Sagenanigans

For a couple minutes there, Sage was really beginning to feel like a riding horse.

Then she decided she'd rather be a war horse.

Usually, when I turn her out in the field, she goes straight to the nearest feeder and starts eating. 

Hungry Hungry Hippo

Last Sunday, she decided instead to make a beeline across the pasture to settle some imagined beef with Princess.

Princess was having none of that.

Don't mess with a Hancock

Sage is okay, but she's pretty beat up. Out of an abundance of caution, this week has been hand walking...

and individual turnout only.

At first she was cool with this.

always the hungriest hippo

Then she got a little spicy.

Little Colorado Sage Marie Buxton!!!

Galloping is not an approved activity!

Heh.

Fortunately, no further harm was done, and the rest of her turn outs have been quiet.

We've spent most of the week on mounting block manners...

and ground tie.

She still has an ADD baby brain, and ground tie is often hard for her.

Not on this day!

It hasn't been either of our favorite weeks, but our efforts have paid off.

Yesterday, Sage's hock finally started looking normal again.

Today, I let her back into the mare field.

Once again, she made a beeline for Princess.

This time, however, she gave her a wide berth.

Phew!

This has been a long week on the real horse front. Hopefully, next week we'll get back to riding.

Slow progress

Yesterday was another long studio day. 

On this side at least, Zara is beginning to come together.

I got a little lost in the dapples on the other side and ended up painting over most of them. Two steps forward, one step back.

Detailing is my favorite part. When I was feeling discouraged about the dapples, I moved on to working on her face. This part I'm happy with!

Today and tomorrow are work days. I probably won't touch those dapples again until Saturday. That's still okay. Slow progress is still progress!

And on the eighteenth day...

I painted!

NaReViMo painting plan

I met my friend, Trisha, through a penpal ad in Breyer's Just About Horses magazine. At the time, I was a student at Colorado State University. However, I used my California address because that I did not know when the ad would be published. As it turned out, that was a good call. The ad ran while I was home for the summer between my freshman and sophomore years.

I got a lot of responses, the most exciting of which came from another nineteen year old college student. Her name was Trisha, and she lived on her parents' Arabian horse farm in Wellington, just twelve miles north of the CSU campus.

I answered her immediately. She responded in kind, and by the time I returned to Colorado in the fall, we were already fast friends.

For the next three school years, I spent all my weekends at her house.

Which meant, I spent all my weekends surrounded by grey Arabians.

There were so many of them.

There were a couple chestnuts in the mix - hello Charity! - and later, at least one bay.

For the most part, however, that was an extremely grey herd.

Last month, I bought a herd of Shirmar Arabian models from Trisha's mother's estate sale. When I decided to paint one os the Zaras for this year's National Retro Vintage Month, there was no doubt in my mind as to what color she would be.

This particular Zara was one of the stagecoach horses.

She was a bright red bay with a large star and snip...

and three white feet.

I took numerous pictures of her in her original state. To the best of my ability, I'm planning to keep those markings.

Here's how she looks after one full day of painting.

There's still a long way to go, but progress is progress! This is totally happening!

NaReViMo week two

Today was the last day of the first week of NaReViMo.

It's been a busy week at work,

at the barn...

and especially, at home.

Also, my injured thumb continues to be a problem.

I've been slowly picking away at prepping, but for all intents and purposes, my model looks the same as she did at the beginning of the month.

No more!

This morning - after Gray and their friends left for the second time - I decided that even though she wasn't perfect, my horse was solidly good enough. Before I could change my mind, I picked up my paintbrush and dabbed on some paint.

I gave her the barest beginning of a basecoat. Then I headed off to work.

It's okay.

Tomorrow is a new day. This is totally happening.

(probably)