Breyerfest 2017 Haul

As I said in a previous post, I went to Breyerfest again this year! I saved up since last July, and am very happy with what I got. I tried to go for quality over quantity and think I succeeded. :) I apologize for some of the bad photos, we are in the middle of moving and a lot of my equipment is packed.

Thursday night I bought this vintage CM North Light resin. He was shown successfully in his day as 'Thor' and will probably be a shelf sitter and occasionally a performance horse. I have a little collection of vintage customs and resins and he fits in nicely.

On Friday, I showed at the open show and won this lovely glossy Banks Vanilla. Her name is RRS Rochambeau and I can't wait to show her in January.

Also on Friday I bought these two customs from Sarah Tregay, who wrote the book Painting Pastel Champions, which helped me immensely when I started painting. 

First is RRS Alastair, a resculpt from the standing TB who has had a new headset, slightly resculpted legs, and a new mane.

This is RRS Mishamigo, who is probably my favorite custom mini I own. His resculpting is fantastic and his color is amazing. His dapples just look SO soft. <3

I had my first Special Run times on Saturday, where first I got a glossy Saffron who is unnamed...

And for my first surprise, I pulled a chestnut in matte, who I just started calling Mycroft. He'll probably get a more dignified name, however. :P

My next surprise I got another glossy Saffron to sell, and pulled a matte bay tobiano who is also unnamed.

At my last SR time, I just got a surprise, and let the person behind me take my other ticket spot. Unfortunently I got another matte tobiano, but a fellow hobbyist offered to trade her matte buckskin for my guy. 

She had gotten a full set, but had to buy quite a few of the surprises to do so. Since she had so many left over, she let anybody really trade. Her logic was they would sell the same, and to make another person happy gave them good karma for the next year (and it's the nice thing to do!) People like her make our hobby awesome.

I really didn't care for the pintaloosa, so I'm very happy with getting the surprises I did. Of course gloss would have been nice... but I think the glossy gods used all there power in 2014, where I pulled the glossy appaloosa Pop the Cork. :P

Also on Saturday I went through the Breyer store and picked up this SR set from 2002. I didn't have a wolf or cougar and for the price, I had to get them!

The only model I didn't buy was Illuminati, which my mom surprised me with. Illuminati confirmed is her favorite meme... so she had to get him. He is super cool!

The only model I got from the Artisan's Gallery was this girl, who was customized and painted by Kimberly Bleeker. "RRS Theodosia" has a resculpted face and new ribbons.

The brand new mold this year was Tushar, a single day stablemate. Unnamed here will be added to my shoestring. He's so adorable. 

From wearing a name tag, I got two awesome SM scale busts! Gonna paint one as a portrait for a friend, and decapitate the other one even further and use it on a CM.

@da.vinci.creations on Instagram reworked his Patrick resin into a rearing mini gelding, and I was one of lucky 50 people to get one! 

I already finished his base coat of paint, just gotta do details! Any color would look good on him... but I love me a good dark bay.

My 'big' purchase was this drastic custom Carrick with a saddlebred head by Austin Reid. Austin also painted my Moxie. But without further ado... this is RRS Easy Street or "Lucille."

She's gonna be a performance beast, can't wait to get her into the ring!

Before and after!

And that's it! I had a great time this year, but am not trying to brag or anything. Hope you all had a great weekend, whether you were in Kentucky or not! :)

What's In The Studio?

At this point... lots!

First I have been working on this bay roan commission. He needs a bit more roaning on his flank then his base is all done.

Next is a completed commision. This was my first palomino! I'm not totally happy with it... but still turned out great.

A friend of mine also recently sent me some samples of Earth Pigments. They are literally amazing. The first horse I painted was the bay arabian CollectA. The sculptures on these are very nice, they are cheap enough to potentially ruin... but also look really nice when painted correctly!

She is going to be a Breyerfest sales piece. I won't be sad if she doesn't sell, though!

Most recently is this semi-gloss dark grulla Fjord. I also did him in earth pigments, but I like the arab better.

Lastly, here's a classic roan mustang. This one is being difficult for me... but he's coming along.

And that's it! Be sure to read my post on Two Cowgirls And A Jumper this week!

Update + Namopaintmo!

February has been a rough month in more than a few ways. It's just been super busy and stuff has happened.

The main thing was my dog went In For Training. For those that don't know, my family raises and trains Guide Dogs and PTSD dogs. We keep them for about a year then they go back to the guide dog school for advanced training. This dog, named Captain Hero (or just Cap) was mine and my responsibility to train. Boy, he's been a challenge... but I'm gonna miss him so much. We bonded so quickly, I'm getting emontional just writing this.

Me being awkward as usual but bye bye Cap! Be a good boy!

