My next commission piece.....

Hello,  I hope everyone is enjoying the holidays! I have a few weeks off work and I'm making the most of my time pushing ahead with commissions.

I thought I would share with you very early progress photos of the next piece I'm working on, which will be my last traditional commission for quite some time.

I started this guy a few months ago but had to put him aside because I wasn't entirely sure how I was going to cope with him - he is SO heavy!  There was no way I could paint him using my traditional method of 'hair by hair'.  So after some thought and testing I have achieved this look so far by using just pastels and a tiny applicator, no paint or brush!  It looks nicer in person and I think the technique will work out well in the end with the random graininess caused by this technique lending itself nicely to the overall appearance of a dapple grey.

There is a long, long way to go so please totally ignore the head, legs, mane and tail - I'm really only working on the dapples at this stage, trying to get the shape and intensity just how I want them.  There is a learning curve but I'm looking forward to mastering and further developing this new technique!

I'm also going to throw in some photos I've taken of Tayla bike riding recently, I love the ever changing weather this time of year and the fabulous colours nature brings with it! I'm actually really enjoying taking photos of something other than model horses - Uh including my car! :)

 

 I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a health and happy New Year!

Backbeat Thunder.....

I just can't get enough of this simply outstanding, inspirational resin.  Had to quickly share these photos :) I wish I could keep the black appy though, I'm going to be sad when I have to send him off.

Wow, where did that time go!!

Hi there!

I can't believe my last post was early October!  I've had a couple of hectic months, with Tayla doing her final exams at high school, her 18th birthday just last week and me needing to get stuck into my commissions now that the warm weather is upon us.  So I decided to put myself into internet exile so I could get through as much as possible!

Tayla also found an interest in dirt bike riding.  She dived in head first, she just loves it!  After riding a friends bike just once, she knew she wanted to do this on an ongoing basis!  So she bought a bike, a Kawasaki 250  and then of course needed a vehicle to get the dirt bike out to the tracks!  So she bought this ute just last week.  Oh notice she put her hair back to it's natural colour for her 18th :)

The photos below of her jumping the bike were taken about four weeks ago, this was the first weekend she rode her new bike  - she has no fear this girl!  A guy at the track asked me "How long has she been riding?"  I replied "Oh in total she has probably been on a bike for one hour"  He replied, "No I don't mean today, I mean how many years has she been riding"  I said "Yeah, about an hour!"  LOL

 
So what commissions have I been working on?  Well two appaloosas in tandem.  It was interesting to work on one light on dark and the other dark on light and the different technique needed for each.  Both pieces have been based on real horses of similar type. I managed to finish Toot Sweet last weekend, she is such a cute little resin sculpted by Adalee Hude.

The other appaloosa I'm working on is my all time favourite resin, Backbeat Thunder sculpted by Lynn Fraley.  This is the second BBT I have painted and he has been just as much fun as the first and I cannot wait to paint a third!  This is the first black I have ever painted and was a little nervous about it, he has warm undertones, his lower legs have a stronger bronze tone to them because the reference photo does.  He is still a work in progress, more work to be done to his mane, tail, eyes, hooves and just a little more detail to his roaning.  Again, his colour is based on reference photos I found on the internet of a draft horse.

So I plan to keep trying to focus as much time as possible on my finish work, which will of course impact on my free time I have to spend on the internet and seeing to emails.  I still have so many emails to catch up on so please forgive me if I am yet to reply to your email.  I've been trying to work through one or two emails while at lunch at work this past week to try and start to get through the back log - replying to emails when I get home from work is the last thing I feel like doing at the moment while trying to juggle so much.  Hope all is well in your neck of the woods! :)

Current work in progress

I've been working on this little lady for three weeks so far.  It has been a bit of a battle to guide her towards the base shade I was looking for.  I started out with a cold white, knowing that usually the white warms up and can have a tendency to become too yellow!  But she remained a cool shade of white up until yesterday, so I was becoming concerned that she was going to end up too cold a shade of white!  But I have just sealed her and I can see she is starting to turn - now I have to be careful she doesn't swing too much towards a yellow white!

This is a commission piece, Toot Sweet sculpted by Adalee Hude. I'm working from reference photos and staying pretty true to them.

First photo was taken just over a week ago you can see she is quite a cold white.  Close-up taken today, I've had to reduce the brightness on the close-up photo otherwise the detail is washed out, even doing so there is more detail than the photo shows....

Be still my heart!......

