Pony Painting with my Pals and other Fun Stuff

Friends are great things to have in general, but friends that don't mind driving eight hours across the country to see you and play with ponies are the best.

Christine does NaMoPaiMo!

Max has hogged the limelight for far too long so here's what *I* got up to this month!

My goal for NaMo this year was to paint some models to sell (which I utterly failed at sadly) and finally get round to painting the Maggie Bennet micro mini Shetland I'd had sitting naked on my shelf for the last few years. I'd never been able to settle on a colour so he'd been relegated to the 'procrastination station' until such time as inspiration struck. It kinda didn't, but I pushed myself to paint him anyway and I honestly couldn't be happier with how he (and his bonus friend!) turned out.

Swaps and Stablemates

As per usual I've been procrastinating and although I've rather a lot to blog about, I kinda...haven't, so apologies for that!

One thing which has got me back in the mood for posting about things this week however is the lovely box of goodies I got in the post from Barbara/Willowisp on Blab as part of that forum's traditional 'Spring Swap'.

NaMoPaiMo - A few finished ponies!

Against all my original predictions I've not only finished my designated pony, but several others too and I've still got half the month left to go!

NaMoPaiMo - Day...3?

I've kind of lost track of the days a bit here, haha!

Progress has been made on all fronts however, and some are getting closer and closer to completion!


After another couple of pastel layers, the Shetland had his markings outlined, which is one of the most tedious, yet fulfilling parts of doing pintos.



I always love this stage, as the coloured areas really start to pop, even with just the basic outlines done!

NaMoPaiMo - Day 1

First things first, I needed to clear my desk! XD

NaMoPaiMo 2017!

As many of my regular readers will have noticed, other than the recent Julip one, there's been a distinct lack of pony posts over the last wee while. I've always had something of a wandering muse; one minute I'll be really into something, but in a matter of days or weeks I'm in the mood for something else, and so I've been doing a lot more with my dolls over the last few months while the horses took a back seat.

 I really needed something to get myself back in an equestrian mood, as my body piles have been mounting up whilst my motivation to paint them ebbed away. So, you can imagine my delight when Jennifer Buxton announced a brilliant challenge for February - NaMoPaiMo!

Inspired by NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) she came up with this one specifically to get hobbyists back into painting and interest in it has been rather dramatic!

I had no shortage of bodies and quite a few awaiting primer, so choosing my victims wasn't too difficult. Only one model would be counted in the challenge, but I've picked four I'd like to get done this month.

From left to right; 'Horatio' by Clare Stokes, 'Truffles' by David Mayer/Horsing Around, 'Night Heather' by Kelly Sealey and 'Hamlet' by Clare Stokes.

All of them have been sat next to my desk for the best part of a year. I occasionally sanded a few seams and carved out some hooves but other than that they've lain more or less untouched.

UNTIL TODAY!

Yet more mini customs!

I'm obviously in the mood for customising at the moment as I seem to be doing nothing but cutting up tiny ponies!

First up is this G2 Pacer - I've always felt rather sorry for this mould as there are so few breeds it could be shown as (as there are relatively few horse breeds that display that kind of lateral gait) that it rarely seems to be customised.

 

I thought it had potential as a trotting horse if I flipped the forelegs round, so after having to buy myself another hacksaw (I lent mine to someone and haven't got it back yet, haha) I set to work.

 I discovered that the bent foreleg was considerably shorter than the other one, so I had to tweak and extend it with a wire before I reattached it.

 

At first I was just going to bend the neck and lower the headset but after a while I thought it'd probably be far easier to just resculpt it entirely, so he was decapitated for science. :P

It was during this time that this stray speck of plastic pinged off and flew straight into my eye, somehow bypassing my glasses entirely.

I spent the next ten minutes in front of the bathroom mirror with a variety of small pointy objects, trying to extract it. Luckily it had ended up right in the corner, near the tear duct but kept creeping sideways the more I poked at it which was rather alarming. It came out eventually and I've had no problems but it did make me more aware of what I was doing and I'll definitely be investing in some goggles the next time I'm out as I usually just assume my glasses will be enough to protect my eyes but obviously not! If that had been a bit of glass or metal I could have been in serious trouble! 

A considerable amount of (careful!) sanding with my knockoff dremel later, I reattached the legs on the opposite sides of the horse with white-tac to see how it looked before making the join permanent with superglue and bicarbonate of soda.

 

 

As I've probably mentioned numerous times before, I hate using epoxy as it inevitably gets everywhere and I find it really frustrating to work with, but after accidentally supergluing the horse to my hand earlier on, I decided that I'd have to put up with it rather than my usual glue/bicarb method.

The throatlatch is obviously waaaaay too thick here, and I'll need to do a bit of work once the epoxy has cured but I'm pleased with how well the sculpting style matches.

I think I'll end up having him for some kind of western performance as he's ended up quite chunky and quarter horsey.

I still had loads of milliput left over so I worked on a few side projects to finish it off.

I bought this Schleich Akhal Teke at the Copperfox show, and lopped his head off almost as soon as I got him home. I reset it today a little lower and straighter, although trying to get the distinctive hair texture to match was a little trickier and I'm not really sure if I've managed it or not.

I started this guy years ago - a G2 Shire to some kind of cantering draught. I love the mould's head but not much else, especially that horrible, horrible tail, so that was the first part to go! His left foreleg is entirely new which is why it looks so bad compared to the rest!

This was another old custom I started a while back, a G2 Saddlebred. I really like the mould, but I'm not hugely enamoured with my resculpting here. :/ I really want to do a glued thread version but I can't find another body in my stash even though I know I must have at least one more!

