Yuletide Photo Challenge - Weeks Three and Four

I kept up, mostly, on Facebook until after I lost Jabba.  Then I came to a full stop on the photo challenge.  I just posted a week's worth of challenge pictures over there, as a big catch up.  And now I'll pick up where I left off in this blog recap.   

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Day 18: Fruitcake: a piece you didn't seek out, but have in your collection. The only one I have on the Breyer Zebra mold is this one. (Who also makes me think of fruit stripe gum, which feels adjacent to "fruitcake".) I didn't seek her out, but when I saw a friend had her for sale, some years ago, I went ahead and bought her. Random trivia: Blue is my favorite color.

Day 19: Christmas kitties Only one kitty for this one. She is an unknown ceramic kitten that I've had since I was little. I really didn't even know I still had her, until recently when I found her in a box. (The last many years have been... interesting) I don't know anything about her, other than she was a cherished possession when I was a kid. Somehow, she has survived ALL of the adventures and misadventures since then.

Day 20: Winter scene I’m going to cheat (?) today and share a picture I took 5 years ago. So far I think every picture this month has been new and taken just for this challenge. I had plans for this one, was going to go out in the real snow and set up something, but I didnt have it in me today and it’s dark now. Here’s Cassidy (OF Breyer stablemate) going to investigate a Christmas present.

Day 21: Solstice Pony I chose "Astrid" (Breyer Premier Club) - who may not be a "pony", but made me think of cold weather and cold places. She's also fitting for the BreyerFest theme of next year. She is named "Stormfly", from How to Train Your Dragon.

Day 22: Eggnog: Thicc Ponies When I think of "thicc", I think of this guy! This is the "Chewie" resin, by Khrysalis Studios - Art by Rayvin Maddock. I painted him for NaMoPaiMo in 2018. His name is "Bom Bidi Bom". He's quite the world traveler, having gone with me to 4 continents, several countries. He's also live show proven, in halter. I do have some performance plans for him. 😉

Day 23: Holiday hounds Here's an eclectic mix of dogs. I have quite a few dog figures, but these three were the most accessible at the moment. They are: a Breyer Great Dane I had started repainting many years ago, a small ceramic Borzoi, and a Schleich Afghan Hound.

Day 24: Reindeer (or anything with antlers)

Well, this wee one doesn't have antlers yet, but he knows he will someday! This random, unknown little ceramic deer has been with me as long as the mystery ceramic kitten from back on Day 19.

Day 25: What's under the tree?

"Rose", my Breyer Shire, used to be a fixture under the tree every Christmas, wearing her jingle bells and pulling a sleigh, with magic (no harness). I still have her, and her bells, but don't have her whicker sleigh anymore, it fell apart years ago.

Day 26: Box(ing) Day

I do have a handful of models still in their boxes, often because the box is cool. This is the only horse I have from the Orren Mixer "Ideal" series. I had to have the Paint Horse. (That's what Bo is, though he's a "Paint That Ain't" - he's registered APHA, solid.)

Day 27: Mares and Foals

This is Nadira and Zaahir, a set from the 2023 Stablemate Club. I named her "Dear Diary", inspired by a Falling In Reverse song with a lot of attitude - ha! The foal doesn't have a name yet.

Day 28: Oldest Piece in Your Collection

I think I probably have several horses from the 70s but I don't have it in me to figure out who the oldest one is, ha. Let's go with Rose again! She is from the early-mid 70's, according to the IDYB site.

Day 29: Five Golden Decorators

I have no original decorators, and no larger scale gold decorators, either. So I assembled a herd of various Stablemates!

Day 30: Weirdest Model

Hmmm, I've got some weird ones, but I chose this guy. He's a bobble head horse I found in Japan.

Bonus - a day early! Day 31: Next Year's Grail? The term "grail" brings to mind something big, rare, expensive, long sought after? I can't think of anything like that for me, but in the interest of officially completing the challenge, I'll say this guy: the Northern Lights Smoky. (photo from the Identify Your Breyer site)

And with that, the Yuletide Cheer Photo Challenge is done for me!

Yuletide Photo Challenge - Week Two

In my last post, I shared the first week, or so, of my photos for the Yuletide Photo Challenge.  Here, I'll continue, picking up on Day 10.


Day 10: Biggest Bargain

This one is different from what I’ve done so far and maybe different from everyone else’s answer - ha!

