Whew, what a wonderful week I just completed. My week in NJ with the Breyer company was everything I hoped for and more. I was honestly kind of nervous about successfully painting any Breyers, because it was more than a year since I used their special paint and it does take time to get back up to speed with it in the airbrush. And I was nervous about hosting the sculpting workshop!

Fortunately everything worked out very well! Even my flights from Denver to Newark were on time. I arrived at the Breyer company headquarters in Pequannock first thing Tuesday, where the VP of Marketing, Stephanie Macejko, gave me a tour of their brand-new corporate offices. And what a pleasant and great-looking workspace they have designed! It is a huge thrill to be allowed to peek into their model horse archive room. It is like a library, with shelves filled with samples of all their molds in all the colors they came in, including some prototypes and test samples!

We then drove over to their other facility in Wayne, NJ, where they have their warehouse and painting department. This is where their painters design and produce colors on their horse molds, and their staff also paints most of the very limited editions. They have amazing talents with the airbrush, I must say. You have to have excellent control to paint those fine details collectors want these days!

I got right to work. I had approx. 20 hours to paint at least 4 models and I wanted them to be of the highest quality. But by the end of Tuesday I was in a minor panic because I only had completed one horse and part of another!! It took me a couple hours to get my airbrush trained to spray the paint. The stuff is acetone-based, and literally dries on the needle of the airbrush if you spray too slow. Which you need to do when painting any sort of fine details like dapples. Which is what is wanted of course!! So I had to keep fine-tuning the mix of chemicals you add to the paint, to thin and allow it to not dry out. The horse that ended up taking most of Tuesday was a heavily dappled Cleveland Bay mold with the loose mane. I was going to paint it a lightly dappled grey with the russet/gray mane tail, like a “mulberry” andalusian. (There’s probably an official name for this color but I can’t think what it is. It is my all-time favorite horse color!) But my airbrush kept spitting tiny specks of paint at first until I got the hang of things, so I ended up having to paint it darker with more dappling overall, to cover up those mistakes. Fortunately that worked and it came out just INcredible, if I do say so myself! I was painting this horse for myself and wow I still can’t believe I own him. Here he is:

After I was done with that one, I managed to get the base coat done on an overo chestnut “Smarty Jones” mold, and then they closed up for the day. I had to run right back to my hotel and change, because Stephanie was taking me out that night for a splendid dinner at a real “Sopranos” style Italian restaurant. I swear it really was the whole Soprano family at the table across the room, hee hee.

Wednesday morning, I was standing tall in the painting department at 7:30 am. I needed every hour I could get that day, so I am glad their workday starts early. I proceeded to paint my other personal-holy-grail on the Cleveland Bay, a interference (color-shifting) metallic blue/teal tobiano pinto! ! ! That one went much faster, no dappling! Just careful layering of color. The interference color shift was achieved by adding Pearl-Ex metallic powder to the existing metallic blue factory paint. I had brought my own jars of it with me, for just this purpose. You never quite know what you’re going to get, because each type of powder interacts with your base paint in different ways. If you’re a painter, you have to try the stuff, it is so fun! Anyway, here’s a photo of this horse, I couldn’t be more excited about him:

The rest of the day, I managed to paint a “Lady Phase” mold to a varnish roan appaloosa:

And a “Keltic Salinero” warmblood to a light dappled grey:

Those two are the ones I am going to sell, when I get their Certificates of Authenticity from the Breyer folks, to “prove” they are genuine factory painted test colors. I need to get better photos of their details. Stay tuned to this blog for sale announcement.

I also completed a sentimental mold choice: a “Western Prancer” in a sort of greyish-green with interference-gold metallic tobiano pinto. When I was a kid I owned almost every color produced on the Western Prancer, and thought it would be fun to see it in a “decorator” color. I could only bring 4 horses home and I decided to leave the Smarty Jones and the Prancer. Unfortunately I didn’t manage to get photos of those! They’ll remain in the Breyer archives as test colors, and maybe they will produce models in those colors someday. (The Prancer’s color is kind of ??? so I don’t think that one will come out in the product line…! It would be cool if they gave it away as a prize at one of their events or something.)

On Thursday I went back again early in the morning to finish up all the small details on the 6 horses, like eyes, hooves, etc. I was done by 9am and had a free day. I drove about an hour south to where we used to live, Monmouth County, NJ. Paul and I moved there right after we got married in 1983, and we lived there for 8 years. In 1991 Paul got the dream-come-true paid job relocation to Boulder. But I still have a lot of sentimental affection for our first home as a married couple. I drove all around the area and looked at our first apartment, our first condo, and our first house! All in a stunning fall backdrop. The weather was gorgeous and the leaves were beautiful. I had a great Italian lunch (I ate practically nothing but Italian food the whole week, because we don’t have very good Italian here in Colorado) and then drove over to have a look at the ocean at Sandy Hook, the closest beach to where we used to live.

