Painted Micros

      I have been at least somewhat interested in painting for a lot of years. Not enough to paint all the time, or even often, but I would paint sometimes. NaMoPaiMo got me started on painting a bit more, though I still pretty much paint during NaMoPaiMo and then a bit at other times, but not as often as I should. One of the first micros I painted was this jumping mule. I believe he was my "I did this too" my first year I participated in NaMoPaiMo. He fell during a shelf accident so he has a bit of a bent leg. But he's still cute. 

Micro Kaladin was one I painted shortly after one of the NaMoPaiMos. 

         Maple Stirrup was one that I did in Earth pigments. I don't totally love how he came out. But he's nice. 

       I don't remember when I painted Jewel, or what she was finished in, but I like her too. 

     Harmony was one that I finished this year, in pan pastels. Well, one of my dolls painted her, lol. For minis painted minis. Clearly though, I had to do the work. I really like how she came out. 

       Micro Duke was the first horse I did in dappled gray and he was done in eyeshadow. He was sort of a test for a gray horse in eyeshadow. I think he looks pretty good, not quite as good on super close inspection, but I like how he looks. 

    Madhuve was also done for minis painting minis this year. I still need to paint her base, but I really like how this one came out. 

     This is my NaMoPaiMo horse from my second year. He is a Hugh micro and I named him Hugh Can Do It. He was the first horse I finished that I was amazed that I had done the finish work. Hugh is one of the reasons that I love and appreciate NaMoPaiMo so much. It inspires me and pushes me to do better.

      I Don't remember when I painted this Kelly Sealey draft horse. I think I did it at the same time as Kaladin. Though I like how Kaladin came out just a bit better. 

       Bangles was a minis painting minis piece from last year. Little Elecktra painted her. (so, I did, lol). 

    I also have my micro Hazel that Tiffany Purdy painted and a whole slew of unpainted micros. I thinned the herd a bit recently, but I still have probably 20 or more unpainted micros. I really should get to painting. Or see if anyone wants to paint some in trade. That could  be fun. 

 

21

     Twenty-One years ago today Travis was born. He was an awesome baby, super cute and a little mischievous. He used to love taking all the videos off the shelf and stacking them up to look at the covers. He would do the same later with DVDs, books, and these days he looks at stacked of photographs. 

    Even without many words it has always been really clear what Travis likes. He always enjoyed going out on my boat. Just sitting and enjoying the day, or reaching over the side to splash in the water. 

     I taught Travis to cook when he was really small. I always considered how to make it safe, Travis doesn't always pay as much attention to that as he should, so double potholders was a good way to make spaghetti sauce. 

       Travis still cooks, and he has gotten pretty good. 

And he bakes all sorts of things as well. 

Travis took riding lessons when he was young. And he loved his horses. 

And he loved his dog, Abby. (we still miss her)

     He enjoyed coming with me to horse shows. He hangs out and uses the computer, or watches movies, and just enjoys being with everyone. He especially enjoys going to dinner with the big group after the show day is done. 

     This is a guy who can make the rollup sunglasses from the eye doctor look cool (that is a talent!). 

And who makes an excellent pirate. 

He's been a track star. 

And was an amazing long-jumper, when he felt like it. 

He got to "graduate" with his class.

    And he loves fireworks. 

      Hanging out at Memere and Pepere's house reading the comics is always a good time. 

     And "driving" at Round 1 is pretty serious business. 

He's into art. 

And participated in NaMoPaiMo one year. Maybe he will choose to do that again some time. 

Travis is helpful with yard work

And laundry. 

He loves working out. 

And seeing new places. This is Travis touching a stalagmite at Howe's Cavern.

    Last year we were in Quarantine and his drum teacher sent him sticks so he could practice at home. 

      And he did a lot of his school work on the Chromebook, just like all the other kids. 

       Over the years Travis has gotten more and more interesting and fun. Even without a ton of words it's clear how much he enjoys life. He is silly, funny, and cares about people. I'm so proud of the man you have become Travis. Happy Birthday!

 

Waiting is Hard

      Shortly After I received my awesome foldable arena from Emerald Studio in Russia I decided I needed a larger one. So I ordered a new one, 10 inches longer, and then I prepared to wait. The first arena took 119 days to get to me. The second one only took 61 days. I got to the US at the beginning of May. After that I think it got lost in New Jersey for a while. But it did get here. I have the first one stacked on the new one, to show the size difference. 

      At "just" 10 inches longer, the arena is probably still too small for some setups. But it should be plenty large enough for almost everything. I put in a Lady Phase for scale. 

     The first arena could be a bit unwieldy to carry at times so I asked Anastasia if she could put a carrying handle on this one. Which of course she did. Her work is amazing. 

     So my new arena is here and I have 6 days until the Breyerfest Open show is open for uploading. I have longer than that to actually DO the uploading, so I have some time to get some more photos. I need to find some time to get that done.
 

Painted Minis

     I don’t own many mini resins. I am much more into performance than halter showing, and even though I have done mini performance I don’t love it. So mostly my mini horses hang out on the shelf and look nice. Some look nicer than others. This mini Copperfox pony was the first horse I did in pigments. She doesn’t have amazing shading but it was an interesting start into the world of pigments. Knowing what I do now I could potentially work on her a bit more and get her to be a bit nicer. I may even get into that sooner or later.

