"Finders Keepers" owned by Diane Keiter of California.  He won Champion Custom Mini Sport Breed at the Golden West Show on October 8th in Norco, CA.  Photo courtesy of Diane.

It's flattering when a fellow model hobbyist uses your horse as a reference for one of their creations!  I seen this fellow at the Sweet Onion Live show in Walla Walla.  The model is created by Ruth Sheridan.  =:)

A huge thank you to my friend Tim for getting a couple pictures of Jydam down at the Western States Horse Expo in California!!!!  It looks like she was well received, which makes me very happy!!!!!  Yay!!!!!

Our catch for the day. Not much, but it’s enough for the two of us for dinner! The biggest was 10 ½”.

Humma Kavulah is BACK!  Yay!!!!!!!  I'm so thrilled.  The feeder is filled, (with clear nectar) and the annual hummer migration is starting to return to the yard.   I welcome all of them with open arms!

(It seems like the older that I get, the more the little things seem really important and entertaining....)  Aren't they adorable?

Dinner tonight.... stuffed peppers! 

They consist of:  bell peppers, sausage, rice, onions, tomatoes, cheese, (and on craig's side - jalapenos).

This little unicorn that I did earned a double championship at Heart of Carolina Live for his owner Natalie!  =:)

My sculpture is currently on display at the Open Regional Exhibit. Yay!

Spring Time

The little things in life make me VERY happy! I counted more than a dozen bumble bees in our lilacs this morning, and countless numbers of honey bees that were pollinating. You are welcome in my garden anytime little friends! I love it.

More teenie-tiny itty-bitty micro minis!

"Little Miss Fancy Prance" in rose dapple grey.

"Tarek" in golden dappled chestnut.

"Bambi and Thumper" in black sabino.  I made a special base for these two so they could be displayed together.  Little Thumper comes on his own puddle, so I created a rectangular grass base with an indentation in it, so he can be settled into and out of it, in order for these two to be displayed as a pair.

An extreme sabino Cheveyo that I just finished up in the studio, owned by Haleigh Penca.  I'm pretty happy with how this guy turned out.  It was a lot of fun to do such an unusual color!  And, I sculpted my very first tiny little snake to go with him as a striking partner.  Super fun stuff!

I used to dread doing bases for models because I wasn't very good at them, but now I am starting to enjoy creating scenery.  I really enjoy doing bases now!  

I sculpted my very first little rattler!  He's about 1/2" an inch in size.  I thought it would be cute to make one for the mustang Cheveyo. 

Two of the new mold Breyer Mangalarga Marchadors that I recently customized and painted in the studio.

Chestnut minimal sabino owned by Kirstina Fortune of Florida.

Buckskin sabino owned by Natalie Sherard of North Carolina.

              An "updated" reworked stablemate cm mustang.

One of my customers was nice enough to send back and older piece that I'd created back in 2004. It was broken and needed some TLC, so I updated him to be LSQ again.  This guy is made from the rearing fat bloaty stablemate G2 arab with a TB head.  I did a lot of reworking and sculpting to the plastic to make him look like an appropriate mustang.  The updated version turned out to be a cute little buggar.  His new range base is made out of an old coat button - how's that for ingenuity...? Ha ha!

Little stablemate scale "Netsky" pony resin that I painted as a dun appaloosa.  Owned by Natalie Sherard.

On tap for dinner tonight is my homemade pot stickers.  (I make some BIGGUN stickers...)  =:)  They're one of my favorite meals to create.

My shell pinching isn't as pretty as some of the ones that I've seen on the internet, but hey - it tastes just as good!  I can generally put just about any kind of meat in the stickers, but tonight I decided on a shrimp scampi.  Along with the shrimp there is: cream cheese, fresh cilantro, and some Italian herbs for seasoning.  It was tasty and filling....

I REALLY like this video!  Normally I don't care for most of the promos for our breed, but this is one of the better clips that I've seen in a long time.  Even though the stallion is on the smaller side, it just doesn't matter!  This rider has a GREAT relationship with his horse.  It does my heart good to see this, and it helps to restore my faith just a little bit.  There might be some hope after all...  

 

A few of our little spring goats and lambs this year!

Entered in the first of three shows, fingers crossed!  =:) 

http://www.aaea.net/upcomingexhibitions

Jydam has been uploaded into this gallery:
https://www.artgallerydata.com/artists.htm

Jydam in regular bronze patina and also in polished bronze. Both versions are scheduled to be in juried art shows this year. I'm happy she looks good in a variety of different finishes! Yay!

