Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

 

 

May 2014 be a very good year for all of us! =)

 

Christmas Gifts Part 4 - finished and gifted

I managed to finish the medallions in time! Their new owners loves them and I am quite happy with them too as they are the first "models" I've finished in quite some time (and they're probably my best to this day). They are finished in acrylics and pastels and I found that I really like that combination so I am looking forward to finish some more models :)

E's medallion, I call it "Never Give Up" and that is written as a reminder on the back of the medallion. It is a semi-portrait of an Arabian gelding she leased (the mare) and the youngster she worked with at our school (the foal). 

J's medallion, I call it "Believe In Yourself" and that is written as a reminder on the back of the medallion. The mare is painted as a portrait of a mare she took care of for several years. The foal is a bit of an inside joke. She thought about breeding the mare and she said she wished for a bay mare with little white if she would breed her but we joked and said that she would get a chestnut stallion with lots of white. She never got around to breeding her but the chestnut colt thing still lingers on as an inside joke.

Out of all the horses on these medallions my absolute favourite is the chestnut foal. I just love how the shade of chestnut, the shading and the markings came out and worked together. I might be a bit biased to chestnut horses but that also makes me a bit picky with how they look and I am so proud that I could produce a chestnut that I really loved :)

 

M's medallion, I call it "Follow Your Dreams" and that is written as a reminder on the back of the medallion. Is painted as a portrait of her current warmblood gelding (the mare) and her pony (the foal).

 

These medallions were wonderful to paint, I enjoyed pretty much every minute! They weren't that easy to paint, it was actually quite hard to get in to all the small spaces without putting paint in the wrong places but I liked the challenge :)

 

Merry Christmas!

I just want to wish you all a very, merry Christmas =D
So...

 

Merry Christmas!


 

 

And a song (or two) to get in the right mood =D

 

Fourth Sunday of Advent

A day too late, I know, but I just had no time to post it yesterday.

Fourth Sunday of Advent means gift wrapping! =D

 

Tomorrow it is Christmas Eve and time to celebrate Christmas with lots of food and good company :)

 

Christmas gifts part 3

Remember these? The T.I.B.B.P medallions I'm painting as Christmas gifts for my best friends. They've actually come quite some way since you last saw them.

I start with apologizing for the bad lightning and photos. It's getting dark early around here right now and I'm often not finished painting 'til it's dark outside so the photos are the best I can manage right now.

They've gone from...

...prepped and primed...

... to first layers of paint...

 

...to more layers of paint...

 

...to lots of layers of paint.

 

This is their current state. The grey mare still needs her fleabits but other than that there's only details left to do, and the background of course.

 

Next time you'll see them I promise to give you better pictures and by then they will be finished =)

Third Sunday of Advent

The third Sunday of Advent is the day when we make all the Christmas cookies and candies. We gather family and, sometimes, friends and do this.

We still put together a gingerbread house and decorates it.

 

We also make knäck which is one of my favourite Christmas treat. It is not the easiest thing to pour into the tiny, tiny forms but when done right, they are really tasty.

And a type of saffron buns we call Lussekatter. Actually we usually do these for Lucia, the 13th December, but we sometimes do them for Christmas too.

We also make chokladbollar which roughly translates to chocolate balls.

Another, newer tradition we added to our Christmas goodies are Mozartkugeln. Our version of Mozartkugeln consists of a small cube of nougat rolled in a small ball of almond paste that is then dipped in chocolate. This is another one of my favourites.

And of course we play a lot o Christmas music :)

Performance plans Justin Tyme



1. Analyze your horse.
My horse is a Justin Tyme resin. I will show him as a Warmblood, probably with some Thoroughbred influences. He is in a lovely jumping pose (oh yes, I'm definitely biased =P). He has an unbraided mane and an unbraided tail. So, as for performance possibilities he pretty much needs something to jump over.

2. Find some ideas and/or inspiration.
Oh, I already have all the inspiration I need =) At least for a cross country set up :) I have plans to show him in other disciplines as well; show jumping and probably something else that my imagination can come up with =P But that will have to wait for later. Cross country first!




(C) by Sophie Nordström

I've always loved the rolex water jump at cross country competitions and I was inspired by that jump when I made my stablemate cross country set up. I want to make that into a traditional scale jump! Not exactly the same but similar to it at least =)

3. Search for reference material.
I need a saddle, a bridle, boots, breastplate and martingale. A rider with light breeches and dark long sleeved sweater, jumping boots, helmet, safety vest, a crop and maybe a pair of spurs. For the jump I'll need a base, preferably a plastic tray so that I can use the solid water. A piece of wood to make the "height" to jump from. Some round rods to make a jump and the front end of the "height". Some balsa wood to make the flags.

4. Make a list!
Bell boots
Saddle pad
English jumping saddle
Figure-8 bridle
Jumping boots
5-point breastplate
Running martingale
Rider - with safety vest and helmet
Jump - with flags

5. Start making/looking.

Then we come to the really funny part! Start making things or if you can't make'em by yourself, find someone who can :)

I've already gotten some awesome accessories for him =D

 



Second Sunday of Advent

Second Sunday of Advent. Today is the day we bring in the Christmas tree and decorates it :) So what fits better then some pictures of past Christmas trees.