       On a different note, my mini Hazel painted by Nikki O’Neil is amazing. She could likely show well against the big horses, if I ever took her out to a show. But mostly she sits on the shelf and looks pretty. 

       My mini Scarlett is painted by Josie Burks (before she was Burks) and is another that just hangs out and looks pretty. I also have a deep love for the Scarlett resin and am extremely happy I could add her to my collection.

      Mini Brio was finished recently by Angelica (Nelson) Anzelmo. He is gorgeous and really should be shown. I should get pics and put him in a photo show at least. 

     Little Leggs isn’t painted yet but she is modeling the most detailed piece of mini tack I have ever owned. Little Leggs was sculpted by Liesl Dalpe and the bosal was made by Anna Helt. I now clearly need more mini tack from Anna.

      I don’t remember the name of this resin or even where they were sold. Equine something...art... I think. But I painted her a bunch of years ago. And I don’t hate how she came out. This was way before NaMoPaiMo, so I was winging it quite a lot at the time. She’s a nice little shelf piece.

    Mini Mira is another that was recently finished by Angelica. She’s such a fun little mare and makes me really happy. 

     Pixel was both sculpted and painted by Morgen Kilbourn Rossomando. I had a shelf accident during construction last year and she suffered a broken leg (or maybe it was another time...) which I did repair, just not perfectly. I really enjoy having pieces that were painted by the sculpting artist.

     Moxie was also done by Angelica Anzelmo, but many years ago. Angelica painted this same color pattern on a larger model for me at one point, but like many things I sold the piece to pay some bills. This little one is likely to stay in my collection forever.

    Lastly I have Partly Sunny. He was my 2021 NaMoPaiMo model, was done mostly in eyeshadow, and is easily the nicest and most detailed horse I have ever painted. He’s still likely not LSQ but I am very proud of what I did with him and I enjoy looking at him often.

     I shared Ranchita when she came home and other than her the only other mini resin I have is an unpainted Copperfox sport horse. I guess, for me, I do actually sort of have a lot of mini horses. And we haven’t even talked about the micros yet!

Hunt Seat

     There is not really any good reason why it should take me over a week to make a couple of hunt seat dolls. Yet here we are. I worked on these dolls all last week and didn’t manage to even get close to finishing either one. Too many things got in the way. That, and extreme temperature swings, has made it hard to accomplish anything. But I did finally manage to get them finished.

    School is close to finished for me, finals start next week, then Travis is done about a week later. This year has been rough but it is coming to an end. And it is a relief. Next year should be back to a typical year. Though I hope we keep up the extra cleaning. I have enjoyed not being sick this year.

       I am still working on my Native American regalia, but I think I am going to switch up some of my materials. I am thinking I might switch over to ultra suede. It’s very consistent so should be quite easy to work with. Hopefully soon I will have some time to get some more work done on it.

      I am just about ready to start really buckling down to prep for my next live sale, which will be in mid-August. I am incredibly glad that I did not try to rush and get ready in time for Breyerfest! I am going to start with small items I think. I have a new item I will be offering at the next sale and I am pretty excited for it! That is where I will start I think. Then I can start focusing on all of the other things and getting some dolls in the mix. August will be here before I know it!
 

New Project

     About 100 years ago, or back in October of 2010, I made this Native American tack. It took me quite a long time and still did not come out exactly as I would have liked it to. I chose to paint instead of attempting to do any sort of beadwork. Scale matters a lot to me and I didn't think I would be able to keep everything in scale with beadwork. And paint is also historically accurate, so that worked. This regalia was nice, I liked it, but it was not as refined as I would have liked it to be. 

     When I found this set on MH$P, it was very close to the set I made, but so nicely in scale! It was all done with embroidery! I loved the look of it. It was packed with details and looked amazing on Cranky Pants. I miss Cranky Pants. He was my Sencillo resin painted by Liesl Dalpe. 

     The tack also looked pretty great on Cloud Dancing, my Bold Endeavor resin. And this view shows the other side of the set and even more details. Sadly I sold Cloud Dancing because of cracking in the paint that I was not qualified to fix, I sold Sencillo and my regalia because I was broke and needed money. I ended up selling a lot of things over the years because of that. 

      Ever since I had to sell my tack I have missed it and have been on the hunt for more. Though it seems not a lot of people make Native American regalia, at least not anything that is accurate and in scale. Since I have not been able to find what I want I figured it was time to just make it myself. I repurchased the book I had originally as part of my reference. Mostly this is a book of paper dolls, but it does have some nice pictures and a bit of history. I also purchased stirrups and a saddle tree for TWMHC. These items have all been sitting here waiting for me to finish up other projects and get started. I finished my custom horse, my photos for the Best Customs contest, so now I am a lot closer to being ready to start on a new project. Maybe soon. Though I do still need to get some photos for the Breyerfest Open show. I have some, but I also need others. So maybe that is the next thing that needs to happen. 

     I almost feel like I need a deadline for this project. That was how I got my horse finished. It was how I got my custom contest photos finished. I am sure it will also be how I get my Breyerfest photos done. Or I will not get around to it at all and I just won't have much to show. I do think I can do a nice job at this. Especially if I slowly and carefully pick away at the project like I did with my custom horse. Maybe a few hours every weekend for as long as it takes to get it done. I would love to see if I could make something nicer than the one I originally made, and nicely packed with details. The first step will be to start. I am close to ready.