Showing up

So, I'm hosting my first live show on Saturday and as usual have a bunch of little things to do as I come down to the wire. First order of business - firming up table and chair delivery to the hangar. Second, print ribbons, judges sheets, and extra show packets. Third clean/organize room (and the rest of the house!!) for guest judge's arrival so she doesn't run away. Four - finish plaques for trophies and buy raffle tickets for donation items.

I've just come to terms with the fact that nothing "work wise" will have a snowballs chance in hell at getting any attention this week. On the plus note, the painting for the plaques by Kitty Cantrell are painting up really nicely. I've got the three Arabian Stallion plaques done (woots):

And am 2/3 of the way through on the Arabian Mare and Foal plaques. These things are about 7 1/2" tall and are so so nice to paint! I've already told Kitty that they are going to become an annual thing for trophies for my show. They're just too perfect not to use. And frankly I'd rather have one of these than a rosette. Kitty does sell these two if you're not attending my show and still want one. They are $50 PPD I believe - see them on her website: http://www.kittycantrell.com/

Cookies and Customs

So, I've been wanting to do a medallion forever. I had a first attempt with this guy a few years back:

And I had an idea pop into my head while hubby and I watched a movie for a second one. A little foal hiding behind mamma's bottom and peeking through her tail. A few hours later I had my piece! Meet Peek-a-boo!

Worlds different from the first one, huh? Peek-a-Boo is roughly 2" wide by 4" tall. I'll probably be selling a few of them later, but she's not high on the priority list at all.

Next up is the custom part. I meant for that to be plural too, as the tittle suggests, but I forgot to snap a photo of him finished so I'll just plant in a little teaser description and let you look forward to him later. Here's the Weather Girl custom I'm working on with a much nicer, and much less orange background. ;) She's *almost* ready to paint but still needs some tweaks here and there. I will hope to have her up for auction next week on AB. I abhor bases in all fields - sculpting them, painting them, looking at them - so I went with a thin acrylic rod on the front hoof instead. She's quite sturdy even for being narrow.

 Can't wait to be able to put that bay paint job with chrome on her! Yum! And that teaser I promised. I have a stunning Gomez by Deb McDermott that has been in the works for a while. As with most of my own pieces they usually don't get worked on unless I have left over stuff that needs to be used. So, while cleaning resins, any surplus of Apoxie mixed went towards the customizing of Gomez. Nothing in terms of position, but a lot in terms of decoration and hair. His tail is customized and was shortened, which meant an acrylic rod to support him. Then I took off his mane on the one side and added a double french braid to the neck so he's got those gorgeous locks on both sides now. I couldn't stop there. I'd been eyeing all these fancy Spanish parade horses and of course was inspired. So, to that gorgeous thick Spanish hair, I added roses and ribbons. The end result is AMAZING. So much in fact that I'm going to keep him in my own personal collection for a while. That's no small thing. I never hang on to horses any more as I can't afford to keep my own work. If I keep it, that means I'm loosing the money I could have made from a sale. I currently have one horse in my personal collection right now and this boy will make it two.