March 27, 2009

Creativity isn't everything

Orchestrating productivity in the studio is more about project management and organization than creativity.

For example, I was repairing an Animal Artistry mini resin's legs today (that's the picture of him before the accident). After inserting wire into his leg and sculpting over the repair, I had a tiny glob of apoxie left over. So I smooshed it in place on another piece that is in progress. Of course, the loss of a small amount of apoxie will not bring my productivity to a screeching halt (I have plenty of other distractions for that to happen), but planning ahead so that I always have an in progress piece in need of filler keeps things humming along. By so doing, that little model will be ready for sculptural detailing next time I go at it with apoxie, as the fill work is now done.
Another productivity saver for me is working in batches. I rarely work on one model at a time, especially when it comes to prepping. I usually prep in batches of about a half dozen models. They all get their seams cleaned, then all get a bath in Comet, and so on. Why get the mess out for just one model at a time? This is true when working with pastels, too. Pastels make such a mess of my work table, that I usually try to work in batches of about three models at a time (more than that is more distracting than helpful for me personally). They aren't all the same color (I'm not mixing batches of wet paint that need to be used up), but they all go through the pastel phase together. Then I clean up my work area completely and they all go through the detailing stage together, whether one takes 5 hours or 50 hours to detail. In this case, I am working with wet paint for eyes and hooves and I'm less likely to waste paint on those small areas if I have more models to use it on. And when I'm done, hopefully I have another 3 models already prepped from the last prepping session to start on.
:D

March 17, 2009

Audrey meets Pal

Audrey joins me at all the local model horse shows. This past weekend we had the pleasure of attending Show for the Cure, where I also had the privlege of judging the china divisions. And while we were there Breyer's mascot, Pal, stopped by and we got to say hello and snap this picture.

Audrey is my little mini-me. Here's a picture of her painting at 4 years old.

March 16, 2009

Sneak Peek



This fellow has been in progress for well over two years. He is the demonstration model for one of the new DVDs I've been working on: "The Art of Mixed Media: Chestnut Tobiano".

Just wanted to share a sneak peek of him while I was taking pictures of some other things. I have plans to finish the next batch of DVDs this spring!

March 5, 2009

Mare's Milk!?

I just saw this interesting article, dating the domestication of the horse back further than previously thought, to 5500 years ago. The conclusive evidence? They were able to detect mare's milk on the pottery!

Check it out:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090305/ap_on_sc/sci_first_horses

:D

March 3, 2009

Four Hour Final


Just finished taking my final exam for Accounting 210. Took me four hours to wade through 25 questions and I'm still scratching my head on some of them. A big thank you to my sister for babysitting Andy!


I've been working my way through accounting and business classes, which is why I have not been painting much the past year. I still have several classes to take. I'm currently enrolled in Corporate Taxation and Marketing, so I don't foresee to much time in the studio this semester.


I do hope to be able to finish the footage for the next batch of DVDs. The bay and chestnut tobiano footage is nearly there. I really want to get them finished this spring.
I have enjoyed my studies though. As someone once said, the more you learn, the more you realize you don't know. I think everyone should take a class or two. :)