Andalusian stallion, in a bullfighting pose that I based on a photo I took of a polo pony. I was going to make him into a polo pony, but Salinero's body type is just too far away from that.