Weekend progress report #1

OK so I was asked if I would do an animated gif of the progress of Victrix so I am posting the first one now.  This is where I am at with her after two, at least 10 hour days working on her this weekend.  I did start on her markings a couple of weeks ago but have not been happy with it and not made much progress until this weekend!

I think I will take an updated photo each Sunday - Uh unless I get really nervous about a particular stage and I'm having trouble trying to get things to work out in which case you won't hear from me!  I have only just started laying in the roaning up to her shoulder, still loads of layers to go yet, Close-up she is still very rough and rather ugly and her other side she is a purebred bay TB still :)

See you next weekend!

My winter project....

Autumn has arrived sadly so no more prepping/pastelling for me - Unless we have some nice, warmer weather during winter!  But the cold, damp, dreary months ahead will be perfect weather for working in acrylics!

I have prepared for the season though, with the base colour finished on this  Carol Williams Victrix. I have now begun, working on, what is going to be a very long process of painting her appy coat!  I suspect she will take me the entire winter to complete.  If all goes well and I don't mess her up, she will be offered for sale, in the last quarter of the year.



I will post progress photos of her here on my Blog, yes even ugly ones like these!  *blush*  these are very early stages, there is so much more to do and so many more layers and blending to take place yet, so check back again when she will hopefully be a little improved!  In the mean time if I seem to be a little quiet with my online presence you have some idea of what I will be getting up to! ;)

Oh and this is my reference photo that I'm hoping she will end up looking something along the lines of  - it's going to be a challenge, wish me luck!

It's all in the details

When I paint a resin with beautifully sculpted details, I enjoy painting the piece so much more. I feel inspired to push myself, to do each sculpted detail justice. If the sculpting artist takes the time to sculpt it, I feel compelled and inspired to take the time to paint it, even accentuate it.  And so I 'try' to match that level of detail in my finishwork (which can be a little difficult at times controlling that cloud of dust with pastels).  And so it was with Lynn Fraley's Backbeat Thunder. When you look at these photos, look beneath the pastels and paint, look at the sculpting, which can be more easily seen and appreciated now he is painted - wow is all I can say...

There are several sculpting artists whose work I adore but I do particularly adore resins sculpted by Lynn Fraley and Sarah Minkiewicz-Breunig. For me, their pieces capture the essence of the horse. A moment frozen in time that I, more often than not, can relate to.  Their pieces stir long forgotten memories of times I spent with horses many years ago.  They have a certain spirit and beauty about them, and of course the level and quality of detail that these Ladies incorporate into their sculptures that I adore. Detail so superbly sculpted into the piece that you know it was a long time in the planning, it belongs, and always was going to be a part of the piece.  The detail is smooth enough to enable the finishwork artist to easily paint and follow the lines but not so smooth as to become somewhat sterile.  I particularly love how these Ladies manage to sculpt the characteristics of 'skin', the way it wrinkles and stretches for example - ah just thinking about it makes me want to paint again! - I'm looking forward to when my new Fraley resins arrive!

What just a couple of seconds of inattention can do!

March 3rd Tayla had a car accident, through no fault of her own.  She was stationary waiting for her turn to enter an intersection.  When a car approached her from behind the driver took his eyes off the road and didn't notice she had stopped and rear ended her - with such force that he pushed her forward into the car in front of her.  She had the presence of mind that, although she had her foot on the brake she was still being pushed forward and pulled on her handbrake to try and stop herself from hitting the car in front - all to no avail of course.

Apart from a slightly sore back the first couple of days, Tayla fortunately isn't hurt. We do all the things required, police report, contact insurer, make appoint with crash repairer etc. go see repairer, he gives an initial estimate of $4,600 damage (car is insured for $10,000) so Tayla is feeling better about the fact that soon her car will be repaired and all will be back to normal. So we have to wait until the following week for the insurance assessor to inspect the car.

The week leading up to this and this past week I have been working 12 hour shifts to save a little extra money so I could buy a Du Boulay piece I have wanted for quite a few years so I'm getting somewhat excited about that prospect and also being able to buy a couple of Lynn Fraley sold out resins I really wanted! But....

