Two years later

Two years ago today, I wrote a post about coming out of "retirement" to show performance at Heather Malone's Candyland Live.

At the time, I was kind of on the fence about things. That post - and the nine Candy Plan posts that followed - were an attempt to shore up my enthusiasm for what was undoubtedly going to be a whole lot of effort and a more than a little bit of crazy.

It worked. 

I showed my Olive model in every single one of those themed performance classes, and together, we captured the Overall Performance Championship and Best in Show titles.

That was such a fun weekend, definitely worth all the effort and the crazy.

I have not been to a live show in any capacity since, but perhaps that's about to change?

Next month, my friend, Karin, will be hosting a small and silly model horse show with lots of fun classes and a "ridiculous performance" division.

Karin's winning entry in the Arabian Nights at Candyland Live 2024

For the first time in a long time, I'm feeling an itch.

Ridiculous performance is kind of my jam.

And you know, I have a little extra time on my hands right now.

This post is largely an attempt to shore up my enthusiasm for what I know is undoubtedly going to be a whole lot of effort and a more than a little bit of crazy, but still... I should definitely do this, right?

Friday favorites

Except in regards to plagiarism, signatures and timeframes, the rules for Sarah Minkiewicz' National Retro Vintage Month (NaReViMo) are loosely defined. Participants are challenged to create one or more models "vintage custom style", the definition of which is left up to each individual artist.

Every single model created during this event was uniquely delightful.

a few of the finished and unfinished August horses

However, at least to my mind, the person who most perfectly captured that retro vibe was Amanda Ingram. Just look at these three beauties! If I didn't know better, I would swear they stepped right off the pages of the Model Horse Gazette.

The first is an old Hess Standing Stock Horse Foal customized to an Appaloosa. 

Here's Amanda's description of her creation: I used Gesso as my primer and sponged it on for a textured looking coat.  It also makes my paintwork look better IMO.  I applied Golden Acrylic paints with an airbrush, sponge and regular detail brush.   

For the hairing, I wanted to try some craft fur. I haven't touched that stuff since my teenage years and didn't have fond memories of the results. However, I bought a two toned gray and white piece from Hobby Lobby last September to try again! I like to "root" the mane by cutting a groove down the top of the neckline. In this case, I cut all the way through the plastic. I left the backing on the craft fur and stuffed the backing down into that groove. I also left the backing on the tail and sewed it up like a tube and then glued it on the tailbone.  Easier than I thought and I am happy with the results too!

I added plastic 4.5mm inset eyes. The eye sockets were too big and the eyes sunk in more than I expected. Also, I have been experimenting with adding eyelashes so the eyes don't look so bugged out.   I used ramie hair as it is finer. Hopefully, you can see the lashes.

Then, I thought I need to take photos of these outside like old times!   I have to admit, it was fun laying down in the grass to get the best shot!

Amanda's second NaReViMo custom is a Classic Ginger. 

Amanda writes: She was inspired by this vintage custom, which I purchased last year.   

I repositioned all legs with a heat gun, resculpted the nose and added plastic inset eyes. I used soft Ramie fibers to hair her mane and tail.

She is primed in Gesso using a sponge to give her coat a textured  look (and cover imperfections!). I airbrushed her using Golden Acrylics and added white markings/spots using a sponge and brush.

Last but not least, is this lovely chestnut roan Breyer Thoroughbred mare (#3155).

Amanda says: I decided on roan because it was one of the first colors I painted. Also, I wanted to revisit  my love for strawberry roans. I fell in love with Sweetbriar, a horse in the PBS series Flambards. Anyone remember that series?

The TB mare was also one of my favorite models back then but, I didn't have the skills to execute one the way I envisioned it. So, I tried again and here she is..... still not what I wanted.

The details: I gave her a small tummy tuck, brought the rear legs under her more and turned the ears forward. I used a Gesso base for primer and texture. I used Golden Acrylics (Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber, Titanium white, Mars Black, Transparent Shading Gray, Transparent Burnt Umber and Pearl white). I used sponges back then. I tried that again and the results were pretty poor. I switched over to the toothbrush flick method to add roaning. Hobby Lobby brand satin sealer gave her a nice protective sheen. 

She has real mohair this time since I had the perfect shade. It's much fluffier than my usual ramie. 

She has brown 4.5mm plastic inset eyes with eyelashes (my current fad!). 

You may not be completely satisfied with her, Amanda, but I am in love. All three of your horses - but especially this one - are perfect embodiments of the Retro Vintage Style. Of all the models created last month, they are my favorites. My Friday Favorites.

NaReViMo class of 2026

I may not have finished my NaReViMo horse, but a lot of other people did. Here's a look at a few of the members of the class of 2026.

Sue Rowe completed not one, but two, horses. She writes: Old school, old school, old school! Lying - ha! My first repaints (1971) were done in oils, photographed while still wet, and wiped off to as OF as they could get. That’s one way to create a photo show string! I don’t recommend it. 

These two are acrylic over gesso. Baby was going to remain unhaired. But I couldn’t resist! So… OLD SCHOOL - well, not quite. Old School would be gluing Fake Fur with backing still in place on top of plastic mane and tail. The fibers on these are mohair and/or ramie. 

No names yet. Open to Sunshine prefix suggestions. All the spotted folks here are Sunshine (something). Ain’t breakin’ with tradition now.

Grace Bisnath was another two horse superstar. She says: This was my first time participating in NaReViMo. It was great to get into a different mindset and paint more freely, not worrying so much about hyper-realism!

