The Do-Man - Finished and Delivered

Bubba

This was a very special project and I was greatly honored (and very nervous) to be asked to sculpt this horse. This is Hi-Hats Bubba, a very dear horse who was owned by Liz Graves. This sculpture was a gift from Joanna Swartz to Liz.

McKenzie and Peanut

This is another relief sculpt that I did this summer.

G

I'm working on a full body sculpt of a beautiful TWH gelding affectionately known as G. You can read more about him and his person on their blog. Kate asked me if I could do a full body sculpt and I said I thought so so this has been coming along slowly in the background. He'll be my main focus soon as I'm close to finishing up several other pieces.

 

Libby

This is my first finished relief piece. It was inspired by a picture of my mare Libby taken when she was a yearling.

  

This was my first try at molding and casting.

And here are 16 finished Libbys. They went to a dear friend, Joanna Swartz, to be given to the participants at her clinic this weekend with Liz Graves.

The Do-Man Updated

It's time for some long overdue updates. Here is a more recent picture of this sculpture. He's almost done now and I will get new pictures of the finished piece soon. Cheryl made the mistake of telling me I could keep him as long as I wanted since she has the real thing! 

 

And here are some of the reference pictures I have used.

 

New Project - The Do-Man again

I've started working on the sculpture of Do (Pushin The Mile). I plan to give him a little different look this time around. Here are some pics I took today. Please excuse the different colored clays - I know it gives an odd look to the piece but it was what I had made up so I used it. :-)

Painting Baylee

Edited 3/7/10 to add the final picture of Baylee. He's ready to be packaged up and shipped out.

Here are pics of Baylee being painted. The first picture is after being primed and a basecoat of acrylic brushed on. The subsequent layers are pastel dust with sealer being applied after each layer. I remembered to take pics after most of the layers so I think there's only one or two missing.

A new mane for Baylee

Joanna said she could be patient so I made a new mane for Baylee using one of the 2 part epoxies that I had ordered. I made the mane last night and finished the underside today when the first part had cured enough. Now I just need to allow 24 hours for the last part to cure, do a little sanding and Baylee will be ready for primer again. And then on to the fun part of painting that I have been anxiously waiting for. :-)

What a week!

First of all, I'm just totally overwhelmed by the responses I've gotten to pics of my work. I can't begin to explain how much the kind words and support have meant to me - thank you so very much. I have a number of orders - enough to keep me busy and out of trouble for quite a while!

I've decided my little artistic venture needs a name and I've asked for suggestions from my friends on GHS. My one request for the name was that it contain "Sundust" - in honor of Angel (Angel of Sundust) and Sierra (Ebbs Sierra Sundust). So far suggestions have included - Sundust Sculptures, The Sundust Sculptor, Sundust Clay Creations, Sundust's Creatures, Sundust Horses, Sundust Studio, Sundust's Creations, Sundust Inspirations. Oh and let's not forget Kate's best idea - Barb's Busts! LOL!!!

I've had a cold all week so haven't gotten much done. I did get a chance to play with all my girls today. They are just so much fun! I picked up an empty feed sack and shook it to get Josie going. While she's cantering around the pen, Lola goes wooshing by me and starts galloping circles around me - little showoff!! They both know the game and when I say "good girl", they come in and collect their cookies and then take off again. In the meantime, Molly wants to play and is running around trying to bark while she carries a rock in her mouth. And Sierra stares across the fence at us, waiting impatiently for her turn. Yes, Sierra and Libby got their turn too - they are just such good girls.

The piece of Baylee is on hold for a couple of days until my orders of epoxy clay get here. I'm going to experiment with that to see if I can get a longer mane on him. I've ordered 4 different kinds (Apoxie Sculpt, Apoxie Clay, Fix-it Sculpt and Amazing Sculpt) to see what I like to work with. I love having an excuse to  try new materials!

I've worked on Sierra a bit this week. She is about the size of a Breyer Classic size horse. I don't know if you can see the changes I've made but here are pics from today. The right side is further along than the left - probably because my reference photo is from this side. :-) Time to go find some more pics and get the left side worked out.

 

 

Sierra - full body sculpt

Baylee is almost ready to paint. While I'm painting him, I hope to get some work done on this sculpture I started of Sierra back in December.  I set it aside at the time so I could learn to paint with pastels. And then I started working on another project, and then....well you know how it goes sometimes. :-)  When Baylee is finished, I will be starting another sculpture (similar to the ones of Angel and Baylee) of the Do-Man. My first official commission! I'm so excited because I had so much fun working on him the first time - this will be even better.

 

I'll have to get some pictures of the Breyer Stablemate that I painted up to resemble her and also the ones of Brenda's Gracie.

Sculpting Project - Baylee

This is my current project, a sculpture of a friend's horse named Baylee. I'll post reference pics at the top and then keep adding pics as the project progresses. My friend knows I'm working on something but hasn't seen the pictures yet (and won't until it's done).

 

  

  

Below is a picture of a Breyer Stablemate that I painted with pastel dust to work out Baylee's color. It turned out just a bit darker than I planned.

I started working on the sculpture on the evening of 1/26/10. You can see the results above. My husband made a comment about a "goose"! The next day the real work began and now there's definitely a horse there.

 

  

  

More progress on 1/31/10.

  

  

Here's an update on 2/9/10. The sculpture is getting close to done. I'm getting anxious to start painting him.

  

  

  

  

  

 

These will be the last pics I put in this post. I'll start a new post for the painting process. Here is Baylee in the process of baking. The foil is covering pieces of damp paper towel that are put over the thinner, more delicate parts so they don't overbake.

 

And here is Baylee with a coat of primer on.