Fast-forward to the insurance assessor - he inspects the car and with the new repair quote of $7,500 now decides the car is a write off, cannot be driven and is no longer covered by insurance!  So visualise here Tayla's world plummeting into the abyss as only a, somewhat histrionic teenager can do.  But as her mum it's been heartbreaking to watch just how sad she has been mourning the loss of her much loved car.  But this is something I can't fix, I can't put it all back together!  And now suddenly Tayla has no car to drive!

So you have to flash back now two years ago before Tayla bought her car.  The first car of choice was the new Suzuki Swift but at $20,000 that wasn't going to be an option as a first car. Plus she only had X amount of dollars saved.  So her next choice was this - And here she is with her first car.  I asked them to cover it in balloons and things as she couldn't drive it yet (too young only 15) and wanted to make it more fun for her, you can just see her inside the car fighting with the balloons! LOL  This was an awesome little car that had traveled just 36,000kms previously owned by a teacher . She paid $8,500 for it and as a surprise I had the alloy wheels, lower profile tyres, tinted windows, rear spoiler and yes even the 'Billabong' sticker put on for her.

As for me, there goes all my plans for the week!  I have never experienced this before, the time and stress involved in having to organise everything!  Taking time off work to look for cars, test drive, find a company that will insure it etc. - That was a days drama in itself that I just can't be bothered to go into here except to say be careful buying a sports version of a car that is factory fitted with a body kit because you know, even a 1.5 litre engine with a body kit goes much faster when a 17 year old is driving it!  *rolls eyes*  Ok so very quickly this particular insurance company first said they would insure the car if I would guarantee the 17 year old wouldn't drive it!  Well yeah because that really suits the purpose of buying the car!  Then they said ok she can drive it three days a week and it will cost me $3,600 a year for the pleasure!  Argh!!!

So I have been feeling emotionally drained, physically exhausted and a little sorry for myself too but I'm feeling a little better having typed this out so perhaps I will cut the long story shorter:

Tayla's old car is still here, hopefully they will pick it up next week. She has her new car but isn't enjoying it yet, still mourning her old car and feeling guilty any time she feels a little happy or excited about her new car.  I have been really worried about how sad she has been, I wanted to do whatever I could to try and make up for this loss that, and lets remember the poor kid did nothing wrong yet had her car taken away from her, a car that she saved for two years to buy. :(

So she ended up buying her dream Suzuki swift, a limited edition RE.3 pearlized white 2008 model that has traveled just 29,000kms.  Although she had to add all her savings (another $2000) and there was still a shortfall that I made up - so no more china purchases for me for a while!  But all this doesn't matter really in the big scheme of things.  I know Tayla is sad about her old car and I am exhausted by all the running around I have had to do and worrying about Tayla, my lost work time that I will need to try and make up this weekend and additional financial outlay for us both - BUT the outcome could have been a lot worse, I thank God no one was 'physically' hurt.

And to think all of this stress, sadness and upheaval all because some guy took his eyes off the road for just a second!

My roaning technique

I have taken this from a post that I made on Blab it may be of help to some...

The method I use for roaning is better shown with one very large photo rather than a video and/or progress photos. This is a close-up photo of Brigitte Eberl's Rosita.

Here in this photo, (click for larger image) you can clearly see all the tiny brush strokes, that is all it takes to build this effect, no special technique or skill at all just a lot of time, patience and tiny brush strokes, anyone can do it!

The entire model, even her face was basically painted using a 20/0 or 5/0 brush. Countless layers, thousands of brushstrokes, a myriad of colours and shades from white to violet and every grey, umber and black shade in-between AND a few months of work.

If you decide to try this method my only other advice I can give is to accept it will take a lot of time and patience.  There are no shortcuts with this technique the key is simply lots and lots of layers so just settle back, relax, take your time and have fun! 

Well what's all this about?

Hello out there, not sure if this will serve much purpose but perhaps it will be a good place for me to track my finished works and perhaps share a technique or two and the occasional goings on at the home front :)

And to see if I can work out how to add a photo and link, here is my current work in progress, the amazing Backbeat Thunder sculpted by Lynn Fraley