The appy was intended as a test piece, but I ended up doing them side by side. Both are done in hand-painted acrylic, making various mixes from only about 4 base colors. My main focus was a technique observed in the work of several vintage artists to use gestural layered brush strokes to mimic wrinkles and/or hair texture, and more dark defined lines for musculature, m/t grooves and the like. I also used a mix of wet and dry brushing to paint the illusion of coat shine, though I did hold back a little for fear of doing "too much". However, I do like the end results very much. Markings were kept a little more simplistic and not too detailed.

This was a great experience, and I look forward to next year!

Stacey Kianese painted her model in just two hours, with craft paint and sponge for roan affect. Amazing!

Talk about a blitz, she jokes.

Malia writes: I did it! I may have finished at 7:40 on the last day but...

This is a G3 standing thoroughbred - twenty years old this year, which is somehow terrifying - painted in gesso and acrylics to a flaxen chestnut semi leopard.

I honestly love the gritty texture this guy has and how much I had to struggle to get the color right. He was supposed to be a palomino but had other ideas! I love the way he came out.

I haven't painted in almost ten years, so it was very nice to jump back in with something "low stress" that I made stressful anyway. lol.

Here's Shannon Rodgers' model, a Swaps painted in true retro vintage style. His name is I'm The Bad Guy.

Jamie Heiberger's model is called Lady Sunshine. She says: I really LOVE this mold with the seams fixed up and a nice paint job. I could totally see myself getting more of these in the future to paint. She is so worth the Herculean amount of effort it took to fix her up. She has so much sculpting medium that she's kind of heavy and feels expensive.

And the best part? Now she gets to reunite with baby Scooter! I can't wait to put them in some Mare and foal fun classes in photo shows!

Kelly Weimer writes: Finished! “Yacht Rock” was inspired by the kind of horse I wanted in the mid-1980’s as kid - a dapple gray Arabian! My plans were high white stockings on all, but that white paint sure did show all of his mold flaws, so I changed at the last minute. I used brushed acrylics with a lot of wet on wet technique and evened it out with thinned coats on pieces of makeup sponge.

Of course, this round-up would not be complete without looking at event host, Sarah Minkiewicz' glorious Sebastian.

This is, of course, a completely reimagined but still recognizable Breyer "bubble-butt" Belgian.

He is absolutely glorious.

Congratulations, Sue, Grace, Stacey, Malia, Jamie, Kelly and Sarah. Your horses are all amazing. And thank you, Sarah, for hosting such a fun and inspiring event!

Diary of a NaReViMo horse

Last month, a whole bunch of hobbyists, including myself, signed up to remake, repaint, rehair a model for Sarah Minkeiwicz's National Retro Vintage Month. I worked on my horse - on and off - for the entire month of August. Tina DeCaussin took a different path. She waited until the last week of the month and then powered through from zero to one hundred in what seemed like the blink of an eye. In her own words, here's the story of Tina's 2026 NaReViMo experience.

NaReViMo 2026

by Tina DeCaussin

August 1: My model just arrived. I had planned to use a different horse, but this was on sale so it was clearly the one. I just need to decide on color. Will be fun!

August 2-23: No updates.

August 24: Art happened today! I could not find my hacksaw and I do not have a good cutting bit for my Dremel, so ground everything down/off. 

Other than sounding like being at the dentist, it went well enough. I do not think I am going to do a full prep, but there are a few spots I want to tackle. Then, I want to paint!

August 26: My takeaway for today is don't get distracted by kittens while mixing your epoxy! I usually put the kittens in another room while working because they are so busy. This time I didn't, and things went about the way you would expect. I should have just started again. I was suspicious so checked this morning and sure enough, I had to scrape it off and start over. 

I am already doing more prep than I planned. I was going to just sand and not worry about the area under the mane.  Then last night, I decided to go ahead and do some fill because the horse required it. Lol.

August 27: Today is paint day! There are a few prep spots that I may - or may not - address later -  but today I want to paint.  And I need to paint when I want to.  Prep stuff just will make her more authentic. Vintage me would not have done this much!

August 27, a few hours later: She's reminding me how me and acrylics fight.  

August 27, another few hours later: Six layers in. She is coming around, but I am breaking for dinner. I need the break to freshen my eyes.

August 28: After I sprayed her this morning,  I thought I  may regret not prepping her better, but decided it's okay. I can make her a sister later when I am in the mood to go more for perfect.  For now, I am just enjoying painting.

I decided to start some markings to see how I like her pulled together. I was going to do higher whites - and I may still - though this height may be what she is asking for.

Still August 28: I am not sure anything has come together this quickly for me before. Four days ago, she had just been released from the box. Now she's ready for the tricky part - hair.   

I am so happy we have this Retro Vintage month to create together. I guess all it takes to get me motivated is a pretty, bay model, not worrying about being perfect and an impending deadline!

August 30: Time to start working on hairing! I was going to try to mix some brown into the black, but my brown is bamboo, not viscose, so straight black it is. I am a little intimidated by the flagged tail. This is only my third haired horse and I struggle a bit with tails.  But it will fine! I brought out my first haired horse from NReViMo 2020 for moral support.  

August 30, a couple hours later: And we have a mane and forelock!   I think it's made me love her more.  

Letting it dry for a bit. Then I'm going to tackle the tail.

August 30: Hairing tails is hard!  

I tend to end up with very hairy horses, just my style apparently. I have put her up to dry overnight.  Then, clean up the glue and style it. I am quite pleased with her.

August 31: And she is signed as complete!   

It's been cloudy rainy and grey here, so getting photos has been a challenge.   But she got some glamor shots today.  

I was not sure I was going to even start her and now I have the little bay Arabian of my dreams. It felt good to just get kind of lost in creating

Congratulations, Tina! That was so fun to watch you work, and your little mare truly is a vintage style dream. Thank you so much for sharing her creation with us!