Friday I spent the day with the Breyer “Velvet Rope” event tour, tagging along with one of the groups as they toured the two facilities. I also picked up my 4 models, now with their glossy finish added. Here’s a photo of me in the painting department with the horses:

Then I drove down to the VRE host hotel, where I hosted a 1 1/2 hour workshop on sculpting. Everyone got one of Breyer’s sculpting kits, which comes with a batch of Sculpey clay and a little horse-shaped wire armature. I had also brought the little Morgan horse sculpture that I have had in the works this past year, to demo how that kind of clay works, compared to the Sculpey. And show how much better it is to work on a sculpture attached to an armature stand, so you can use both hands. (Honestly, I could not do a thing with Sculpey. It is very rubbery and I couldn’t carve or detail it at all.)

So we all sort of hung out there and manipulated our little “pink” horses together, and there were many people who did a better job sculpting than I did with it!!

That evening, Breyer gave a costume party for all the attendees, with cool Halloween-themed model horse prizes and party favors on all the tables. I had my times mixed up for some reason (probably because I was so tired from all the activity all week) and I got there a half hour late! Everyone was already seated and eating! So I couldn’t find a table with any fellow collectors that I knew to sit with. They had to put me at the Breyer staff table in the front corner of the room, which didn’t have any of the cool decorations or the models. Oh well, everyone who works at Breyer are so fun and friendly and were a pleasure to work with, so it was fun. I was sorry that people didn’t get up and mingle more during the evening, and I ended up being a bit of a wall-flower, again because I was feeling too tired and “peopled-out” at that point to make the effort! I am no kind of social animal to begin with, so honestly any event like this where I am constantly meeting and talking to people becomes exhausting. And I always end up with a sore throat, because I normally don’t talk that much here at home!

Here’s a photo of the hall, and a table of friends, who had won the trivia contest prize!

I was so glad to be home on Saturday night. Of course being 5 days from Paul and the Boyz is hard, and as much as I like (and need) solo travel like this every so often, I always end up wishing I was sharing the experiences with them. Being a loner only goes so far!

Anyway, back to REALITY! I picked up my air compressor today and I am looking forward to the fact that I have nothing on my work calendar for the next several months but glazing all chinas, all the time! !

The final coat of stucco is going on the house now, and we finally can see the colors and texture that we chose, live and in person! (Fortunately we like it!)

I got all ramped up to finish a couple chinas this week, all excited about using the new spray booth, and then my air compressor wouldn’t start up again. I already paid over $200 for the “fix” last month, and apparently it isn’t. So it went back in the shop yesterday. I did get a little more dappling fired on the Phoenix. The overglazes and the air eraser are particularly good at doing the light subtle dappling like this on the barrel:

After I dapple the whole horse, then I go back in with the regular airbrush and shade over and deepen all the areas. (Like fill in those muscle grooves which are a little stark right now.) This one ultimately is going to have a black mane, tail and legs.

I’m heading out to New Jersey on Monday, so it’s just as well the compressor went out now. I hope it will be fixed by the time I get back.

I had to cancel my trip to Portland last weekend, because I just couldn’t get my work done in time. Some projects that were supposed to be over before that trip, were dragging on, and I just couldn’t spare even those 2 work days. Especially with giving up a whole week next week in NJ. I was so very disappointed to make that decision, but looking back it was the right one. I now have gotten past that work crunch.

I’m going to visit Breyer Animal Creations and spend two days painting plastic model horse colors in their painting department. I’m really looking forward to this unexpected chance to go back east for a week in October. (I love fall!)

I masked and prepped 8 models here and shipped them back, but I am not sure that I can paint that many in two days. It’s a lot of work that can’t be rushed, and the paints used are tricky! I have one break day on Thursday. (Probably will try to recover my aching back and hands from two days of painting non-stop!) On Friday I’m hosting a hands-on sculpting workshop as part of Breyer’s “Velvet Rope” collector event, a chance for 200 lucky people to tour their company and factory and celebrate everything Breyer. On Friday night everyone attends a fun costume party with dinner. I’m honored to be included in this exclusive event and really looking forward to it. I haven’t been interested in the whole Halloween thing as an adult and I am not wearing a costume. But I am bringing my little black dress for the occasion and getting out my high heels… dressing up like that IS a costume! It’s definitely not the “real” me!

Last week I was actually able to get in a little time on two earthenware china pieces I am glazing on commission:

The larger Quarter Horse in the back is a “Phoenix” sculpture by Kristina Lucas Francis, and the Arabian in front is a “Sabiha” by Donna Chaney. I always start painting on the rear-end of the horse and work to the front. I can’t honestly say why… it just feels like the right place to start!

