NAN Memories - "Bandera"

"Bandera"
Musetta Resin
Scupted by McDermott
Painted by Karen Beeson

Shown Winning a Top Ten Award in AR/OS Trad/Classic Chestnut Color Workmanship Class
at NAN 2010.

Bandera is owned by Mary Barton of Arizona.

No Frills Live All Minis - The Resin Foals, Light, and Gaited Breeds

Two posts ago I covered the custom foals of the No Frills All Minis live show on April 20. I continue my coverage today with the artist resin foals, and artist resin light and gaited division.



First up is the exquisite little "Shanghai" painted by Katie Younger-Gehrt (a great talent, who unfortunately no longer paints for the hobby) and owned by Elizabeth LaRose.

I'm sharing this next little foal because he is absolute perfection (even though I was sadly unable to properly balance the color on this photo). So if you think he is cute here, just imagine how wonderful he is in person! This is "Cocoa Puffs" painted by Stephanie Blaylock and owned by Chris Wallbruch.

This very rich bay rabicano Mini Nahar resin is owned by Brenda Metcalf.

Here we have a wonderfully detailed Jezebel resin painted by Steph Michaud.

I'm not sure of the finishing artist, but I do know that Mekadevah is owned by Chris Wallbruch.  This piece has very intricate facial detailing.

These days we are busy funding Boy Scout camping trips, music lessons, and other activity fees for our boys, but if I did happen to have a personal "model horse budget," this next piece is one that I would have begged and pleaded to buy. Once again, my camera does not do justice to this piece. Her color reminded me of the depth one can find on a succulent piece of fruit. This Jezebel is both painted and owned by DeeAnn Kjelshus. 

Another DeeAnn Kjelshus piece follows, this one owned by Heather McCurdy. Along with the beautiful face, this mini Nahar is certainly not "just" grey. He sported a wide range of colors in his coat and very fine dappling and detailing. 

This beautiful Vixen resin is painted by Liz Shaw and owned by Elizabeth LaRose.  This piece is one of the finest examples of "hair by hair" (or in this case, more like "speck by speck") application of color to a piece. 

This vibrant golden chestnut is owned by Chris Wallbruch. 

I am uncertain of the painter or owner of this next piece, but I was delighted to be able to award him his much-deserved blue ribbon. 

Artist Laura Behning has been painting models since the 1980's, and sculpting since the 1990's. Today she is heavily involved in the breeding of gorgeous "colorful" Morgan horses. Even though the genes responsible for bucskins, duns, palominos, and greys were present, and periodically met to create an exceptionally colorful breed representative, these colors were sadly frowned upon in favor of bays and chestnuts until fifteen or twenty years ago. Knowing that Laura Behning has played a great role in raising awareness of these colors in the purebred Morgan horse, I especially enjoyed seeing this more recent Morgan mare, both sculpted (and released in a resin edition) and painted by Laura Behning herself. This piece is owned by Jeni Lambert. 

The final horse that I photographed in the AR light and gaited breeds division shows "Roansome Romantic," both painted and owned by DeeAnn Kjelshus. I asked DeeAnn how she created this color. DeeAnn is very experienced in the use of mixed media, and while she does not recall exactly what she used and in what order, I found it fascinating that she was able to achieve this extraordinarily realistic roan without the use of "hair by hair" techniques, but rather by the manner in which she applied and dusted various colors on the piece. 

Bearing in mind my lack of controlled lighting at the show, and my lack of the highest camera power, it is still interesting to section off a bit of this horse for close-up study.  That could very well be a real horse's coat! 

There are still more No Frills Minis photos to come, plus a few other types of eye-candy scheduled for the blog this week. Please check back for more!

Why should artists judge at live shows and collect the work of other artists?

Any artist who aims to produce champion quality work, must go out and see the competition so they can then push their own artistic development where they need it the most.  

These days, it is true that we can see thousands upon thousands of models online, but many of the most important, yet also most subtle qualities, can only be discerned in person.  

It is nearly impossible to properly assess the vibrance, level of detail, extraordinary number of color hues and tones that are present in the finest work, smoothness of surface, life-like luster, and overall cohesive quality of a piece in online photos. This is why, all too often, pieces appear better in photos than in life. The ultimate goal is the opposite, however, which is for the piece to appear better in life than on the screen.  Live shows provide the perfect opportunity to study these qualities and make comparisons with one’s own work. 

Therefore, I am a firm believer that every artist who expects their work to win at the shows should be playing an extremely active role in live showing, and ideally as a judge, so you can see every model up close and personal.  

