Bluebird Studio

Nearly all of the crumbly clay has now been replaced,YAY! with the exception of two hooves. I finally feel like I am making headway with the boy. His owners are happy with his body type, long and lean. So I can move onto detail, all the little bits that made Mistral 'Mistral'.

I expected to be painting this week. I had a Humphrey resin (white/grey) a Whisper resin (bay) and three plastic CMs that are ready or close to ready for paint. Two of the plastics have sold, Valentine and PAM, and I will not be the painter of either :) They are both going off overseas for their new coats. That left me a little lost. I don't like not having a couple of traditional size CM's going, and Kelly is at the refinement stage, so I have dug through the body box. Out came Keltic Salinero, and on came the Dremel *impish chuckle* Sally was going to be another WB in a flying extended trot, but as I started cutting, he told me he does not want to be a Warmblood anymore...he wants to be a Lipanzzaner! Research time! After a morning of photo collecting, I thought I knew what I was doing, lol, Sally once again had other ideas! This is where he is now...a few more tweaks and he would be performing a great Pasade... but this is where he wants to be! He wants ...

Keeping in mind that I am self taught, and I do what works for me, what works for you might be completely different :) this is how I begin... All of my OS (original sculpts) have been portraits of real horses. All of them have been alive and I have been able to visit them to get the appropriate measurements and photos. With Mistral however, he has passed after a freak accident :( therefore I am relying solely on photos the owners already have. Luckily for me they were keen photographers and the horse widely campaigned so I have in excess of 120 photos of the boy. Most of them of him jumping. By far the most important photo though, is this one; And this is why... This is the most 'square' photo I have of Mistral and from it I was able to get a fair idea of his measurements. Once I have found the horses points, where the significant joints are, I can build an armature to scale. Bone length does not change, joints open, close, flex and turn. Muscles squish, ...

Having done the Diary of Heartbreaker, and seen him though to his completion, I found it an excellent way to keep motivated and on track. I am now going to follow the journey of an original sculpt. From the highs and lows of sculpting him, to the waste mould, artists proof and final casting. Hope you all enjoy the ride as much as I will ;D I have an artists exhibition on the 25th and 26th of March, an event put on by my local council where people can tour around the Shire visiting all the local studios and galleries of working artists. It is a brilliant event and I am blessed to have been asked to exhibit at one of my neighbouring artist's studios. This is something I am very very excited about! For the weekend I want to have an almost complete bust, and another at least half finished full horse. Enter Mistral... Mistral is a commissioned portrait of a New Forest x TB eventing horse in full flight over a jump. I started him April 2010, unfortunately wit...