Commissions - #2

Next group of completed commissions. 

First two:  limited-edition resincast sculpture of "Hazel" - sporthorse mare, 1/9 scale, sculpted by M. Kilborne in '08.

Dark dapple grey in oils [thoroughbred x Perchron].  Base in acrylics. 

Commissioned by K. Cabot. 

Light sorrel [Belgian-cross].  Oils with base in acrylics.

Commissioned by J. Arns.

Next is "bitty bosco", a 1:32 scale mustang stallion, also sculpted by Morgen, and released in 2009.  Morgen put an amazing amount of detail into a sculpture that is only 3.2" high.

"Bisbee" - Light slate grulla in oils.

Collection of L. Gruetter.

This view, not using lightbox, shows the color more accurately.

That's it for now.  I have two final commissions that will be posted once finished, and that will be it for my commissions!  Thank you again to my very patient clients and friends; I appreciate your support of my work over the past several years.

Completed commissions #1

I am wrapping up the last of the equine sculpture commissions in my studio, and more photos of the remaining pieces will be posted over the next few days.  All are limited-edition resincasts.

Here are the first two, both for K. Martin:

"Flitwick" - jumping pony sculpted by M. Kilborne in polyresin.

Approx. 2.5"h x 3.5"l.  Painted to red silver [dapple] minimal blanket appaloosa - a common color seen on minature horses. 

"Galena" - trotting Arabian mare sculpted by German artist B. Eberl.

Approx. size 8"h x 10"l.  Painted to medium shaded bay [based on photo of the Arab Ali Jamaal] Oils with base in acrylic.

These were both taken using a small photocube set that I picked up for a good price at one of the "lots" stores in the area.  It's a lot more convenient than the home-made one I was using (with limited success) and will work very well for small pieces.  The 20W lights that came with it aren't enough to do much, but the 500W halogen worklamp worked perfectly for the left side.  I still had to run the images through a photofilter to correct the color balance, but it's a lot less tweaking than I've had to do in the past.  Even still, the photos never do these pieces justice.  Studio photography is clearly not my forte.

Equine bas-relief pieces

I have been working on these on and off for a while now, and finally declared that they were finished:

"Bjorn" - Fjord pony bas-relief sculpture.  Artist oils on resincast sculpture.  Approx 4x4 in.

Original sculpture done from Chavant NSP medium, and was the first soft clay sculpture I did.  It was also my first experience with making a silicone mold and doing my own castings - quite a learning experience!  This piece was done in a variation of the common brown/bay dun [aka "brunblaak"] that this breed comes in, with darker facial masking.  Available for purchase. 

"Buster" - resculpted version of "Bjorn" bas-relief sculpture.  Artist oils on cast resin.  Approx. 4x4 in.

#2/9 limited-edition resincast.

"Buster" was a re-worked version of the "Bjorn" clay original that I did for an article on sculpting, molding and casting bas-relief pieces for the RESS Technique Booklet IV.  The mold was actually made from a tube of silicone kitchen caulk available at your local Walmart.  I wanted a generic-breed pony with a slightly whimsical edge - hence, the tongue and teeth.  I purposely left the base/background as a blank "canvas", primarily as I have begun to incorporate more landscape elements into my bas-relief pieces when I can.

I probably should title this piece "Pictures don't lie", because it wasn't until I took this photo and looked at it in PS that I noticed the problem with it:  the cloud line is tilted!  I honestly am not sure how I missed this, but I did.  The pony was done as an Icelandic in red silver dapple [a very common color in this breed]  and the mountains, foothills and foreground meadow were loosely based on photos of Iceland that I had in some reference books.  I really love clouds, so I had to add a patch of cumulis to the mini-landscape.  I clearly was not using the bottom edge of the base for a reference when painting the clouds (and the foothills could stand to be a bit more level as well).  This is a reminder to me to be more mindful of such things.   After I do the requisite touch-ups, this piece will also be available for purchase.