This GIANT box has the Breyer Deluxe Wood Barn in it, as the box says. I have had it for a little while now. But, in a rare case of setting boundaries for myself, I’m not going to open it until I have room to work on it. I’m crawling toward that point, maybe it will be a good project for this winter.

Why is this picture of a big slab of cardboard my “best bargain”?  Because, longer story short, I got it for only $30. This was due to the wonderful generosity of a friend, of Breyer, and of good timing.

My long(er) term plan is to offer accessories and upgrades for many of the Breyer barns and so I’ve been sort of collecting them for a little while now. This is the BIG one.  I hope I can unbox it and get to work on it soon-ish. 😉

Day 11: Best glow up.

I wasn't sure what to do with this one, hence falling behind on the challenge. I decided to go with Popular Monster, my Juggernaut resin, by Khrysalis Studios - Art by Rayvin Maddock.  He was an unpainted resin (and scared the heck out of me, ha) until this past February when I finally brought him to life.

He's named after a Falling In Reverse song/album.  His barn name is Ronald - another, *heavy* FiR song.

Day 12: Model you didn't like at first.

I also wasn't sure what to do with this prompt.. two days in a row where I was undecided and here we are!

I decided to go with Backflip.  He is a custom I did back in 2000 and... I never liked him. Not sure why, I just thought he was boring...?

However, in true typical pony fashion (?) he doesn't give a crap what I think.

He's gone on to be a repeat live show and photo show winner, and even a photo show champion. He placed 2nd and got another NAN card at a tough live show just three months ago.

I don't understand it, I just shake my head and laugh every time he wins in spite of what I think of him.

Day 13: Wildlife!

Well, well, this guy showed up just in time!

Arriving here just yesterday was Roddick or as I keep calling him "The Moose". No official name for him yet.  He's my first Breyer moose, first of any Breyer animals other than horses.

I did an unboxing video of him yesterday and I'm already in love!

Day 14: Stocking stuffer: a little treat.

This is a micro mini resin "Nasir", sculpted by North West Studios, and painted by me.

Day 15: Holiday Lights: Lamp or Nightlight

I don't have any of those, but I do have THIS and look how much she glows! 

This is the "Heather" medallion, by Mel Miller Equine Art. She was a random purchase, meaning I didn't know what color I was getting and... I didn't even know she glowed, until I saw a creepy glow one night in my studio, years ago.   She was in a tote of unpainted things and she was subtly glowing away in there.

Recently-ish, I had considering selling her, but when I showed her to Brent and explained she glows in the dark, he said, "That's cool!  You should keep her!"  Now she usually lives in a sunny window in the studio, charging up for times like this! 

Day 16: Chestnuts NOT roasting on an open fire.

Since the prompt was plural, I went for two, TWO chestnuts, ah ah ah.  One is red chestnut, one is liver chestnut, both are Arabians. These are two medallions that I painted. I'd started both of them... years ago, but put the finishing details on - or repainted entirely in the case of Sherlock - this past July.

On the left is "Sherlock", sculpted by Khrysalis Studios - Art by Rayvin Maddock.  I named him "Raised by Wolves", from a Falling in Reverse song.

On the right is "Kaysha", sculpted by Studio Thornrose.  I named her "Conflicted", because that's how I was feeling about the hobby at the time...

Day 17: Ceramic Saturnalia Steeds

This is one of many ceramic horses I brought back from my time in Japan.  I have several of them, in all different sizes and colors.  I tend to shy away from ceramics (fragile!) but these are an important part of my herd. ❤

That's a wrap on the second round of photos for this challenge.  Stay tuned for Week Three.. or Three and a half...  Something like that!  

Yuletide Photo Challenge - Week One

I've always loved participating in photo challenges and have shared many of them here over the years.  There's a new one going on, called the Yuletide Photo Challenge, started by Kristen and Sarah Wellman. 

I knew keeping with it would be, well, a challenge - for me.  I'm not sure I've managed to fully finish one of the month long daily challenges, but I'm giving it a go!  I did figure that doing daily blog posts for it would be extra tough, so I've been posting them on Facebook, both my personal page and my Studio FB page.  I decided that maybe I'd try and do a weekly recap post here and so this is the first one!  

First up, here's the prompt list:

And, away we go!


Day 1: First model in my collection.

My first ever model horse was the original Smoky.

