Monday, January 7, 2019

2019 Custom Horses To Come

This isn't so much of a "New Year's Resolution" list as it is just me wanting to get all of these organized on a list and I thought: why not share it?  

The first batch are those with deadlines, afterwards are some lose ideas I've got rattling around at the top layer of the bottomless pit of ideas...


MEPSA Makeover 
Deadline: February 15th
The mold for this time is Lady Phase.  My idea is for her to be a racehorse, full gallop, because, why not?  Is she started yet...?  Hahahahaha...  no.


NaMoPaiMo
Start: February 1st
Deadline: February 28th
I'll be painting my Kitty Cantrell Chincoteague Pony mare resin as a palomino tobiano.  She needs quite a bit of prep..  I really should get going on that.



MEPSA Mini Contest
Deadline: March 31st
I think I'll most likely do a couple for this, but no idea yet who.



Meows And Minis 
Deadline: early August
I wanted to donate some custom minis last year, but didn't.  This year I'd like to do at least one.



Others, non deadline:


Copy Cat Custom
I've loved the idea of this since I first heard about it, but have not yet started my own.  Here's the Facebook group for it: The Copy Cat Custom Project.


Talbuk
A fun idea I've had for a little while and something I've been thinking about a lot lately.  A Talbuk is an antelope-like creature in World of Warcraft.  Several of them have been made into mounts that the player can ride and one of those (the white one pictured) is my favorite ground mount for my main character.  I've always loved the way they look and I worked long and hard on the quest chain that allowed purchase of the mounts as soon as I could.



Original Sculpture(s) 
I have a large classic Thoroughbred stallion in the works - barely started, been that way for years...



Many, many years ago I started a SM scale cutting calf.  Would like to maybe work on that again.


Possibly I'll try to do a medallion or two?


Smoky, started for ICEE
Ah yes, my ICEE project who was not to be....  I had put a coat of primer on him after this picture, contemplated doing a rush job to finish him, decided no.  So he's in the holding pattern herd.




Nameless, faceless, hordes
Then there's, um, the fact that I'll be back stateside this summer/fall and finally able to go to some shows again.  (!!!!!!!!!!)  I reeeeally want to have a fresh new show string and not keep trotting out my oldies.  I love them, but... I sorely need some new faces in the herd.


That does mean that right in the middle of all of this, life will be uprooted by another big 'round the world MOVE and most all of my horses, supplies, and so on, will be in transit for a few months.

I really need to plan ahead and around that.


Okay, time to stop typing, daydreaming, and get to work.  Or go take a nap.  Ha!



Wednesday, January 2, 2019

Did You See So Much Videos??

Today I filmed, and uploaded, not one, but TWO videos to my YouTube channel.



The first was a bit of a tutorial on (part one) of how I prep a Stablemate for painting.



The second was a viewer request from my last vlog, where someone said that a video about the laser business would be neat.  So I threw that together too!



My goals for this year include a lot more videos, blog posts, and in general social media type stuff.  I certainly don't think I'll be able to do two videos a day, everyday (ha!), but I think today was a good start toward that goal.


PS: The title of this post is inspired by a quote from this Kid Snippets clip: Kid Snippets: "Salesman".  "Did you see so much money?!"  is a quote that Jeff and I use, or versions of it, quite a bit.  If you haven't heard of Kid Snippets, you should check out some of their videos.  The premise is: what would happen is kids wrote movies.  Kids act out scenes and then the adults lip sync and act out what they said.  They are hilarious.  Some of our favorites are: "Math Class", "Cooking Show", and "Hunting".

Tuesday, January 1, 2019

Happy 2019!

Happy New Year!

During our time here in Japan, we've tried to check out MANY cultural events.  For New Year's we've done a few different things. 

Our first New Year's here, we made the trek south to Sendai for their "Pageant of Starlight".  It was a truly magical sight: an entire city main street lined with towering trees, on either side and down the wide median in the middle, that were completely covered with tiny white lights. 

In another year, we went to a large Shinto Shrine to bring in the New Year.  That year we also experienced what ended up being the national shopping day, similar to "Black Friday". 

As this New Year approached, we had talked about what we should do this time.  We considered another trip to Sendai.  However, it is a long way away and, most notably, very expensive to go there on the toll road (the only real "interstate" type highway.  Neither of us were thinking we'd do that again.  We wanted to do something, but what?

I had an idea.

A couple of years ago, I came across the Japanese tradition of seeing the first sunrise of a New Year.

I'd already mentioned to Jeff that I'd like to go see a sunrise at the beach this winter.  It would be our last chance to catch a sunrise at a more reasonable time here.  During the summer, the sun is up by 4am.  Seriously.   

So, I proposed that for our last New Year's here, we should go see the first sunrise.

Yesterday, we went to our friends' house and had a great time, eating, playing games, and laughing until our sides hurt.  We didn't come home until about 10.  Last night, admittedly, I was second guessing my idea of getting up early, in the dark and cold, to go stare at the horizon...

But, we did it!  (and I'm so glad)

Here's what the sky looked like shortly after we arrived at the beach:


Interestingly, the colors faded and stayed that way for a little while.  I worried that we'd actually missed the sunrise?


Oh wait, what's that?


There it is!  Hello, sun.


We watched as it moved behind a cloud, which seemed perfectly positioned.  As it neared the top, the cloud was so bright and we could see the rays spreading across the sky. 


It's all the way up, too bright to look at now.


Time to head back up the beach. 


When we first arrived, one car had just beat us there.  On the walk back, Jeff said "look at all the cars!"  The section of beach where we and the other car had parked had turned into a parking lot.  We saw many people out to catch the first sunrise. 

On the way home, I got a text from my friend Jennifer


I had a good laugh at that.  Last year, I had messed around, asking where the signup page was, on January 1st, over here.  If you didn't know, we are a day ahead - a fact that I've had a lot of fun with at times.

Okay, okay, let's see...

As soon as we got home from the beach, I went to the studio to consider my options. 

I hadn't actually narrowed down my choice of model or color -at all- but invigorated from just spending a couple of hours out at the beach, I thought it would be fitting to (finally) paint my Chincoteague Pony mare resin.  After all, it would be great to get some pictures of her here on the beach before we go...


For color, I ended up choosing palomino tobiano, which is terrifying.  Not so much the tobiano part, I don't think... but the palomino bit.  Despite loving palominos and buckskins, I've always found them a massive challenge and very intimidating to paint. 


I filled out the entry form, sent off my entry fee, and made a quick post to the NaMoPaiMo Facebook page all jumping the gun, before those in the U.S.


And with that, I'm committed!  Or, maybe I should be...  Heh. 

Jeff, Joey, and I weren't the only ones who enjoyed the sunrise this morning.  I found Tealight basking in the glow of it in our upstairs hallway. 


After all of that excitement, I crashed on the couch for a couple of hours. 

Happy New Year!  ;)  I hope it's a good for you.  :)

Here is another article about Japanese New Year traditions, if you'd like to learn more: New Year in Japan