Claybody CM- Coming Along...

 

One of my latest projects has been this Claybody Custom Callahan, which I've now dubbed "Morrissey," after an old family name.  Now that I'll have access to a kiln again, I'm jumping back into my preferred medium- although what I *really* need to do is to finish a new sculpture, so I'll have a new horse to produce for y'all!  But since BOYCC is coming up, I wanted to have something new and shiny to sell, and this guy is it.  He will be offered first to attendees of BOYCC, and if he doesn't sell there (after all- they will have an OF Callahan they can purchase there, amongst things!), I will offer him to my Yahoo Group.  That aside, I thought you all would enjoy pictures here of his in-progress, scritchy little self.  He is a dappled dark bay sabino.  Yes, I thought I'd double the fun with spots and dapples!  The dapples are a little hard to see in the state he's in- after he is glazed they should shine through a little more clearly:

 

The flash made the colors seem a little off- but you can kind of see the dapples.

Several layers went into his coat- after a priming layer of white, straight black was airbrushed on, and that layer was dappled.  Next came his base coat, a couple of layers of brown shades, and finally, more black on top.  His mane was hand-painted, and his tail will be a combo of hand-painting & airbrush work (I purposely left the tail out of the pic above, because it is 1/2 unpainted at this point!).  Speaking of the mane & tail, those were the two areas that received the most claybody-ing.  I'll post side by side pictures of Morrissey & the original Callahan when this fella is all done & shiny.  I've still a little ways to go on him (I want to add in some even finer sabino hair-detail, do his eyes, kissy spots, etc. and his tail of course!), but it shouldn't be too much longer.

And this is entirely non-horse related, but I thought I'd share with you these lovely sights from Washington State- my husband took these photos on one of our walks last month.  It is really nice to be living close enough to the ocean for a casual stroll!  (The dog always enjoys it too- so many neat smells!)  True that we have our share of gray days, but the beautiful scenery around here makes up for that, if I may say so. 

 

 

 :)

A Shiny Dream Come True

Picture this:

A visit to Pour Horse Pottery where Joan Berkwitz herself, and I, help you paint your own CM Glaze horse.  With enough food to eat, and friends to visit with & work alongside, to fill the day. Then- a relaxing evening with more socializing, merriment, and (of course) chocolate, in a lakeside bungalow.

Sound pretty good?

How about spending the next day with even more ceramic equine artists?  Learning to china-paint on specially designed porcelain medallions with pro Karen Gerhart, having Joanie show you how to repair your beloved broken pieces, learning to sculpt your own medallion with English artist Kelly Savage, learning about European Chinas with Pauline Entin and Kathy Williams, or discovering more about Digital Photography and Photo Showing with Mel Miller? Oh- and having large buffets served at every meal?

Even better, huh?

But wait!  Why not, on Saturday, throw in a specialized ceramic horse show with some of the finest examples of earthenware, bone china and porcelain horses you'll ever see?  Oh, and a couple more buffet meals- plus a sit-down banquet dinner with awards galore:

 Joanie will be making 30 of the new Hoscars!

But we're not done yet!

How about more showing on Sunday, more food, and another trip to Pour Horse for more visiting & learning how to make molds with Margaret Olson?

Pretty darn cool!

Joanie & I are so thankful to all of those who have been supporting the convention.  You can learn about some of the projects they are working on for BOYCC, on their blogs.  Sarah Minkiewicz has been working on a super special centerpiece on her blog, Musings at Minkiewicz Studios, and Lesli Kathman has shared on her blog, the name-badges she is making for all of the entrants:

A lot of good stuff! And it is going to be a lot of fun.  We've got friends coming from far and wide- will you be amoung them?  There are still a few spots available, if you aren't signed up, and have been considering it.  To learn more about this fantastic weekend, please visit:

I almost forgot!  Joanie has been hard at work on producing a very limited edition Pour Horse OF Callahan run.  This run will be available only to BOYCC entrants.  Here is a pic of a couple of the tests- the exact color hasn't been quite decided to my knowledge, but will be something along these lines:

See you there!  :)