Those artists with a true passion for the hobby usually collect too.  Every artist can find another artist who executes a color, pattern, or quality more realistically than they can themselves. Owning this type of work for detailed study is the ideal way to push your own limits and develop your own skills in that area. Owning the work of other artists is key in developing that highly selective eye, which is critical in deciding which pieces are ready for you to put out in the world, and which pieces require further work prior receiving your final signature. 

"Chester," shown below, is a 1995 piece by Sarah Minkiewicz-Breunig. Commissioning this piece from Sarah and adding him to my collection, along with others of this quality, allowed me to study the intricacies of the finest finishwork that was out there at the time.  To this day, Sarah's cold painted finishwork dating back more than two decades (to distinguish from her equally extraordinary contemporary kiln fired work) still ranks among the most realistic and most sought-after pieces within the hobby. Chester has taught me a great deal about what constitutes the best of the best. 

"Chester"
North Light brand Cob sculpture customized and painted by Sarah Minkiewicz-Breunig.  1995.
Owned by Karen Beeson. 

No Frills Live April 20 - The Custom Foals

I had the honor, and pleasure, of judging both the custom and resin divisions at the No Frills Live All Minis show in Huntey, IL on April 20. Then show started with the foals, and the custom foals division was extremely competitive. The showers brought out their best, and I'm pleased to share some of those beautiful pieces with you here.

It is hard to believe that the piece shown here, Skittles, owned by Chris Wallbruch, is roughly fifteen years old. She looks pretty amazing in this photo, but the tiniest details are only visible to the eye. There are no "painted on" white markings here. Well, technically, there are, but there are absolutely no visual clues about the seamless application of the perfectly smooth color (and white) on this piece. This is one of the later "cold painted" (as opposed to the contemporary kiln fired) pieces by artistic master Lesli Kathman.

This frisky baby is Freckles Gone Wild owned by Chris Wallbruch.  Like Skittles above, this piece dates back at least fifteen years. I believe she is the work of Lee Francis.

Exquisite little "Oui," is owned by Elizabeth LaRose and painted by Sarah Minkiewicz-Breunig. Some of the most wonderful qualities of this piece are the variety in color and shading within spots.  The luster of the clean, young coat, appears to be gleaming in the sun. 

Sweet Pea is one of many Diane Capwell pieces owned by the lucky Karen Meekma.  It is too bad that Diane is no longer involved with the hobby. Her extensive talents extended to both the use of varied, rich colors, and the application of detailed patterning. This combination of talents is not often paired, and is much sought after when an artist can bring both talents to our hobby. 

Little "Bindi Sue" is a beautifully done, pastelled mealy/pangare bay. One of my favorite features of this piece is the delicate,  transparent use of the pastels.  Anyone can use pastels to build and build color to develop opaque coverage, but it requires much more care, skill, and planning to perfect this type of finish, especially without flaws or excessive grain in the color.  This baby is owned by Linda Jensen.  I would love to know the name of the finishing artist. 

DeeAnn Kjelshus is known for thinking outside of the box, and also for creating the highest level of finishwork. Little "Smudge" here is the perfect example. He appears to be resting after having some fun playing in the mud!  I love the rich coat colors and pattern on him too.

I don't know who painted this next little cutie, but I do know that she is owned by Jennifer Lambert. 

Here is a nice little flippy-tailed foal, sporting a wonderful use of rich color in her coat, as well as a beautifully detailed pattern. Artist and owner are unknown. 

Through the years, Denise Gimarro has created an entire herd of beautiful babies customized in a variety of creative poses. This foal is gorgeous from this angle, but move down to the next photo...

...to see an even cuter picture of her!  Look at that expression!

Here we have another exceptionally detailed Diane Capwell foal. Diane uses dozens of colors to draw the eye around the piece. She also uses both paint work and etching to develop her patterns.

Next us we find yet another Diane Capwell foal. I especially like the way that the pattern on the barrel appears to stretch and wrinkle with the position of the hind leg.

The fjord colt below is a very tiny sculpture from the Hagen-Renaker mini pony family. Having recently painted a Hagen-Renaker mini foal (see THIS post below), I know very well that the artist must paint in the facial details, which are gentle contours at best, and often non-existant on these pieces.  This beautiful piece was created by Tiffany Purdy.

