Stormwatch

Good morning!

Those of you who like to follow my work on eBay may have noticed that new offerings have been few and far between of late. Most of the reason for that is because I've been slogging my way through the last of my custom orders (I know, they are almost all late at this point. You ladies who have been waiting have been so patient with me and I can't tell you how much I appreciate that. It won't be too much longer now, I promise.) and trying to keep track of the tons of orders for the new mule medallion, but also, I've been working on this in my spare moments:





Just in case he needs an introduction, this boy is Sarah Minkiewicz-Breunig's mustang sculpture, Stormwatch, and he's just about as popular as a resin can be. I really wanted to do something special for such an amazing sculpture, so he's the first Appaloosa that I've painted in a coon's age. He represents several new techniques. I've taken the roaning with Prismacolors concept that has served me so well lately and applied it to the mane, tail, and hooves. I've also had a heck of a time in the past with the mottled skin characteristic of Appaloosas looking artificial and dominating the entire face. The solution to the problem on Stormy here was lots of layer work utilizing watercolor pencils and pastels. There were a few tense moments in there (Oh my gosh, have I just ruined a $450 resin?!?!?!) but I love the end result.



Update - 4:21 pm : Stormwatch is now sold!

The new mule is DONE!

Happy Mardi Gras Everybody!

He's available for pre-order on my website now.
http://www.eponastudio.com/mulemedallion.htm

Curses! Foiled again!

After the last baking, our poor mules ears were starting to look pretty crispy, so I've wrapped them in aluminum foil to hopefully protect them from further blackening. Louisiana is known for how great the blackened fish is, but mules...maybe not so much. The rest of the foil is supporting some delicate bits so that they don't sag in the oven.

The one hame that is actually visible on this piece is supported internally by a straightened paper clip and the texture on that fleece pad you see peeking out from under the color was created with the end of a broken stick. Honestly, I do use real sculpting tools too. I swear. Sometimes the best way to get the job done involves getting a little creative and it seems to be happening that way a lot on this guy.

I think that all of the various straps and buckles are in place now. All that remains is the part we've all been waiting for... flowers!

Collar and blinkers

I've laid the base for the collar down, although the bottom will need to be fattened up a bit yet. The blinkers (or winkers if you prefer) are in place. There are still plenty of buckles and straps yet to add as well as the hames. No I didn't know what a "hame" was either, but here's a chart with all the lingo:

Most of the bridle is done

Now that's what I call mixed media

The bridles that these mules wear are covered in these decorative rounded rivets, as you can see in the close up at left. Now, I could have sculpted each of those separately, but that would be a lot like work. If I wanted to work, I wouldn't have chosen to be an artist right?

So instead I started looking around the house for ideas. It had been my plan to use beads (they work great for eyeballs) but everything I had was either too big or too small. I felt like Goldilocks! Finally, found the object that was just right. Those purple arrows are pointing to coriander seeds off of the spice rack.

I have a cool new sculpting tool now too. My sweet husband went to the store and brought home some new tweezers and then filed the tips down to almost a needle point so I could place the coriander with some degree of control. I know spices are an odd thing to add to a sculpture, but I have yet to actually cook with the stuff, so why not?

More mule!

A little bit of the halter has been added...