White Horse Productions Blog

Tiptoeing into 2022

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsten Wellman) — Fri, 31 Dec 2021 20:40:00 +0000

In the almost two years since my last post, I've often thought about posting an update here, but I didn't really have much to say. The year 2020 started on a depressing note for me, and by March, the pandemic turned the whole world on its head. The plans I had stoically made got sidelined to a large degree. I mostly worked from home from March 2020 until August of this year. I did a lot of painting. I blogged a fair amount on my Model Horse Collectibility blog. But most of my studio updates have been on Facebook or Instragram. I'm not sure how much I'll utilize this blog for updates in the future, so I just wanted to make sure I had a post here directing people to my social media accounts in the meantime.

That said, as rough as the last year and half has been, I am grateful that my family and I are all healthy and doing well. Working from home meant I have had more studio time, and I feel like I've made some good progress with new painting techniques. I did finally attempt a brindle for NaMoPaiMo 2021, and I was so pleased with the result that I even entered the piece in the BreyerFest Best Customs Contest. I didn't win, but it was fun to at least try.

This last year has seen a return not to normal, but to something better than whatever 2020 was. As vaccination rates slowly tick up, I hope 2022 will bring better things for all of us. That said, I'm going to ease slowly into the new year. I have some plans, but they're flexible. This meme probably says it best.

Good luck, stay safe, stay healthy, and maybe, just maybe, we'll all get to see each other in person again this July in Kentucky. Love to you all!

2020 Resolutions and Ramblings

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsten Wellman) — Tue, 14 Jan 2020 04:24:00 +0000

This past year had its share of ups and downs (as any year does), but the downs punched a lot harder than usual. Rather than dwell on things I can't change, I'm trying to face 2020 armored with goals to work toward in the coming months. They are in part an extension of what I wanted to get done in 2019---chiefly, eliminating my commission backlog. Happily, I did succeed in whittling it way, way down. I am much closer to zero outstanding commissions than I have been in years. Most of the remaining models in my studio waiting for paint are for a few close (and incredibly saintly) friends. Lucky for them, their models are taking up far too much space, so I am incredibly motivated to paint them and get them out the door.

Writing is of course another creative outlet for me, and I'm thrilled to say that in addition to some work for Breyer, I also produced a series of articles for the Hagen-Renaker Collectors Club in 2019. The series---a study of HR Thoroughbreds, what else!---is ongoing and should continue all of this year and possibly into 2021 (depending on where a certain bit of research takes me). If you're not yet a member of the HRCC, I highly recommend joining. It's only $27 a year, and in addition to the bi-monthly HRCC newsletter, you'll have access to the HR Field Guide as well as to all of the interesting pieces coming out of Hagen-Renaker Tennessee.

Since NaMoPaiMo is looming again, it reminds me that I never did get around to posting pictures of my completed model from last year here I did a portrait of the part-Arabian mare DA Remote Control. I'm really pleased with how well she turned out, and I definitely do want to tackle a brindle with dark striping at some point later this year.

For NaMoPaiMo 2020, I would like to try a challenging color again, but I haven't settled on which one. This year, I picked out the body I wanted to paint first---Mindy Berg's handsome Duende--- rather than finding a body to suit the color as I did last year. I'm not particularly satisfied with the way I approach and execute dappling, so I'm thinking dappled palomino or buckskin would be an excellent test of various methods I'd like to try.

After NaMoPaiMo, I want to continue to pursue things that are outside my artistic comfort zone. I've been painting model horses for a little over twenty years now, and I feel like I've become stuck in a rut lately. Because I have been busy with commissions for so long, I have not made the time to do much in the way of experimenting with techniques and media. I felt that if I was in the studio, I needed to be working on paid art. And that is absolutely valid. But it has also meant that I have not stretched myself much and that needs to change. Going forward, I want to paint more weird colors, try out new pigments and pastels, and do much more sculpting.

I also need to step up my social media presence to reach younger or newer hobbyists who are not familiar with my work. As an introvert, self-promotion is wildly uncomfortable, but it is definitely necessary. So with that in mind, my goal is to reach 1500 subscribers on my Facebook studio page and Instagram account. If and/or once that happens, I will give away a free painted mini Alborozo, Magnolia, or new Thoroughbred to one subscriber from each platform in a color of their choice (with or without the horn). More details will be posted on FB and IG.

And last but not least, I'm hoping to find the time to paint a few things just for myself this year. I've had this little Pat Kasper Saddlebred and this Kathleen Moody fox for nearly 20 years. They really need paint jobs already!

So anyway, here's to making 2020 a better year than 2019. Onwards and upwards!

