2024 Studio Year in Review

"No Shelf Control" Artist's Smock/Apron
Christmas on Mane Street Exclusive Sculpting Workshop
A few are still available!

2024 marked a lot of personal events: celebrating a milestone birthday for my husband with a surprise trip to North Carolina, the passing of my father-in-law in the spring, my daughter's graduation from Notre Dame this summer and starting a PhD program in Boston this fall, a promotion for me at work resulting in many more hours, and ongoing PT for a frozen shoulder. 

On the hobby front, I started the year full of ambitions...

My 2024 Best Customs Contest (BCC) was a very large-scale project, which I started in the fall of 2023, so I chipped away at that in January. 

Oil projects in-progress

In February, I signed up for Heather's Painting Black in Oils class and even started with 2 prepped models. This coincided with NaMoPaiMo, so I felt pretty good about signing up with the smaller model. I discovered prepping issues with the larger model once I got into painting, and having learned about the change in size restrictions for the BCC, I turned back to focusing on that project. The 2 black in-progress models joined the ranks of the other class project models in oils I've not yet finished...

My hobby time in the spring was consumed by my BCC project. I had to scrap much of the work I'd already done, as the new height restriction resulted in having to change the scale of the entire project. My original project was over 5 feet tall... 

When I wasn't working, I was almost entirely absorbed in my BCC project. I did attend SNEWRU where I was beyond thrilled with Tootser's win as Overall Custom Workmanship Champion. 

It was a great day overall. My daughter came to hang out with me (just like the old days!)
and I caught up with friends in the region. 

Ellie & Serendipity

Mind Your Biscuits

Giuseppe

SNEWRU 2024 champions

I also attended a local swap meet in the spring; another great opportunity to catch up with people, buy a little, and sell a little. Thankfully, I was able to buy a pile of new bodies for my BCC project (since I didn't have the right scale bodies!). I was in full swing now, spending all my free time on the project. I pushed really hard, but alas, it was not enough to finish by the deadline. I had only a week to go when I finally got it prepped and basecoated. 

BCC Sneak Peek

I started painting, then finally admitted to myself it was not going to get done before the deadline. 350 hours in was not enough to bring it across the finish line. It has been sitting on a card table in the family room ever since.

Rebel Just for Kicks

I decided to pivot and enter something else. I knew it was a long shot, because what I could enter really didn't fit the spirit of the contest. I entered Rebel Just for Kicks in the Glow-up division. Since he was a "glow-up" to the perfect performance horse, complete with interchangeable manes and tails. I figured it was at least a respectable entry. Not surprisingly, we were not a Finalist. 

That's okay, there is always next year and I've got a sizeable head start (although I think the reason I've been dragging my feet to keep working on it is that I'm petrified the rules will change again!)

Black Sand, wearing a Carrie Nelson costume, from Colette's collection

I attended BreyerFest in July and had a blast. Audrey came with me, which made the trip all the more enjoyable. She worked and visited the Mary Todd Lincoln House while I judged performance at both Breakables and BreyerFest Live. She also attended the auction for me for the dispersal of some of Collette's tack and vehicles. She bid and won the Arabian Costume I most had my eye on, a Carrie Nelson Arabian costume with white tigers embroidered on it. Happy dance! 

Tripod by Edwin Bogucki

I also added to my small art collection, by purchasing my first bronze from the Bogucki's at the Clarion! Overall, it was a great BreyerFest and I am already looking forward to next year. Check out the albums on my Facebook page for tons of photos of real horses, models, and even some people!

After BreyerFest, I was again feeling ambitious and directed my energies to the BreyerFest Open Online (BOO) photo show. I ordered some new backdrops and scenery supplies and spent days taking thousands of photos, mostly performance, which resulted in tweaks, tweaks, and more tweaks (and still missing things!)

Blonde Ambition
Combined Driving Obstacle Course Entry

I was thrilled to learn that Tootser's was awarded Reserve Overall Champion in Customs and Blonde Ambition was awarded Reserve Overall Champion in Custom Performance!

Sometime in the fall, I found a couple barns on Facebook marketplace and spent a Saturday morning driving through beautiful Connecticut during peak leaf peeping season to pick them up. It was amazing! I have ideas for the barns, but they are patiently waiting in the basement for someday (right next to the Breyer truck and trailer I picked up last year, also waiting for someday to get a new paint job).

Vincent's Equisa in Stablemate scale

Still feeling ambitious, I signed up for Tegan's painting Zebras class. This course came with a little 3D print of Vincent Lange's Equisa in Stablemate scale. Unfortunately, she is very delicate. I opted to try to replace her tail with a wire, which seemed like a good idea at the time, but the resin was pretty brittle and I struggled with it. She ended up in multiple pieces, including breaking off her stand. Teegan recommended reassembly with UV resin, which seems to have done the trick with a little epoxy over the top. She is now all put back together, prepped and basecoated. Class has now concluded, but they were all recorded so I've got some watching to catch up on!

Somehow, despite work ramping up, I managed to participate in Christmas on Mane Street. This new event is the brainchild of Sarah Minkiewicz and Lesli Kathman, a virtual "Christmas village" on Facebook where model horse artisans came together to offer their hand-made items. My humble offering this year was a sculpting workshop. I used Photoshop to create the "No Shelf Control" design and a Cricut to cut them out in vinyl and apply them to some really nice aprons I snagged. These can be used as a smock for arting or an apron for baking, so I was hoping for mass appeal. The workshop also included a couple ounces of magic sculpt, silicone shaping tools, plastic gloves, and access to a pre-recorded tutorial on sculpting manes and tails. The Azham pictured above is the demo model. As of this posting, there are some workshops and a few aprons only available on my website. I will pull these from my website at the end of the year, and likely offer any leftover aprons for sale at local events or BreyerFest (they really are very nice quality!). The workshops really are priced very well, considering what it would cost to purchase everything separately and shipping is included! The tutorial itself is basically free. 

Christmas Critters

The other projects I actually did manage to finish this year were for Christmas. The ferret and one orange kitty were gifted to my kids, and I did an orange barn cat for myself. These are all 3D prints from Hold Your Horses. I love that the hobby has so many in-scale critter options these days!

James C. Christensen Nativity with restored Creche

I also repaired this Creche by giving the lamb an entirely new ear. James C. Christensen is one of my favorite contemporary artists. He generally includes a lot of whimsy in his work, which I love. I have slowly been collecting pieces from his nativity set. The arch-stand piece came up on Ebay with an affordable price tag because of the lamb's missing ear and a missing angel that hangs from the arch. I sculpted and painted a new ear, and found a glass star on Etsy to hang in the archway instead. Now I just need the Shepherd and Darius, the Camel, to complete this Nativity. 

And thus concludes the 2024 studio year in review. I'm thinking 2025 will be the year to finish what I've started. Who's with me?