Mindy, Mindy, Mindy

With the recent rainy weather our riding has come to a (almost) halt...yeah, I admit it, I'm a fair weather trail rider. Both me and my horse loathe mud, rain, and most especially lightening (well, it's the thunder that my horse dislikes). I've been trying to take advantage of it and spend some time in the studio finishing some projects, mostly paint jobs that I basecoated in oils and had set aside to thoroughly dry. Last fall I started a Mindy as a portrait of my real horse Mindy. As is the case with me and pintos, it seemed like a good idea at first and then became a lot of work. I am notoriously slow at all my artistic endeavors, even tiny little mini resins in pinto. She ended up being a semi-portrait, as my real Mindy's facial marking just looked weird on the model. Finally she is complete (yay!):

Her hooves are of note as they are black hooves on a tobiano pinto. This is possible because of the extreme ermine spots. My filly has hooves and markings just like this.


Speaking of Mindy, Todd has started working with her. She has been infrequently handled as we have a 4 year old colt that has been taking up most of Todd's horse training time. She is 3 and a bit on the small side, so he won't start riding her until next year. She's a friendly, pretty little thing and so so smart! For now her training includes mostly desensitizing and lungeing. Here are a few videos of Todd introducing a plastic bag (have your sound turned up since Todd's commentary is so darn cute!)

Working Girl in bay

It's always fun to paint a few of my newest resin release before I begin a new scupting project. I love pintos, appies, dapples, but there is something so elegant about a simple color. It doesn't compete with the sculpture and shows off the underlying structure in a way that the 'hey, look at ME!" fancy colors don't. Most real horses come in 'plain Jane' colors, but are still beautiful.

I handpainted my Working Girl in oils, which I prefer. For me it is easier to get a rich, luminous, and controlled final product using them. I used to do all my paintwork with an airbrush, and got pretty good at it, but once I begain using oils my airbrush was, for the most part, stashed away. I envy those who are masterful with the airbrush, especially as I wait, and wait, and wait for my oil paint to dry......!!!!




With her simple paintjob, I wanted to add some special touches to really pull her look together. I made her a set of metal shoes (not easy at 1/32nd scale!) and added a few ermine spots and hoof stripes:

Here she is with the tiny tack set I made last month (probably my first and last set at this impossibly small scale):

I'd love to paint up a few more, but might not have the time. The next sculpture is awaiting me, spring has spring as well as the weeds, and the real horses need to be ridden. I'd have some much more time to devote to my art if I lived in a condo......hmmmmm........NO!