Impossible of course when looking at something of such beauty.  I'm really at a loss for words but had to share photos of this beautiful boy here.  I am absolutely thrilled and feel so honoured to have THE stunning Marshall in my collection - sculpted and custom glazed by Lynn Fraley of Laf 'n Bear.

The photos are not very good, I'll try to take better ones and update them.  I have named him Major Marshall because he is without a doubt a major piece in my collection!  His detailing is incredible, from the subtle shift of shades in his coat, awesomely 'scritched' sabino markings and right down to what appears to be tiny eyelashes on his beautiful eyelids and his eyes resemble soft, dark liquid pools - wow I so love him!  Thank you Lynn for bringing so much beauty and joy into my home!

I longed to add Marshall to my collection, thought my chances of ever doing so would be slim. This particular boy was always a favourite, never dared to dream he would come and live with me.  Yet here he is. *adoring sigh*  A big thank you to his previous owner for agreeing to sell him to me. :)

Major and Punjabi are already the best of buddies! :)

Divine intervention?....

You know I have NEVER had a piece come together quite the way this little lady has, so much so I couldn't help but wonder if there wasn't perhaps a tiny bit of divine intervention going on.  I hope this doesn't sound conceited, but the fact that this is the commission slot I auctioned with 100% of the proceeds going towards Melly's Flying Heart Fundraiser and how easily her 'coat' has come together, I've never experienced this! - why this piece?  There must be something else at play here?... something to ponder anyway :)

Almost immediately, Vixen loved where her colour was going and so did I!  She isn't finished yet of course but thought I'd share some work in progress photos of this awesome little resin.  She can really work any colour!

And more backgrounds!!!

I don't know why I'm having such a hard time with this, I have taken literally hundreds of photos in various lights with various backgrounds.  I think I'm nervous about sending her to the U.S. and then deciding when looking at the photos with a fresh eye that I don't like them!  But I've got so many photos now, too many choices, I'm now totally confused which way to go argh!!!

I have narrowed it down to these three and swaying towards the middle one.  The grey is still too busy for me even when I blur it. I have also included the larger versions of all three so you can see the background a bit easier.  Anyone have any thoughts or preferences? I could do with some input from others to help sway me I think!

Backgrounds....

Trying some different backgrounds for Victrix but I just can't seem to find the right balance - getting frustrated! The lighter backgrounds seem to show her colour more correctly, she isn't as bright a bay as she appears in the blue/black background photos.

She is finished!!!

I'm finally going to call this lady finished!  I'm going to enjoy her for a week or so, take some final photos of her for the auction and then I'm going to send her to my good friend in the U.S. ready for her auction in September!   I've decided to send her to the U.S. before the auction as 90% of the models I finish reside in the U.S. it's a pretty good bet that is where Victrix will live also :)  I have no name ideas for her so I guess her new owner will have that honour!

I hope you like how she turned out - any areas that appear coarse in the execution (such as the white hairs on her face or extreme shading are just due to the larger than life photos.  In person she really is super softly detailed and shaded and in my opinion she is nicer in person, the photos don't really do her justice unfortunately.

Also at auction right now is a commission slot opportunity with 100% of the proceeds being donated to cancer research.  This will be the last commission slot offered by me until the next benefit auction which will be held this time next year. So if you have been waiting for a commission slot, here is your chance! :)

If the link below doesn't work just go to http://myauctionbarn.com/ and you will see a link to the auction from there.

http://myauctionbarn.com/auction_details.php?auction_id=143353

Lost without computers!

My computer died last weekend :(  What an awful week without it and then all the work to setup the new one!  All my programs were so old they were no longer compatible with Windows 7 so I also had to buy lots of new software including a new version of Paint Shop Pro and now I have to learn how to use it all over again!  I don't have a ws-ftp uploader yet though so I'm having to use my blog to store photos I want to share argh!  Does anyone have one or a link to one?

Anyway I think Victrix is finished!  Just her eyes to finalise and I'm considering adding more grey into her tail, what do you think?  Unlike Stormy the photos don't do her justice, she is much nicer in person, I'm really quite excited about her and really looking forward to her finding a new home and hearing what her 'Mom' thinks of her once they see her in person!  Auction coming in September!

The devil is in the details....

Nearly there!  Some more refining and the eyes, hooves, chestnuts still to do....

Tayla's formal!

Tayla had her high school formal recently.  It almost feels like a miracle to me, to see her like this, a picture of health, looking so beautiful with her whole life ahead of her.  I feel so blessed and proud of the young lady she has grown into - so I'd like to share photos of my 'little girl', grown up :)