MEPSA Donation Horse Update

I’m happy to report that I’ve got one of my MEPSA donations done and the other one is in the home stretch. Just in time too- the Year-end Champ Show is just around the corner. I sent in my qualifiers last week. Next year I’m hoping to seriously improve my photos and get serious with the monthly shows.

The appaloosa is all done:

I like how his appy markings turned out. I did them in a combination of acrylic, pastel, and pencil.

Not too long ago I was thinking I’d need to re-start the Morgan. He was looking really orange and not behaving. But I’m really glad I stuck it out, because this is what he looks like now!

His pastel body color is more or less done. I did the mane and tail last night and will be continuing his other details this week. I’m rather chuffed with his transformation. He definitely gets the ribbon for “Most Improved.”

Big thanks again to everyone who voted for their colors!

Tiny Hoofbeats Live

While I was lounging poolside in Cabo, my friend Caryn was showing her minis at Erin Corbett’s Tiny Hoofbeats Live. I had limited wi-fi in Mexico, but I did manage to receive a very exciting email from Caryn that afternoon. Two horses that I painted double NAN qualified in both breed and workmanship.

Aylwen is a G3 Highland Pony that I painted into an olive dun for Caryn. I finished her up last fall as part of a trade. She shows as a Highland Pony, and in addition to her Workmanship win above she also took 2nd in her breed class!

Vortex is a wild leopard appaloosa that I painted for Caryn’s husband, Martin. He won ribbons (and a NAN card) at NW Congress and Rose City Live last year, but this is his first blue. And like Alywen, he also took 2nd in breed! And Caryn said people were asking who painted him, which is a huge compliment and made me feel very warm and fuzzy inside.

I also sort of had a hand in Caryn’s two biggest wins of the day, a Workmanship Championship and a Breed division Reserve Champ. Those were both won by her little Morab mare, who I won in the MEPSA Championship show last summer. She was the prize for Novice Halter Grand Champion, won by Kettil Blacksmith. Since I only keep my own work (and Caryn loves Arabs) I gave the model to her.

This model was painted and donated to MEPSA by Cassie Black

Congratulations Caryn! I wish I could have been there. Next year!

Finished Gifts

Things have been pretty quiet around here. I’m finished my crafty gifts and don’t have a lot of motivation to start more crafts, or blog. I think part of the reason I’m not as motivated to blog is that I’m using WordPress all day for work, so it doesn’t seem quite as much of a down time activity.

I was very happy and proud to deliver both my portrait of Violet and my 1:48 scale Dr. Who to their recipients. I added pictures of the finished portrait to my Bay & Black gallery.

The wee Dr. Who is at home in his terrarium, exploring what really does look like an alien planet. He looks so good, I’m so happy I decided to make him!

I’m not sure what my next project will be, but it will definitely be after the new year. Soon I’m off to California to celebrate Christmas, and I don’t see any hobby time happening before January at the earliest. I hope you all have lovely, safe, happy and warm holidays.

Tis the Season

I’m back from New York and working hard on the several handmade gifts I’m doing this year. I usually do a mix of homemade and bought gifts, depending on time, ideas, and general motivation. One thing I’m making this year is a portrait of my friend Liddy’s new horse, Violet.

Just before I left for Thanksgiving, the model was starting to move from the awkward early pastel layers to at least the vicinity of realism. She has a ways to go, but I’m feeling confident that I’ll have her done in time for Christmas.

Here’s Violet after about 5 layers of pastel:

At this point I was having trouble visualizing her because of the white primer mane and tail, so I switched from pastels to acrylics for a bit. I always find that useful for the final pastel stages because it helps me see where how the colors will look on the finished horse.

Ah, she’s starting to look like Violet now! Here she is with a few more layers in both media:

I’m pretty pleased with how she’s turning out. She’s a gorgeous horse, and while I know I can’t do her color justice I at least want to achieve a resemblance of her beautiful coat. I think I’m getting there- she needs a number of layers in both pastel and acrylic, but I’m relieved to have her looking at least vaguely Violet-like by early December. Hopefully by the end of this weekend she’ll be even closer to done.

Tiny Things

My Christmas gift portrait cob now has hair! Said hair needs work, but she looks a lot better than last month when she had no ears and a wire sticking out of her butt…

Kettil Blacksmith is still in the pony hospital, but he’s recovering from Brokentailitis and will hopefully be ready to hit the show ring in a few weeks.

Progress!

Meanwhile, awesome hobby bloggers are busy making tiny masterpieces. EG of Last Alliance Studios cooked up some delicious looking sandwiches and Nichelle of Desktop Stables made a whole library of wee books. Seriously, the first pictures in these two posts will give you a real double take.