In the last 3 months I have broken just about all of my model horse rules.
1. Spend no more than X many dollars on a painted micro - went way over on at least 4 horses.
2. Spend no more than X many dollars on Unpainted micros - I have been ok on resins, but have gone over just about every time on pewters.
3.No impulse buying micros - yeah, good luck with that one ever happening.
4. If sending them out for painting, have the funds ready to send with them - that's a big no on that one.
5. There is no micro that I can't live without - who would honestly want me to live without amazing and beautiful ponies?!?
One of my redeeming factors is that I was able to make some smart choices. I took advantage of another awesome Micro sale from Maggie and was able to get a Kahlua and 2!!!! Ground Effects. They are all seconds, so they have a few issues, but nothing I can't handle. Kahlua has some holes in her tail/dock, those should be easy to fill in. She also has a build up of resin in her throat latch area. This part has taken a little longer to mess with. Lucky I have a painted one on hand to use a guide. Both ground Effects are missing an ear and have a few smaller holes in random places. I have never built an ear before so that part has me a little nervous. I asked for ideas through Facebook and got a way of doing it that will hopefully make it nice and solid. The part that has me the most nervous is carving down the ear. I have all the proper tools to get it done, but I'm still not sure how it will look. BUT it does give me a chance to change up how he looks a little.
The other factor that has my wallet feeling better is that I painted many of the horses that I have here. I still have the 4 out at the painters and I have 2 slots reserved with another artist for February. In the last week I have started painting 7 of the horses that I had on the shelf. I am pleased with most of them, I had decided rather early into painting on of the drafts that he was most likely going to be listed for sale when finished. I like him and he looks a lot better than when I got him, but I'm not in love with him.
Here is the goal for each horse and where they are at right now:
Windswept - Bay leopard Appaloosa - waiting for details
Galloping Draft no base - bay in oils - waiting on drying, needs another layer
Roscoe - bay in oils - he will possibly be an Appy/Clyd cross, needs spot pattern
Gypsy - Bay in oils - looks chestnut, needs more dark layers
Standing Friesian - bay pinto - too chestnut yet, needs to be darker and have pattern added.
I am really pleased with the first 3 on the list. I have already had a couple offers online for Windswept, which is exciting but I don't know what I am going to do with him yet. The galloping draft and Roscoe turned out so well so far. They have some nice shaping and haven't lost much detail. The other 2 are still so far from being done that I'm still open on them. One of these days I will write a post about everything I have learned from painting with oils so far. Since putting the paint on the first horse to the last 2 I did it looks completely different. I feel like this might be something that I will continue working with. I haven't tried anything other than bays, but I think the next attempt will be a chestnut, since I have already made a few accidentally. I still think that I will stick with pastels for greys, but the oils are really growing on me.
I have added a few pics to the Micro Artist Resin page for the painted horses that were missing them. I tried to take photo shows pics today and learned that me phone is not the best option, I'll have to go back to using my cheap camera. At least that one keeps the photos crisp and clear when they get transferred to the computer. My phone pictures ended up being rather blurry. I love how most of them turned out, but they didn't look good on the computer. Oh well, I can't complain about sending more time with my models.
Until next time,
Stay warm!