 

 

And of course a suitable song :)

Show jumping

Note: These are rules and regulations are for show jumping competitions in Sweden. I am not very familiar with rules and regulations in other countries so I can't guarantee that these are valid in any other country.

Rider's Equipment
Riders should wear riding breeches, a turtleneck or a shirt with sleeves. On top of that they should wear a riding jacket. On lower competitions (such as local competitions and riding club competitions) it is allowed to wear a riding club jacket or a long-sleeved sweater instead of a riding jacket. Safety vests are allowed to wear under or over the riding jacket (all riders under the age of 18 MUST wear a safety vest). Riding boots or jodhpurs with half chaps. Riding gloves are optional. Of course a helmet should be worn.

In case of bad weather the judge may grant permission for the riders to use a rain coat instead of a riding jacket. The judge may also grant permission to ride without the riding jacket if the weather is very hot.

Spurs and riding crops are also allowed when competing. The crop may not be longer than 75cm.

Horse Tack
 A horse should wear a saddle (an all-purpose saddle or a jumping saddle, of English type, suggested). As for the bridles, hackamores are allowed. No double-bits. Cavesson bridles, flash bridles, drop noseband bridles and figure-8 bridles are allowed. A running martingale is the only "help-rein" allowed in the showring. Fly bonnets are allowed. Boots to protect the legs are allowed on all four legs.

Jumps
Jumps are always marked with a red flag on the right jump standard and a white on the left. On wide jumps, that have more than one jump standard, both the fore and the rear standards should be equipped with flags. Start and finish lines are also marked with flags just like the jumps. Jumps are also numbered.

There are different kinds of jumps allowed in a show jumping competition. It can include gates, planks and oxers for example. Google is your friend, you'll find great references there :)

 

 

Examples of suitable models



(C) by Sophie Nordström
Silver Echo, Breyer Tr. Newsworthy OF



Justin Tyme resin

 

AA Chasing Rainbows

 A model doesn't have to actually be jumping the obstacle to show in a show jumping class. There are many good examples of models who could be approaching the jump. For example:

Breyer Sm. G3 Warmblood

Breyer Traditional Show Jumping Warmblood



First Sunday of Advent

Today it's the first Sunday of Advent! It's time to light the first candle in the candlestick but since I'm not home and I wont decorate my apartment since I will be going home for Christmas, I thought I'd have some Christmas spirit on the blog instead!

Today we would've been busy putting up all the Christmas decorations in the entire house.

 

Of course we would've played a lot of Christmas music too so here's a Christmas song for you too :)

Portraits

For next year I've decided to focus on portrait models. Since I will have limited funds for the next three years I want to focus on special models. That goes for cats and dogs too :)

Magdalena

Magdalena was a kitten born at our stables. She was one out of three tortoiseshell coloured sisters and she was the only semi-longhaired of them. She was a very sweet kitten and I loved her colour. Magdalena was later adopted by one of the horse owners who boarded their horse at the stable.
For Magdalena I found this beautiful model called Hana which would fit Magdalena perfectly and I plan on painting her myself

 Isaiah

Is my classmates longhaired white cat. He has one blue eye and one yellow and unfortunately he doesn't hear perfectly on one of his ears. He was adopted from a shelter and he is a very special cat who really got to me with his silly behaviour and sweet disposition.
Patches (sculpted by the same sculptor as Hana which I plan to buy for my Magdalena portrait) seems to be a perfect model for Isaiah.  

Vit

The story of Vit can be found here so I wont write it down in this blog post too :)
The model I've thought about for Vit is either Breyer's Stretching Cat or the one they call Silver Tabby. He too is planned to be painted by me.

Kitty

Sleeping on Nikes back.

Was one out of five kittens who lost their mother when she was hit by a car. The kittens where still very young so they had to be brought up on special formula. Fortunately 3 of the kittens where adopted rather fast. The other kitten (besides Kitty) that remained at the stables had to be put down since an unknown accident injured him rather bad. Because of her upbringing Kitty became very trusty to humans and for some reason she seemed to like me and Nike quite a bit. When she wasn't sleeping on his back (as in the picture) she liked to sit on my shoulder or sleep in my hood when I was doing my stable chores (the sleeping in the hood thing became harder when she grew bigger :P). Unfortunately she disappeared and that was very sad since I was very fond of her. I would've brought her home but we had Sigge and with his history we didn't want to bring in another cat.

For Kitty (and for Svante as well) I'd love to have Donna Chaney's Lucky Black Cat for the portrait.

 Sotis

The story of Sotis can be found here so I wont write it down in this blog post too :)
As for Sotis I really liked Napoleon to be the model for his portrait.

Sigge

The story of Sigge can be found here so I wont write it down in this blog post too :)
For Sigge I probably couldn't find a better match then Kitkat as that was pretty much Sigge's signature pose =P

Svante

The story of Svante can be found here so I wont write it down in this blog post too :)
For Svante (and for Kitty as well) I'd love to have Donna Chaney's Lucky Black Cat for the portrait.