BreyerFest Hangover, 30th anniversary edition

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsten Wellman) — Tue, 06 Aug 2019 20:27:00 +0000

The run-up to BreyerFest this year was one of the most hectic (but also productive) for me in recent memory. For whatever reason, I always get a huge kick of inspiration and a burning need to paint when I know I have trip coming up, even a non-model horse related trip. Some people go on cleanings sprees; I go on ridiculous creative jags. This meant I was already sleep deprived heading into BreyerFest, but on the plus side, I finished and shipped sooooo many commissions. It felt glorious. Here are some of the ponies that galloped out of my studio and back home to their owners in June and July.

Bogucki Bask+++ resin as a portrait of the Godolphin Arabian

Minkiewicz-Breunig Goblin resin in dark mulberry grey based on a real Mustang

Jenner-Bennett Micro Ember in dappled grey

Jenner-Bennett Micro Furia in silver dapple black

McDermott Mini Bunny resin in roan

Rose Mini Khemo resin in flaxen chestnut

Gerhardt Shannondell in bay sabino

Puleo SM TB as portrait of Man O' War

I managed to mail all of these models just in time other than one I hand-delivered at BreyerFest. The weekend before 'Fest, I flew to Atlanta to meet up with my sister so the two of us could drive up to Tennessee for the Hagen-Renaker Collectors Club Fellowship event. We had a great time touring the HR museum, glazing little worry stones, and hanging out with our clinky collecting comrades. We then drove back to Georgia to pick up our parents and our BreyerFest live show string before heading north again. (I'll post about Fellowship and BF on my collectibility blog since that will be more OF oriented.)

I feel like I spent that entire week in a sleep deprived daze, but that is the nature of model horse events, especially BreyerFest. I was excited to hear about the theme for next year though---Celtic Fling! My degrees are in Celtic history and archaeology, so I have begun plotting. Or at least thinking about plotting. After BF, all of my creative mojo crashed hard and I just wanted to sleep for a year.

I have managed to drag myself back into the studio lately however, and I have Accomplished More Things™ in the last few weeks, too, albeit slowly. These lovely boys are going to ship out soon.

True North in flaxen liver chestnut

Minkiewicz-Breunig Fritz resin in flaxen chestnut

I have more models in the works---some commissions, some sales pieces---so I'll try to update this blog accordingly. For more day-to-day updates, keep an eye on my Instagram account. I post a lot of in progress stuff there as well. Thanks for reading!

Old Friends

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsten Wellman) — Thu, 30 May 2019 20:52:00 +0000

After the 2018 Triple Crown hero Justify retired to stud last July, I knew that my sister Sarah and I had to plan a trip to Kentucky to see not just one, but two Triple Crown winners. Who could have predicted that after a 37 wait, we'd have another Triple Crown winner again so soon? Both American Pharoah and Justify stand at Coolmore's American farm, Ashford Stud, and as both stallions shuttle to Australia starting in June, we arranged a visit for the weekend after the Kentucky Derby.

I flew to Atlanta to meet up with Sarah on that Wednesday afternoon, and we spent the evening hanging out with our parents and ogling some of the neat models Mom and Sarah have liberated at estate sales lately. (I'll write a blog about these guys soon.)

Epic Hagen-Renaker score from a local estate sale last November

Very rare Albany Desert Orchid from an estate sale last month

On Thursday, Sarah and I got up early and had breakfast al fresco with her cat, Zipper, before hitting the road to Lexington.

We had no set schedule for the day, so we stopped and checked out antique malls along the way. We didn't find anything, but the sunset at the end of the day was pretty stunning.

Our tour at Ashford on Friday wasn't until 3:00pm, so we decided to spend the morning visiting some old friends at, well, Old Friends.

Buddy the official greeting cat came out to welcome us and get some love.

The tour started inside the gift shop and welcome center with a video about the farm, its residents, and its mission. Old Friends is a retirement home for Thoroughbreds whose racing and/or breeding careers are over. The farm offers tours to visit some of the more famous residents which raises funds to rescue a number of lesser known horses. After the video, we all headed back outside for our walking tour.

Our first stop was to see Sarava, winner of the 2002 Belmont Stakes. At 70-1, he was the biggest upset winner in the history of the race.

Across from Sarava was Nicanor, one of Barbaro's full brothers. Though his racing career started off promisingly with a 15 length score in a turf maiden race, Nicanor was not particularly successful as a racehorse or as a stallion. But he more than makes up for it in terms of looks and personality. If we could have smuggled him home with us, we would have. He is such a sweet, friendly boy.

Nicanor just wants your carrots and your love

One of the best things about Old Friends is that visitors are encouraged to pet and feed carrots to most of the horses.

