Prodigal Daughter

I am feeling tired and uninspired today, so instead of finishing that Tack Tips article I've been working on for days, I'm just going to post some pictures of the newest addition to my collection. This is Prodigal Daughter, a Calamity Jane resin painted by Hilary Schwafel. The original Calamity Jane was a Breyer Silver transformed into a bucking rodeo mare by Sarah Isherwood. Sarah chronicled the customization process in pictures on Blab. I really enjoy it when artists do that, and I got swept up in the excitement surrounding this model. The finished horse was sent to Cindy Williams for paint and was shown to a big win at Breyerfest 2007. Somewhere along the line, Sarah made the decision to have her cast in resin. I signed up for a copy right away.

Months passed and by the time I received my copy of Calamity Jane, I'd begun to regret my purchase. The blank model did not inspire me in person the way it had in pictures. The head looked weird and the sculpting was kind of rough. Perhaps it was my imagination, but as I was prepping her, I could just feel the spots where the epoxy had met the original plastic... I usually enjoy prepping my own horses, but this one took forever as the resin and I seemed to be at odds with one another. I didn't even manage to finish the job. I got her most of the way there, but eventually threw up my hands and sent her on to Hilary hoping she could succeed where I had failed.

Fortunately for me, she did. I had also sent Hilary several pages of reference photos and she did a suberb job of incorporating all my ideas into the finishwork. "Prodigal Daughter" came home last week, and I've fallen in love with her all over again. I love it when that happens!

Thank you Hilary, for transforming this wild child back into something I'm happy to own!