Minor distractions

Since I was stuck at home working the better part of the holiday weekend I got a little time in the studio.  Weather girl is getting there:

Then I got to prepping on my Flitwick finally but Im not painting him! Laura Behning happily agreed to paint him for the painting certificate I won! He will be done and on his way soon.

and while those were drying I decided to get out the oils and play with a medallion for a while

Arabs and more Arabs :)

Weather girl is coming along quite nicely now, still cleanup to do on the leg joints and some fiddling here and there but Im quite happy with her progression. I have no idea what color I want to paint her yet! Soon I will be to my favorite part... mane and tail!!! and it will be hunter braided.

And YAY for selling my dressage saddle and finding one that is perfect for a bargain price on top of it! Then I find out I won an helmet from http://www.riders4helmets.com/, an IRH one, and im liking the one with all the air vents! So I dont have much left to buy now for our first dressage show, since its show clothes not required.

Her saddle pad on the other hand is HUGE, I washed and dried it hoping to shrink it a bit, its our purple everyday one. I found a white one today thats smaller that we will use for showing. The barn redid the arena footing friday and I cant wait to see it, I hope they put in something nice. Just 2 weeks til our next halter and pleasure show!

Weather girl #1 of ?

Finally got my hands on a weather girl body and rather than just repaint it I had to make her more performance friendly. When I will get to show her in performance? well thats another story. And of course once I started it turned out that I needed to to more and more and more. This is just a start really, sad to say, hopefully it wont take me forever and a day to finish!

Mane done!

I got the mane and forelock done as well as resculpting on the neck, the ear blob needs to be shaped and defined yet tho :) Then more seam work needs to be done, oh the fun part, not!

 Color? not sure yet, last one I did was a bright chestnut so not that, bay like my khemo, grey (haha, I wouldnt want to ruin all that work, maybe a white grey), liver chestnut, pinto?

Inspiration

Inspiration today was brought on by two different sources. 1. Frustration at something non model related had me feeling the need to chop up plastic ponies (this is therapy!) and 2. http://donteatthepaint.blogspot.com/ Lauras blog posts about tails and using painters tape to form the base for sculpting on. I love doing tails but have always been frustrated with waiting for that epoxy base to dry (and like Laura says "epoxy is expensive"). Not only that but if you dont glue the wire in permanently you can play with tail positions. I know some can do this in photoshop, I cant, not quickly enough anyway. So here are my choices, which one do you like best?

A.

B.

C.

or D.

D I'm thinking is too similar to the last CAM cm I did, so far I think I like A the best. I'm leaving the rear legs splayed out on this one and going with the surprised look. I turned her head just slightly, Brought in the left ear and turned the right ear to face the boogie man (or in Diva's case, the indoor arena's fire breathing dragon (aka heater) )

Palomino again!

Well after several coats of white in prep for using masking on my roxy cm, then going back and forth between overo and tobiano patterns, I discovered Masque Pens have zero shelf life :( The one I had opened and used last probably 7 years ago ??!? was in better shape then the one I bought and never even took out of the package. What a waste. Even the one that kinda looked like it would work, wasnt in shape to use, I tried and failed. So.....I decided since I had leftover paint from the palo slider Id do her in smutty palo too. I havent painted a trad horse this color since Matriarch first came out!

 She will have mixed in dark hairs in her mane and tail, already started in mane. Now I have to decide if the mini slider needs to be a paint so I dont have 2 QH palomino cms:)

Appy progress

CQHS is nearing completion too

Early progress on the ISH

needs more time under the airbrush then all the hand detailing, I really dont do appies :) I buy them :)

Stock horse central

Seems Ive been on a stock horse CMs kick,  I have some appy cms that I show but somehow not to much else for my second favorite division! That had to be rectified!

These have all been in the prepping and cming process from last spring to just the other night.

First up, a CQHS, in gruella, not the first thought I had for him but I'm happy I changed direction. Its been a while since I painted a gruella, good to know I still can :)

 ISH from the last post, has a new wispy mane and forelock, ready for his appy paintjob

Just started this guy friday night, funny how somethings come together so quick. I made a lot of little changes that combined with the new m/t should get him noticed. Im thinking smutty dapple palomino like the reiners at my new boarding stable.

FINALLY, the roxy cm I started so long ago, then redid the neck, is finally in her first base coat of white in prepartion for being a tobiano. I am going to try masking the markings out for the first time in ages, I get so tired of painting big white areas and keeping them smooth.

and then Pixie snuck in, she is finished other then final spray and gloss

I'm hoping to make it to a show or 2 yet this fall, if I can swing them both that would be awesome. One is a double judged halter show and the other has performance that Id like to get Roxy finished for.

Experiments with silver dapple

I know I'm doing things all out of order, but I had to experiment before I got to far to see how my first real attempt at dapples in oils was going to turn out. Its not bad but its not quite there yet, but I think I can make it work in the end.

oh and here is my reference horse for both breed and color, wouldnt it be cool to look out in the pasture and see that pretty thing standing there.

More hair for the hairy cob!

Sculpting done! I added to the feathers and a little more mane and tail as well. Tomorrow I should be able to prime, and he shouldnt need much sanding!

 

  

  

  

  

  

 

Now for something completely different

Felt unenthused about my recent projects so I took a break and grabbed this NL Cob out of the body box. A while back I gave him a new, short, mane and a little resculpting on the tail and primed him. Thats as far as I got! Even had him for sale for a while. Cleaning up the studio and body box I came across him and decided to go a different direction. Found some cool pix of gypsy type cobs and got to sculpting him some hair and more hair! I have a solid, dappled, color in mind. I dont know if that will be the final choice as I havent succesfully done dapples in oils yet, but the bigger scale should make it more doable.

all new mane and tail, feathering (not done yet, will be fuller and higher on the back of the leg when I'm done), resculpted almost his entire face, added fuzzies under his belly and face, and inside the ears.

 

 

Roxys new tail!

Its done! some more clean up and sanding to do still. Someday she will be ready for paint! She doesnt really fit in my kludged light box anymore and the weight of the epoxy tail put her off balance again. She now has pegs in both off the ground hooves. Nothing I hate more than a tippy performance horse!

Sanding sanding and more sanding :(

But I held off until after I took the mane pix so you can see her better. I still have a little work to do here and there to make things smoother. I am just a messy sculptor!

Hows that look?