Totte

The story of Totte can be found here so I wont write it down in this blog post too :)
Totte was a bit harder to find a suitable model for but I've decided it'll be either the Schleich St. Bernard or the Schleich Bernese Mountain Dog.

Hjalmar

The story of Hjalmar can be found here so I wont write it down in this blog post too :)

The model I have in mind for Hjalmar is the Breyer Rottweiler. I planned to paint him myself but he'll need to have a tail sculpted and that's not something I feel comfortable doing so I might need someone to do it for me.

Liten

The story of Liten can be found here so I wont write it down in this blog post too :)
As for Liten I'll go for the Breyer Beagle and I plan to paint him myself.

Nike

The story of Nike can be found here so I wont write it down in this blog post too :)
I actually already have the model to portrait my dear Unik, the KLF Bruno resin, I just need to decide who I want to paint him (and of course save up some money to have him painted!)

Poppes

The story of Poppes can be found here so I wont write it down in this blog post too :)
The model that will be used for Poppes isn't quite decided yet. I first thought about the Eberl Siegfried but since I acquired an unpainted Eberl Lohengrin I think that he might be a better fit. I have yet to decide who will be painting him :)

Freja

A sweet riding pony mare born in 2007. I had the great fortune to be help out when she was started under saddle. She was very nice and easy to handle during the whole period and my trainer joked and said that we didn't break her in, we just got up in the saddle and started riding. And it was pretty much what we did, she was sweet and behaved her best all the time so it was very easily done. She always comes when you call for her and even if you don't call for her she still comes. Very nice and easy to handle although, she gets a little squeamish at times, she is probably the sweetest little mare I've ever had the pleasure of knowing.
For Freja I would really like to have the Eberl Primula for her portrait as I see quite some similarities between the horse and the model.

Wera

Wera was a chestnut warmblood mare at my school. I suspect she was also sabino since she had a broad blaze, 4 high whites and a white belly spot. She was such a sweet, simple mare. Or simple might be the wrong word since not everyone could ride her. I can't say why we worked well together. I'm not the best rider, I'll admit that, but we just got along and it just worked. I trusted her and I think she trusted me too. I really liked this mare (usually I don't get along as good with mares as I do with geldings but Wera was different), not just because of her beautiful looks, but also because she was a bit misunderstood. She needed patience from the one handling her since she didn't like to have the girth tightened and she preferred to face the stall door when you put on the bridle or else she could easily be a little panicky (and that's just a few of her quirks). I gave her that patience and learned more about her every time I rode her and we just worked well together. Unfortunately she had to be put down in 2012 due to a severely injured leg after she got in a fuss with some other horses out in the pasture.
As for Wera I can probably never find a better model then Eberl Elsa. She is a perfect match to the body type of Wera. I would need to have her mane resculpted to a shorter, pulled mane but other then that she's perfect.

Seeing what models I would like to have for my portraits it'll probably take me a while to achieve my "goals", since the only one currently in my possession is Bruno, for my portrait of Unik (and Lohengrin, if I decided to use him for the portrait of Poppes). But I have 3 years to try and save up for them so that wont be a problem :)

Legs and ears

During the packing for my move back at the end of August one box accidently fell out of the car when my father open the driver's side backdoor. The box in question was my body box. When I unpacked the box I saw that two of the model horses had suffered some damage.

The first one being my Bat Girl resin. She lost an ear so she added some work for me. She's had a broken tail before and someone glued it back but they glued it back slightly off from it's original placing so I have to figure out a way to get that fixed. But her repairs will be covered in another blog post :)

The other horse, my G1 Arabian mare, repainted by me, broke her leg and somehow, the piece got lost so she needs a whole new leg. I first thought that I'd repair it with the superglue and baking soda method. But since I've never tried that method I thought that it might be hard to make a whole leg. And I don't have any tools to reinforce the leg with wire so it was out of question.

Next idea was to sculpt a new leg in Fimo clay and attach it with superglue/baking soda. I'm by now means a good sculptor but I don't care, I just want to fix her for sentimental reasons. She's one of my first bay paintjobs so she'll never see a show ring, so if her leg is not perfect I don't care, I just want her to have one.

 

You see she looks miserable without her leg, she can't even stand on her own...

 

See? I had to help her :(

 

I tried to sculpt the whole pieces at once but I just ended up smushing the leg so I decided to make it in three sessions. First I made a "core", a piece with roughly the shape I was looking for. Then I tried the length and burnt it in the oven.

 

First try out, almost good, a little too long.

 I did some more sculpting to get some details in. I then put it in the oven again so that I could sculpt some last details.



Some more details.

After a third time in the oven I considered the leg done. So out with the glue and baking soda! (I cheated and only used glue, the strongest I could find, so I'm confident it'll suffice)

Now the leg is in place and she stands good on her own again =D I'm much happier now and I think she is too. Next step will be stripping, priming and repainting but that wont be covered in this post :)