An older perlino Iberian custom that I did several years ago.  I remember that I created him when the Salinero mold was brand new from Breyer.  Not sure if the original owner Betsy Valley still owns him or if he's moved to a new home. 

The photo is courtesy of Kim Ford, at the 2010 North American Nationals.

Wee tiny ones!  The micros can sometimes be a challenge to paint, but they are so darned cute when they're done. 

I turned the little Bogucki Myopia into a Marwari by curving her ears and giving her a dappled and mapped grey tobiano paintjob.  The Bennett micro jumper has a water type base at the bottom of the jump, and I also added some checkerboard quarter marks on the rump.

Oh, those crazy little sheep!  One of our yearlings decided that the grain bucket in the pasture was a great place for him to cuddle up and take a nap.  He had the whole entire pasture..... but the bucket was so much better.

A recently completed "Dolittle" pony resin that I painted as a silver dapple pinto for owner Natalie Sherard. 

A photo of "Kaleidescope Kowboy" an older piece that I painted and created a custom base for a few years back.  It looks like he's doing pretty good winning ribbons at live shows.  The photo is courtesy of Karinny Hullahti. 

Beautiful Dozor.  So lovely!

The best laid plans of mice and men......

I got the new saddleseat tack set and I absolutely ADORE it!!!!!  Really great craftsmanship on this tack set.  But it's a big set.....  I put the tack on the model, and then set the half naked doll on top of it, and it's just a bit on the "largish" side.....  So now I'm re-tweeking my plans again.  I've got a large traditional model in my collection that this Honrath set will look absolutely fabulous on (see photos below), so I'll set this tack set aside and paint the model at a later time for it.

So, currently I'm on the hunt for a classic sized saddleseat saddle in a different color that will fit the doll and the model.  I won't give up....    

These are blurry pictures, (my cheap Walmart camera struggles terribly when it comes to extreme close-up zooming.....), but I thought this bird was kind-of cool looking.  I have no idea what kind of bird it was, but he was different from the finches that were hanging around the bird feeder.  He had some neat white "racing stripes" on his head, and the stripes made what looked like a cross on the back of his head.  I really enjoy seeing all the different ones that come to the feeder.

So, this new project of mine has a couple of objectives: 

#1  I have just purchased a saddleseat tack set that needs an appropriate model.
#2  The challenge of reworking a rough resin to fit the above said tack set.
#3  And, the most difficult part - dealing with a rider doll and making clothing for it.  A first for me!

This is going to be a challenge.

Pictured below is my little saddleseat tack that I just purchased from Germany.  I've got another older saddleseat set already, but it's set up specifically for a TWH, (with the straight breast collar and fancy shank bit).  I purchased that set around 14 years ago, and for a short time I showed it on a traditional sized hackney model.  The hackney really wasn't very appropriate for it, (as they are mostly a carriage breed), so I've come to the conclusion that I really need to create a more appropriate model for the new tack set.  (Later on, I should probably create a more appropriate model for the TWH tack as well....)

My new set was made by Steffi Honrath of Golden Creek Saddlery in Germany.  It's shown on a Peter Stone saddlebred, but the model that I will be creating will be from a different manufacturer.

Below are some inspirational videos below of kind-of what I'm shooting for with this whole project:


This one made me tear up a bit....  This is Scotty, a registered saddlebred that was rescued from the New Holland slaughter auction.  I love that his owner shows him almost totally natural.  He has some small wedges for the front, but there are definitely no stacks and no tail set.  (And if you watch, she shows against other competitors that do have them on their horses.)  I give her great respect for saving the horse and getting him out to competing "au-natural".

Another good inspiration for this project, kids having a great time!

And lastly, this one cracked me up.  We all need these types of horses in our lives, the good old school masters that help teaching small children how to learn to ride.  This horse is such a sweet old gem! 

 

 

I just finished this guy up in the studio today.  He was a very interesting challenge!  This is a hair prep version of the Kalendar Prince resin sculpted by Vicky Keeling.  I made a new sand base for him (with added magnets for stability), and painted him a golden chestnut for his owner Melissa Halvas.     

This is an older Kalendar Prince that I did several years ago for Melissa too!  She put the hair on this fellow as well.  It'll be fun to see what the new one looks like with locks!  (Photo courtesy of Melissa Halvas.)