My grandparents bought him for me for my 3rd birthday.  He was extremely well-loved, even after his tail and one leg were missing.  Sadly, I don't have him anymore. I do have his... I don't want to say replacement, but I do have have another well-loved (and unbroken!) original Smoky - from my dear friend, Sue.  He came with the name "Indy" and that's what I call him.  He's been quite the star here, having appeared in many "bad performance" set ups.

His biggest adventure was probably when he took to the skies, hanging under a drone, in a rescue sling that I made. 

I still have a love (obsession) for the Smoky mold. More on that, tomorrow!

Day 2: A model from a friend

Yesterday, I talked about how the original Smoky was my first model.  I have a few others on the Smoky mold in my collection, and several more for custom projects, but there was one that I really wanted to add someday. Sandman, from the Vintage Club, because: Smoky and also because I have always LOVED a loud overo (as in Katie from Young Riders, or Hidalgo).

While visiting with a good friend this past spring, and talking model horses, I had mentioned how he was on my wish list.  A short time later a mystery box from that friend showed up and... !! (I cried happy tears)

He is absolutely MAGICAL and he immediately became a top favorite in my herd.

Day 3: A purchase made on a whim.

This one was actually hard.  Most all of my models, I had a reason for buying them.  It seems rare that I buy "on a whim".  Then I realized this guy fits. 

In 2021 BreyerFest was virtual and I bought several models.  Rhev here WAS an impulse buy.  I hadn't planned to get him, but decided to "add to cart" anyway.  I didn't have one on this mold and did think I might want to make tack on him at some point, though even then I knew I'd rather have a purebred Arabian color for that.

Anyhow, I did indeed buy him "on a whim".  Now I do have one on this mold in grey/white now, but this guy is still hanging around. Remember, yesterday I said I've always loved a loud overo.

Day 4: A model I would never let go.

It would have to be Reckless.

He's one of the first horses I ever painted, when I was 14-15 or so.  He's a Hartland that I'd bought at a flea market and painted to a wild pinto pattern.  I named him after a Bryan Adams album.  He was a champion photo show horse back in the day and has even won some live show awards (in vintage classes).

He lives in his custom leather nameplate halter, which was a gift from my friend, Jennifer.

Day 5: Krampus is coming!  Who's been naughty?

When this guy first arrived, I was happy to have another Akhal-Teke, to join Uffington (this same mold, in cremello).  I immediately parked him on the chaotic tack desk, to start "earning his keep" as a tack model. 

Very shortly after that, he tipped over and wiped out all sorts of horses and projects.  As I recall, I took a picture of him and send it to a hobby friend, calling him an, um, unflattering name.

It's not his fault, he's just a longboi.

Day 6: A model lying down and taking a break.

I think this might be the only lying down model I have.  This is Enya, the Premier Club Stablemate from 2024, sculpted by Mindy Berg.  I decided to take her picture lying down in one of my favorite footings for the mini horses - I love this grass mat!

Day 7: Pearl

The model that immediately came to mind was this guy.  He is TB Trueno, a Winterfest model from 2023.

I named him Starlight.

Day 8: Longears

I don't have a whole lot of longears in my herd, but this one is the most recent.  He's a mule from Schleich.  I bought him this past summer and in September he won a class at a live show and is now NAN qualified.  I named him Jake.

Day 9: Evergreen

For today, I immediately thought of this guy.  He is Greenman, a Store Special from BreyerFest 2020. He's one of a few horses I've kept NIB, because his box is cool and I thought he looked neat in it.  For a bit he was the only one I had on this mold and I had considered extracting him for tack making, but then I did end up getting the TSC SR (grey with a blanket, also in 2020).  So this guy has stayed snug in his forest scene box.

And that's it for the first batch of pictures! 

I plan to be back here with Week Two... or the last part of Week Two anyhow, since I went a couple of days into it here already!

Flatter Footing

I have this really cool piece of scale model footing that I really like using for stablemate pictures.  In particular, I use it to take pictures of stablemate blankets that are for sale.  

The problem with it, and something I fight with every single time I use it, is that it's very uneven.  It was sort of rolled/folded in a box when I bought it.  It's stiff enough that it retains some of the folds.  Because of the tufts of grass, I haven't wanted to try and press it to make it flatten out.  

Recently, I was struggling to make it work (and I just gave up during that particular photo session, the horses kept falling over) and I thought of a possible solution. 

Today I got to work on it!

First, I measured it (10" x 10") and then I used the laser to cut out a piece of MDF that size.  

Here's lumpy, bumpy piece as I've been trying to use it. 

