June 19, 2011

Land of Little Horses

LinkAlso during our visit to Gettysburg, we stopped by at the Land of Little Horses. It's a neat place with lots of animals - pygmy pigs, goats, calves, chickens, peacocks, rabbits, turkeys, alpacas, a couple exotic cattle breeds, and more. Lots of equines, from minis to a Shire. They do some breeding, but I spoke to one of the helpful workers (below) and she said many were rescues (all of the dogs were from the local shelter) or were donated.


They had some fun attractions, including a mock western town complete with saloon, general store and country church. Here is Andy in jail. They also had a nice playground that was near impossible to get him to leave.

And of course, the very important pony rides.

Audrey getting and giving some pony love.

They sell feed pellets and nearly all of the ponies
and minis were very good with little fingers. Just look at
that face! Some were quite the characters, banging
and carrying on until they got their hand out.

Audrey fell in love with this big chestnut.

They put on a half hour performance, complete with llama kisses, a piano playing pig and some pony performers. This trio performed at liberty. It was a memorable visit and one I would highly recommend if you're ever in the area.

June 18, 2011

Gettysburg!

These pictures were taken off of a reproduction of the Cyclorama at the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum. I didn't even try to take pictures of the original without the flash, but I probably should have tried. It was very impressive in person, not only in size, but also in detail and emotion. Unfortunately, these are dark and the only ones that came out clear. My camera gets blurry when I turn the flash off.

There is a nice drive around the battlefields and numerous monuments have been erected. These bronze reliefs were on monuments for some of the cavalry corps. The cavalry played a significant role in the Battle of Gettysburg.



Inside the museum, there was a nice display honoring the "Horse Soldiers". Here are several shots of the display. I was thinking of all you great tack makers out there when I took these.





June 15, 2011

In Progress Customs

These are several of the pieces I have been working on lately. I've been posting daily updates of sorts on Facebook of what I've been doing in the studio during my interim time between working and the move. Normally, I would wait until these were completely done and prepped to share, but they are as far as they're going to get before the move. And they will likely wait months after we move until they get any more attention. The one above is a mini Working Girl by Sarah Rose into a hunter-type. She still needs braids.

This is a Carol Williams' Valor resin with a Brigitte Eberl Replay head. Love this guy! The Valor head went on a headless Victrix body, but it's still too scary to share.

Another Working Girl in a western pleasure headset. This one is a trade commission with Holly McFarland. I am so excited to finally get some of Kevin's work!

Another Sarah Rose sculpture, Lonestar, with a new neck and mane/tail. I've been wanting to make a portrait of the horse I had in high school, Bookaboo. Of course, he was not a show horse, so I'm on the fence whether or not to paint this one like Boo or not. The body type is the closest I've seen, so I might go ahead anyway. Boo was a pale grey and I have a Darla Curtis WP doll in lavender I've never even used...

Brigitte Eberl's Lina pony with a new look.

Another Eberl pony, Austri. He will be a child's mount and still needs his braids. Jennifer Buxton has made him a bridle to go with a Parklane saddle. It will be so cute!

Rose's Miss America into a country pleasure type. You might recognize her from the Customizing DVD. I decided to give her a lower tail set and add a forelock.

Eberl's Large Trakehner with a new "do". Gave him a nice cresty neck with braids. I plan to paint him as a leopard Knabstrupper.

And of course, there are a few more that aren't this far along. Most of which will (knock on wood) be featured in the second customizing DVD. It covers all new topics, like head transplants and creating necks from the wire up. It still has a long way to go before it will be ready. My focus now is on finishing up the commissions, hopefully before we move in 2 weeks!