Vendoring at the Park Color Craze Show in Ithaca.
I love a good model horse show and the Park Color Craze Show in Ithaca proved to be a fun one filled with good company, laughs, and gorgeous horses. I'm extremely inspired by all the wonderful pieces people were showing today. I was most intrigued by all the dappled horses at the show and all the different ways all artists represent dapples.

At the show I offered touch up for horses that didn't transport too well. I had a nice stream of customers looking to have nicks, rubs and breaks fixed and was happy to bring pieces back to show quality for owners.

I showed a few horses myself but my boy "Lorenzo" did wonderful and I couldn't resist putting him the "brag box" and snapping a few shots of his wins. Overall, a very fun time.

Touch up section.
Horses come in...horses go out all new again.

Make shift work bench on a carrying tub.

My boy winning a bit at the show.
If he could eat carrots he'd have extra tonight.

"In the Glass"
Graphite and watercolor on paper.

Random Before The Show

Random shot of the work desk.
This week I've been preparing to vendor at the Park Color Craze Live show in Ithaca, NY. From bases to horses to finishing commissions to show off, I've been neck deep in preparation for the event.

I love model horse shows and look forward to ones I can attend. Today just some random shots of some of the stuff happening in the studio as I prepare for the show. I didn't even dare take a whole studio shot. The entire place is a mess.

Please note that if you are attending this show I will be offering free touch up service to all show horses. That includes OFs (EXCEPT GLOSSIES!). So if you horses didn't travel well and needs a little ear rub touched up or a scratch hidden, be sure to take advantage of the service I'm offering!

Some sales pieces.

Bases for Little Bit and Stablemate sized pieces.

A BR CM that will also be for sale at the show.
I love how his base come out.

One sample of my commission work.

....by popular demand...yes, horse apples!

Tail

The tail is the last area
to be painted.
The tail is generally the last area to be painted on a piece. In most cases it's the most comfortable part to hold when painting or adding pigments and by the end of production gets pretty messy. I thought it might be neat to document the painting process of this "Affinity" resin's tail.

The area is first primed with white sandable gesso. Any bumps or imperfections that come through the gesso can be easily sanded. I premix all the colors I need on a palette and add Liquitex Glazing Medium to the paints. This medium slows down the drying time of the acrylics.

A base color, in this case a chestnut, is added to the entire tail and allowed to dry fully. Afterwards, a darker value of chestnut is carefully added to the grooves and crevices. That is also allowed to dry fully and then highlights are added slowly to the entire piece to help bring out the detail in the tail.

Entire painting session took approx an hour and a half.

Add a flat color

Use a darker color to
accentuate the grooves and crevices.

Add highlights.

"In the Field"
Graphite and Watercolor on paper.

How They Came To Be

I decided to document the production on a few of the paintings I painted recently. Thought it might be interesting to see how they developed. Here they are:

The Finish...

The Finish...

The Finish...

The Finish...

Clouds and the Blue Sky

"The Blue Sky"
Acrylic on canvas.
"We must remember that nothing in this world really belongs to us. At best, we are merely borrowers."

Fog

"View from a Window"
Acrylic on Canvas.

Outside the window the fog played on over the mountains today. The variation in grey color in the sky was magnificent. I stood there and memorized it. I did take a quick snapshot of it with my camera (on my phone) but when it came down to putting paint on canvas it was easier to recall the composition from memory.

Rain

"Study of Rain in Blue & Grey"
Acrylic on canvas
Some days everything just seems like it should be painted on a canvas. Fog and rain are two elements that are very difficult to capture. I'm forever trying. This morning's fog prompted the urge to paint a foggy rainy day on canvas.


"...and the rain drummed on, "run away!"

Wind

"Study in Primitive Part II"
Acrylics on canvas
"Wind,
Screaming, Screeching, Searing,
Barely knocking me over.
Wind."

Traveling Studio

A light set up outside.
At certain points of production my studio can travel from place to place. The tedious task of adding dapples or whites to horses can be made more fun by transporting the studio outside. The weather has been absolutely perfect on my outside porch, or what we call in these parts, the stoop. The entire afternoon was spent dappling a Kipping resin and a Chaney Welsh pony.

Of course the mice came out to play too during break time.

After several hours of laying down dapples
the Kipling resin is starting to take shape.

"Hug I"
Graphite, Watercolor and Acrylics on paper.

"Hug II"
Graphite, Watercolor and Acrylics on paper.

Yes, Even More...

....hearts....
In less than a 24 hour period I have seen more hearts than I have in a time frame that might have spanned weeks or months. I'm not sure why so many are popping up, but today was filled with hearts and I tried to capture as many as I could with my camera. They were literally...EVERYWHERE. It was cool. Sharing.

.....and the very best one....on Oreo after we got him home from the groomers. I had no idea he had a heart on his neck! Now I do!