Of course I know he's off to do great things, but I needed a bit of a break. <3 However, I'm still here and I've done quite a bit in the process!

First up I completed my Namopaintmo horse! If you don't know what it is it is a challenge by Jennifer Buxton of Braymere Custom Saddlery to paint a horse in one month.

My official horse was this Breyer merrylegs, and I wanted to paint him to look like Lil Sebastian from Parks and Rec.

I tried a totally new technique and only used a brush. No pastels, no airbrush, just a brush!

He turned out really nice IMO. Not LSQ by far... but still cute! :) 

I also completed the first of many horses for a big commision and started two more!

This one has had more progress made, this is just the very base coat. I've stripped her 3 times so far... not gonna do it again! Some horses just don't like me.

Thanks for sticking with me all, stay tuned for more! I'll also be posting a TCAAJ exclusive post this week. :) 

Trade Haul

Yesterday was a very, very good mail day, to say the least.

A friend of mine is getting out of the hobby to focus on real horses and was really just trying to get rid of her collection... So I helped her out and basically got my pick of her showstring. In exchange for these horses plus a few more still on the way, I will be painting some stablemates to look like the real horses she works and rides with.

I, of course, wanted to show you all of them! Personally, I enjoy reading and looking at people's new additions... Hopefully you enjoy!

Instead of normal halter style pictures, I decided to have some fun with it and take some that were more dynamic.

First is Zenyatta. I was told she was a body so planned on repainting her. She's really not to bad though. :)

Next came Jesse and the long mane Connemara. She also sent two Classic riders as a bonus. The long mane is probably my favorite out of all of them. The trader has very good taste in shading and dapples. :)

Another one of my favorites would be Valegro. The sculpture looks more like an artist resin or custom.

He just has a *really* nice face.

Another is Sam! He's one that I liked, but not enough to buy him. After holding one and really looking at him, I really like him.

Joker, an older Celebration model, is also really nice. The only other I have on the mold is Smart And Shiney, and I like the black and white pinto on the mold much better.

Maverick, a TSC special run, and Harley D Zip, an RR, also arrived. Maverick is still growing on me... not sure if I like him yet. Harley is really nice. This one has an almost metallic coat and great shading. Not to mention the mold is fantastic for performance!

Nearing the end! I was able to get an SBH Phoenix, who I also really like in person. I have Argyle on the mold, too. They are both awesome.

Next is the sorrel AQHA. This one is probably my least favorite, but I still like her! The mold is just eh.

Last but not least, I chose three of my favorite classic mold, the Frolicking Foal! I conga this mold and finally got some more. :)

And that's it! Now I need to go get painting so I can actually officially own these guys! 

Peter Stone Collection

About 90% of my collection consists of OF Breyer models. 

The majority of them are special runs, retired, or harder to find model, but still OF.

I do have a couple resins... 

And a good collection of customs.

But I will most likely always be mainly an OF Breyer collector.

Anyway, I've spoken about my customs, my resins, and of course about my Breyers, but I don't think I've said much about my Peter Stone Collection.

This is partially because I have beef against them... But they do make some nice models.

The first Stone I got was Pandora. I bought her my first Breyerfest at the kids auction. I believe I paid about $50 for her.

I was excited to get her, and she was handed to me wrapped up so I just put her in my bag and went home.

This model is not good quality.

She has crap all over her chest and shoulder. as well as dark spots in her roaning.

Those are fixable, though. My biggest issue was her hooves aren't completely painted. What the heck?

This really turned my off towards Stones. The fact that they would sell basically factory seconds to CHILDREN who are probably getting their first model from them is not OK. They imprinted me to this day to not expect great quality, and I know other collectors feel the same.

Looking back I don't regret buying her, though. Every collection needs a Stone Arab and I'm happy to have one. She's a nice shelf sitter, but I wanted to show her.

Moving ahead two years, Maddy gifted me Toasted Coconut, a Stone Ponys website special run! :)

This started my wealing addiction. At Breyerfest this year I picked up two DAHs for $35 each(!).

First is a little cremello QH filly. I really like her, but she has flaws in her finish. >.<

Probably my favorite Stone would have to be this guy. He's been customized to a colt, turned head, and has a redone forelock. He's a very shaded black (which won't show up -_-). He almost always places at shows for me!

I also have a FQH. I showed him in performance for a while but he didn't 'click' for that. He's great in halter and has a nice color.

My most recent buy is this dude.

I drank the kool-aid and ordered a DAH on Thursday during the big sale. Models were around 40% off, so I got him for less than $100 bucks! He'll be a grulla with a blue and a brown eye, a wide blaze, and some socks.

The future of my Stone collection will really depend on how my DAH turns out. If he's terrible, no more... But if he turns out nice... Well, we'll see!