I wasn't 100% sure how I was going to glue it to the base, but I decided to start with some tacky glue down the center.

I grabbed a small piece of cardboard, thinking I'd use it as a spreader, but I just ended up using my finger, haha.  

Glue spread out, I centered the piece of footing and carefully pressed in down along the middle.  I noticed I was slightly off center and tried to reposition it.  Nope.  It was instantly stuck.  Well, that's good!  

Then I decided to just work my way toward the edge, from the center, and glue it down in sections.  Here you can better see how uneven it was.

Each time I put on some tacky glue,

and spread it with my finger.

I cleaned off my finger then used my finger tips to press down and toward the outer edge, along the shorter grass paths.  I also pushed down in some of the tufted areas, for good measure, and then sort of fluffed the grass up again.  

One side mostly glued, I hadn't done the very edge here yet.  I think it's looking flatter.

All done!  That looks better...

Moment of truth!  I put it back in my photo area, turned on the lights, and plopped down a horse (the very one who kept falling over during the latest photo shoot that was cut short).  He stands!  

No Show

This is "old news" to some of my readers, but it's the first time I've felt up to blogging about it and I thought a follow-up to my previous triumphant, light-hearted post was warranted, before moving on.

About a month ago, I attempted a sweep of the performance division of a (fun) show with a Smoky.  The show was being held on Facebook. 

Sometime after entering, I made the decision to deactive my Facebook.  I've talked here before about my struggles with depression.  Add on anxiety and an official diagnosis of ADHD, plus well... just, 2020, and I was in bad shape.  I needed a break from the "doom scrolling" and I was also feeling battered after breaking my silence about current events over the summer; then dealing with the fallout that came with using my voice for the first time, after reading so many others' opinions over the years.  I think that about covers the "why". 

So, I shut down my Facebook.  It's still there, just on hold, hidden I think.  Unknowingly, when I did this, all of the Smoky pictures, and my other entries, vanished from the show - just before judging took place.  After all of that, I wasn't in the show.  I took the news..  really hard.  Embarrassingly hard.  It wasn't "just" a photo show or a fun hobby thing for me, it was so, so much more. 

I wanted, needed, to be a part of something light-hearted and fun.  Sure, it was fun taking the pictures - but then to be "shut out" of the show, accidently, by my own decision in trying to do a good thing for my mental health, was... hard.  It was also, as I felt, probably my only legitimate chance to show Smoky in an entire performance division and not have it be a gag or a pile of throwaway entries.  It was a chance to show performance and not have the stress of trying to do everything perfectly or deal with a lack of proper equipment, set ups, props, and so on. 

I really had gotten "in the zone".  I was speed building tack (namely western and english bridles for him) and coming up with crazy, fun ideas - as fast as I could finish the previous one.  I innovated, a great deal.  I'd get an idea: "Ohhh, that would be awesome!...  But how can I do it?"  and then I'd do it.  the clothesline, the out of focus romping (fleeing) dog in the foreground, those were just a couple of ideas I had no idea if I could do, until I did them.

Then, it felt like it was for nothing.  Not nothing, I have the pictures, I'd had fun, I'd learned things.  Those are what the rational brain says.  Irrationally (?), I was crushed.  I also beat myself up mercilessly for being so upset.  This whole situation is SO the definition of a "first world problem", of "privilege", yes, I knew that.  Still I felt broken, and felt broken for feeling broken, and so the spiral went.

Next up on the big photo show radar was The Field of Dolls Photo Show.  I had joined the FB group,  downloaded the show packet and class list, and had my eye on plans for it.  Then, when things went "bad", I didn't want to make any plans.  I was just done.  It's been quietly in the back of my mind all month but I still wasn't feeling up to even trying.  

A few days ago, on a Skype call with my friend Anne, she mentioned that entries were due in a couple of days.  I, half jokingly, said maybe I'd try to throw something together.  In that same chat, she and I both marveled over Troubadour, the newest addition to my herd and, in her words, "a total dream horse".  

Yesterday was the day, as Anne reported to me (being that I'm still off FB and out of the loop), entries would be accepted until the password was changed this morning.  I had other things loosely planned for the day, but I decided to "to see what I could come up with" intending to..  um, maybe "half ass" a few pictures and see how I felt.  At first I was not feeling it, but I kept going. 