Another custom from the dawn of time is this G1 Silky Sullivan I started way back in 2011.

She's really been through the wars and has had multiple surgeries on her neck, and eventually ended up painted chestnut with a mohair mane and tail, but somehow that never quite worked for me, so I stripped off all the hair the other day and started again with glued thread hair.

This mould has such a lovely face.

She was going to be flaxen chestnut but halfway through pastelling she told me she wanted to be a very dark liver chestnut...oh and she wasn't an Arab any more, she was a Welsh pony!

She's still very much a WIP but I'm really liking the direction she's heading in now.

Also in progress is this Britains Shire, who is well on her way to becoming a very hairy cob.

What's on the workbench this week?

Bodies, bodies everywhere!

I've always really liked the G4 draught horse but found his back too short for my liking, soooo, he underwent a bit of spinal surgery...

(He's thinking with portals, obviously)

I resculpted his neck too, as I want him to be one of those super chunky European draught breeds when he's done, though I haven't decided exactly what breed. I really want him to be some shade of roan though.

I lengthened his barrel with the wire/superglue/bicarb method which I much prefer to using epoxy.

I've always loved the look of string/thread mane and tails, so I teased out some very fine silk floss and superglued it on. It's a little rough in places, but I'm pleased nonetheless.
I'm still debating about whether to give him feathering or not.

My second victim is a G2 TB. I've always wanted to reposition one from gallop to landing from a jump for performance, and finally took the plunge yesterday.

My resculpting skills really aren't great, and I know the shoulder muscling doesn't quite match so I may sand down the OF side and redo it so they don't look too dissimilar. I used superglue and bicarb for it all, no epoxy at all.

After and before!

She has a metal pin in her front foot so I can have her installed on a base. This initially caused some problems when I couldn't find my smallest drill-bit and had to improvise, then spent ages trying to find some clear acrylic rod only to eventually remember that it would be hidden in a base so didn't need to be transparent at all! 

Fail.

I lopped her ears and tail off and resculpted them so she looked more alert.

I can't wait to make a diorama for her - I really want to do a cross country water complex...

As of today I've started on her mane and tail - thread again, although I may have had a better idea, so I'll see how this one turns out first and then rethink if necessary.

Any idea for a colour?

Some new customs and nail polish ponies!

I haven't posted anything properly model horsey in a while so hopefully this'll make up for the lack of posts!

I've had a whole pile of bodies sitting next to my desk for the last year or so in varying degrees of completion. Some needed resculpting, others just required a skoosh of primer or sealer. One of them was this G1 Seabiscuit stablemate that I'd resculpted with plaits and a new tail aaaages ago. I'd primed her, but done nothing else and that was really bothering me, so last week I got the pastels out and started painting. I'd always wanted to make her appaloosa so I found a few good references I liked the look of and got started.

I used a silicone 'clay shaper' to apply the pastels rather than a brush which let me do more deliberate spots and mottling and I really love the effect. I went over the blanket with very thinned down white acrylic, then another few layers of pastel over the top to blend it together.

Despite such a complicated pattern I finished her in a couple of days and she's now ready to begin her performance career where she'll be known as EA Quirtsquip, the Knabstrupper mare.

I love this mould so much, it's so expressive!

This is a very crappy pic but here's a sneaky peek at what she'll be doing for her first outing at the Copperfox Tour event in a couple of weeks!

...and now for something completely different.

I took part in Model Horse Blab's 'Spring Stablemate Swap' again this year (it's kind of like a secret santa, but with custom stablemates and usually chocolate and things) I did some decorator customs for my partner and sent some sweeties and chocolate and things. They said they loved them, so I was really pleased. 

I think one of the nail varnishes is acting up a bit as it was supposed to give a holographic gold sheen but it seems to have reacted with the other polishes and while its still gold, it has an odd texture so apologies to wildwinds if it changes further, I didn't realise until I looked at the photos and saw it do the same on something else I painted the other day!

I was thinking of kirin when I did this one so she has glitter 'scales' on her back, although they've blended in rather a lot more than I intended, lol.

 I really struggled to part with this one...

...so I made him a twin to keep!

 This is a sort of metallic/holographic appaloosa...thing. XD I don't really know how else to describe him but I love him to bits. I really like how textured he turned out and I'd like to try something similar again soon.

 

I couldn't resist doing a glitter rainbow pony either.

My box from ICSpots however, was held to ransom in customs for a while so I only just got it today but jeezo, was it worth waiting for! O_O

The massive box was a shock in itself but it didn't take long to open, although getting everything out took considerably longer as I was oohing and ahhing at everything I pulled out!

To say I'm overwhelmed would be something of an understatement, just look at all this awesome! I knew some people went all out in these swaps but I wasn't expecting anything as generous as this!

LOADS of chocolate (which in this house won't last very long, ahaha) and cookies and tasty deliciousness of all kinds, (I've been wondering what the infamous 'peeps' taste like for years, haha) as well as a $15 Rio Rondo voucher, (which will be put to very good use) some postcards and handmade jewellery. I'm not much of a jewellery person but I'm going to display them above my desk so I can admire them when I'm working - the colours are fantastic!

Then of course there were the ponies! I'd already kinda guessed that this little guy was going to be coming to me and he's even cuter than he looked in the photos - there's something about the painting and the sculpt combo that makes me think of an illustration from an old vintage horse book. 

His travelling companion however was a complete mystery and I absolutely love him!

I was feeling a bit under the weather today as I didn't sleep much this weekend so this really made my day! I can't thank Linda enough, I've been totally and utterly spoiled!