A couple weeks ago I was reading an article about the dangerous health effects of lead poisoning, which got me thinking about how my ceramic glazes contain a small amount of lead. (So you can’t use my horses as dinner bowls, sorry!!) This prompted me to get off MY lazy rear-end and get a professional spray booth. ONLY about 20 years late for painting with the airbrush, Karen! Oh well, better late than never, and now I can stop spreading particulates and fumes into my studio and the house. I had an exhaust fan in my window which helped, but this is the real must-have for a serious airbrush artist (maybe I am one now, ha ha):

I bought a halogen under-cabinet light for inside the booth, and solved my poor studio lighting problem at the same time as my unhealthy work space. I was going to just crank open the window next to the booth and toss the two dryer hoses outside when I was working, but Paul the engineer wasn’t having any of that! He bought a piece of clear plexiglas, cut it to insert in the window where the screen would usually go, and duct-taped it in there! Even with the oh-so-attractive duct tape feature, it is still a far more elegant solution and I won’t have to paint with the weather coming in the open window! And now that the exhaust fan and the foam-core insert are gone from that window, overall my studio lighting has increased.

I am really excited about the new equipment and I had to re-arrange the studio a bit to accommodate it. I’ve noticed that even a little change like this to your workspace can give a little boost of energy and interest to your work life. Sometimes just moving the furniture around makes things feel refreshed. (And BOY it was nice to be able to get back into that corner and hoover up a couple year’s worth of spider carcasses!)

Hopefully the stucco crew with be DONE with the house this week, so I can get all the plastic off my windows. I sure have missed the view this past month.

A few weeks ago fellow equine sculptor and ceramist Lynn Fraley wrote me to say that she and Barry were going to be in Colorado, and could we get together for a day? She wanted to learn about the overglazing work I’ve been doing, and would bring a plaster ceramics mold and show me how pouring a multi-part mold works. So last Friday we spent about 6 hours together and it was a really fun day of learning and sharing. She brought the mold for her “Pepe” Arabian sculpture, and poured slip into it. Then we painted with overglazes for a couple of hours. After lunch she pulled the earthenware horse from the mold and I got to see what it looks like pre-clean up, and how it “feels” to handle a pre-greenware piece like this.

I have been told by my other ceramics friends and colleagues that I really ought to be casting my own work. I have been resisting! I really do like sculpting and glazing/painting, but I don’t care for all those non-artistic in-between steps involved in casting. At least that was my experience with casting resins: I hate cleaning them up.

Well I was pretty surprised at how pleasant the work of cleaning seams is on an earthenware piece. It was a lot like doing the final detailing on a clay sculpture. “Pepe” has a leg that must be cast in its own mold and then attached to the rest of the body, and even that work was not unpleasant. I’d have to master that because all my horses currently in England have to be pieced together from separate molds for each limb. It seems “learnable”! (Especially if someone else still makes the molds for me—that is the SUPREME ceramics skill I think I will always be glad to pay the masters for!)

Anyway I came away feeling pretty positive about the prospect of maybe doing this myself someday. And Lynn is pretty charged up about the possibilities in using overglazes in addition to her existing underglazing work on her chinas. I sent Lynn home with a bunch of baggies of the various overglaze color powders, plus a 5-gallon pail of earthenware slip. I bought two of those pails (10 gallons total) from my local resource Mile High Ceramics —it’s their “house” slip they’ve been making for years—and I had bought waaaaay more than I needed for just casting tiles. Lynn seemed to think it was fairly high quality so I was glad to send it with them!

Lynn left me with some “homework”:

I am supposed to finish the work of cleaning up all the seams and molding artifacts from the “Pepe”… Yikes!! He’s still in his baggie so that he stays moist. I’m still a little daunted by working with something so delicate. Working with ceramic bisques is bad enough!! We’ll see if I can actually do that correctly and have a piece good enough to fire to bisque.

Thanks Lynn, for a great day!

Well, so much for September!
I didn’t get the work done on glazing that (I thought I) had planned for, and things are going to continue to be slower than usual in that department. I thank everyone for your patience! I don’t take on many commissions in a given month for exactly this reason–I want to be free to take on new and interesting things as they come up. I did complete a fun graphic design project for Breyer in September. I look forward to seeing that out in print! September was also busy with my entire family coming in for a visit.

October will be another hugely busy month, with lots of travel. On the 10th I am going to Portland for a 4 day weekend to (finally) hold a kiln-warming for my friend Roxy, who finished building a brand new ceramics studio in her house this year. We’ll be attending a small model horse show that weekend, too.

Then I was thrilled and surprised to be invited to the Breyer “Velvet Rope” event as their guest. I’m going to host an introduction to sculpting session, and attend the factory tours and the dinner. I’ll be going out to New Jersey 4 days earlier to spend a couple days in their painting department working on some new colors for their horses. That takes care of the whole week of Oct 20th. Whew, that doesn’t leave much time in the month!

The stucco work on our house is progressing. Our yard is being sacrificed to the cause, but we can really see what it is going to look like now. Next week they will put on the final stucco layer, which will be the actual color, too. Right now it’s still just grey plaster:

We sure can’t wait until it is all finished.

I may have some really really astonishing news to share, next week.