This led to a near full day of playing with supplies, tack, props, dolls, and speed building two more bridles - english and western - this time for the stunningly beautiful Troubadour.  A "real" performance horse, not my all time sentimental favorite who is "not" a performance horse.  It doesn't feel like an over exaggeration to say that yesterday was a battle.  I cried, more than once, and raged against an inner voice saying things like "why bother, you're wasting your time, this isn't going to go well either" and other lies that we sometimes tell ourselves.  I said okay, whatever - yeah, sometimes I almost believed it - but I kept going.  

I tried to improvise with what I had and come up with stories.  It feels like a bit of a bad idea to share them all here now, so maybe in a future post.  For now, here's one picture that I took when testing out tack and setups.  Then I stopped, looked at this, and smiled.
  

Oh, and the Smoky pics?  Well...  I came up with justifications to put one of them in each scene class in the "fun" division.  

I don't want want to jinx anything, but... I think I'll be okay.

Bad Performance? All Of It

 At The Jennifer Show last year, there was a class called Bad Performance.  Unfortunately, I didn't actually see it, I think I was busy getting my ginormous Stagecoach entry ready for the Big Dreams class.  I've seen some pictures from it and have heard a lot of people talking about how great it was - most recently, the Mares In Black podcast. 

Speaking of the podcast: they are having a Spooktacular photo show, which is now being judged.  They had an interesting class list of prompts for class names.  They encouraged people to think outside the box.  For their performance classes, they offered two options: Consistency - the same horse doing all (or most) of the classes, and Specialist - a different horse in each class.  

The formation of my ideas could be an entirely separate post, but I'll summarize it for now by saying:  I entered every performance class with a Breyer Smoky.  You might be saying: "How?!" or "Why?!".  Well, the "why" could be its own post as well and maybe it will be.  Actually I think this whole affair may result in several posts, possibly even the resurrection of this blog?

The "how" will be shown here, at least in the final photos I entered.  In my head, I was telling a story of a rambunctious horse who changed hands partway through, but continued to get into trouble and have adventures.  Then had his biggest adventure when he took to the sky!  Though the pictures are out of order in the show albums and I didn't take them in order, I'll put them in story order here.

This Smoky's name is Indy.  He came with the name and that's ANOTHER story.  



First up, for the class "Strappy"

Don't forget to check you connector strap, kids!  Don't want that back cinch going TOO far back...

"Home on the Range"

Indy: I'm freeeee!
Larry: Get back here, you son of a....

"Stock Market"

It was a quiet day in the parking lot of the local super market, when...

Hey, where's that cowboy guy who was looking for his horse?

"What Could POSSIBLY Go Wrong?"

Look, a kid's horse for sale.  He looks great!  He and Little Billy could grow up together!

"Drama Llama"

What is that long-eared horse eating devil creature?!

"Just Dance"

Practicing at home for Hunter class, but Indy doesn't want to be a Hunter.  He wants to DANCE! 

"Sliding Scale"

After eating some mushrooms in the pasture, the weirdest thing happened.

"Action Park"

After bolting, Indy finds a dog park.  Fun!!

"All Dressed Up"

Indy is wearing a fancy new English saddle and bridle, but that's not enough for this forward thinking fashion mogul.  That clothesline over there should do the trick.

"Fly High"

Indy has really done it now.  He ran off, got himself lost, and stuck.  He was found and is now being airlifted to safety.

In summary, I see the idea of a Bad Performance class and raise it to an entire division.  Hahaha.

This was SO much fun and many much needed laughs were had.  Starting out, I wasn't sure if it was possible.  Then, when I came up with ideas for a class ("carry him with a drone!" "wrap him in a clothesline full of clothes!"), I wasn't sure I could pull it off.  Each time I did, and looked at the pictures, I couldn't stop smiling and laughing at the whole thing.

I must give thanks to my friend, Jennifer Buxton, for the encouragement along the way.  She entered to show too and we were sharing our creations as we came up with them.  She's always a huge inspiration for me, especially when it comes to taking model horse pictures.

Thanks to my other friend, Susan Bensema Young, for the gift of Indy and the delightful phone call a few photos in.  I had sent her a few pictures of this to share his adventures.  That was before he flew!  

Thanks also to my husband, Jeff - the drone pilot.  :-)

I have no idea how I'll do in the judging but, I already feel like a winner.  This was awesome and I want to do more!!  

Stay tuned for more on this.  Thinking I could do posts on:

Other ideas and pictures I had come up with in the beginning.
Why Smoky?
Behind the scenes, setting up these pictures.
The story of Smoky's flight.  

Which should I do first?