Yes another Diane Capwell foal was in the rings. I'm disappointed that my camera, and later editing, could not pick up on the extensive detail in the darkest areas of the coat. I assure you, the finishwork was phenomenal. "Cinders" is owned by the lucky Karen Meekma.

One more Hagen-Renaker foal by Tiffany Purdy was in the rings too. This one was being shown by a breed that was brand new to me, the North American Spotted Halflinger.  Is this breed new to you too? You can visit the registry's page at http://www.nash2006.com/ . Little "Kalvin" is also owned by Karen Meekma.

Another beautiful DeeAnn Kjelshus work showed up in the rings, this time a baby mule!  "Bubbles" is owned by Linda Jensen.

What tough competition!  I was having a great time, but with all of the deliberation over such excellent models, I felt as if I had been judging all day already after these classes. In the end, I chose the magnificent "Cinders" (again wishing I'd been able to capture all of the subtle details of this dark beauty) and "Skittles" as my champ and reserve.

There are many more photos to come from my judging experience at No Frills on Saturday, so please visit the blog in upcoming days for more eye candy!

Glossy Chalky Dapple Grey Shire (1 of 6 produced) at auction!

I'm stunned to see that a piece I knew "personally" and long coveted (since age 11, or so!) is for sale on eBay today. This piece is the most extraordinary shade of glossy, chalky blue-grey. Known in the show rings as "Miracle," this model was a favorite of all of us who knew the owner, and also Marney Walerius, who was the source of the model from Breyer.  Miracle always crushed the competition, but her huge fan club was always rooting for her.

My heart aches a bit, as I would LOVE to add her to my own collection, but she is worth far more than my budget could handle. I hope I will find out where she lands, and perhaps see her again someday in the show rings.

To clarify, this is not my own auction, although the seller is a dear, long-time friend of mine. Anyone with an interest in Breyer history should rush over to see the listing.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-1-6-Breyer-Horse-Glossy-Chalky-Bell-Bottom-Shire-/271196013874?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f248ac532#ht_284wt_1352

OF Glossy CHALKY Dapple Grey Breyer Shire. 1 of 6 produced. Currently for sale on eBay. Photo used with permission. 

Show for the Cure - Best in Show Award Winner

Some may have noticed that my Show for the Cure coverage cut off abruptly, and that my resin division coverage never appeared on the blog. That was thanks to my recent computer crash, and the loss of all of my 2012 and 2013 photos. Fortunately some of those photos were permanently preserved here on my blog, as well as in my phone and camera.

I do have one remaining Show for the Cure photo to share today, the winner of the prestigious "Best in Show" award winner of the day.  This special award is unique to this show.  The overall grand champions of each division (CM, Resin, Performance, Plastic, China, and CM Glaze) go up for this final honor, judged by show host Jenna Nejman.

This year the best in show was awarded to a piece of my own work, Grand Design, owned by Brenda Metcalf!  Congratulations, Brenda!!!   To add to the excitement, in the seven years since Jenna founded the Show for the Cure, this was Grand Design's second Best in Show win at the event!

"Best in Show" Award Winner at Show for the Cure 2013
"Grand Design"
Sculpture by Williams.
Finishwork by Karen Beeson.
Owned by Brenda Metcalf. 

GREAT reference photo and art source!

I have been very quiet these past two weeks and for good reason. My computer completely crashed, requiring a hard drive replacement. Luckily, I had backed up just two weeks earlier.  Unluckily, when I replaced all my data, it scattered and mixed randomly, leaving me to play "52 card pick-up" with more than 25,000 photos and files!  Additionally, for some reason I have still not found (or perhaps completely lost) all of my photos from 2012 and 2013. (The random cute photo of our pet rat Butters as a baby is included above for your viewing pleasure, and because it is one of the photos that I *have* recovered and sorted thus far!)

So that brings me to today's post about a fantastic reference site developed by hobby artist Kimberly Smith.  Kimberly has much to offer the equine artist on her site, from pigment recipes for painting models, to free equine cross-stitch patterns, and of course, galleries of her own beautiful work.

Kimberly has recently added another valuable feature. She has generously started sharing gorgeous, large horse photographs from her own reference collection, for the use of other equine artists!  This is perfect timing for me, with the loss of so many of my references, but in truth, I would be building my "Kimberly Smith" file even if I hadn't lost my own. The photos are huge and beautiful, allowing for clear study of the smallest details.  Kimberly has captured a wide variety of breeds, colors, poses, and disciplines. A new selection of photos is shared every week!  I'd highly recommend a visit to Kimberly's site.

 K Smith Equine Creations