Sarah and Nicanor

Next, we got to meet Rapid Redux, the tough gelding who holds the American record for most consecutive wins. Though his record of 22 victories in a row has been eclipsed by horses elsewhere in the world (Black Caviar and Winx), it has yet to be equaled here.

Rapid Redux

Rapid Redux didn't seem to care about his impressive record though. He was mostly concerned that his Breeders Cup Sprint winning pasture mate, Amazombie, didn't hog all of the carrots.

Amazombie

Across the lane from Rapid Redux and Amazombie were Little Mike and Game on Dude. Little Mike won several prestigious G1 turf races including the Arlington Million and the Breeders Cup Turf in 2012. Game On Dude won a number of G1 dirt races in his career including the Santa Anita Handicap a record three times. Mike and Dude were very polite about their carrot intake.

Game On Dude (left) and Little Mike (right)

From there, we headed up a hill toward one of the barns. In a pasture behind it was the horse I most wanted to see, War Emblem. Despite being a racing fan all of my life, I didn't get to attend the races until I moved to Chicago for grad school. In 2002, I went to my very first race, the Illinois Derby at the now demolished Sportsman's Park. War Emblem won that day in a runaway performance before going on to win the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness. He was sent to stud in Japan in hopes that he would become a replacement for the late, great Sunday Silence, but it was not meant to be. War Emblem had no interest in breeding and sired only 119 foals in ten years at stud. He was returned to the United States and now lives out his days at Old Friends. He's not the friendliest horse, so we were not allowed to get close, and he wasn't particularly interested in visiting anyway. But it was really wonderful to see the old curmudgeon again.

War Emblem

We continued on into the barn which housed some of the more socially inclined horses including an old favorite of mine, Alphabet Soup. I saw him years ago when he stood at Adena Springs, and it was a pleasure to get to pet him and feed him carrots. Soup's biggest claim to fame was winning the 1996 Breeders Cup Classic in which he upset the mighty Cigar.

Me feeding carrots to Alphabet Soup

Alphabet Soup shares his stall with this adorable little donkey.

Other barn residents were G1 stakes winner Afternoon Deelites...

...the somewhat shy turf stakes winner River Squall...

...and the farm's newest resident, Einstein. A Brazilian-bred son of the Kentucky Derby winner Spend A Buck, Einstein won G1 stakes on dirt and turf before retiring to stud. He's another one I would have happily taken home as a pocket pony.

The smallest resident in the barn, Little Silver Charm, was also the loudest. He is the farm's official spokeshorse, and he was very insistent that he receive his due in the form of carrots. So much so that the vet has ordered him on a diet (which he is not happy about).

Little Silver Charm

We headed out to far end of the barn, stopping briefly to feed carrots to Z Dager, one of the first horses raced by the Zayat family (of American Pharoah fame).

Sarah and Z Dager

And then it was on to see the farm's biggest celebrity, Silver Charm. In 1997, his rivalry with Free House was the talk of the Triple Crown trail. Silver Charm narrowly defeated Free House in both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, and the two battled head and head again in the Belmont. Silver Charm finally prevailed only to be caught in the final strides by Touch Gold (who also happens to be an Old Friends retiree). Silver Charm won the Dubai World Cup the following year and was eventually retired to stud at Three Chimneys where both Sarah and I visited him in 2003. Two years later, he was sent to Japan for stud duties with the understanding that he'd be returned to the United States when his breeding career was over. In 2014, he came home and is thriving at the age of twenty-five. When we visited, he was recovering from oral surgery and had just been cleared to eat shredded carrots again. We were delighted to be able to spoil him.

Me and Silver Charm

In the next paddock, we met Special Ring, a turf runner who began his career in France before finding success in California.


Special Ring

He shares his paddock with Popcorn Deelites, a son of Afternoon Deelites. Popcorn raced mainly in claiming races and allowances, but he found lasting fame in the movies. Pop is one of eight horses who played Seabiscuit in the popular movie of the same name. In particular, he was used in scenes breaking from the gate and as the horse playing Seabiscuit in the scene where he defeats War Admiral in their match race. He was also ridiculously friendly and sweet.

Popcorn Deelites

Just down the road from Silver Charm is the horse that denied him the Triple Crown, Touch Gold. He's another one who's a bit too salty to be allowed near visitors, so we admired his bad attitude from a distance. Our fantastic tour guide Lisa gave him some carrots to appease him.

Touch Gold (but don't touch him!)

We then headed back toward the welcome center, stopping to feed treats to Eye of the Tiger, a nice stakes winner who recently retired from stud duties.

Eye of the Tiger and Lisa

We also gave some love to Sun King, Charismatic's most successful son. Though he had a tendency to run second, he still won more than $2 million.

Sun King

A gorgeous view on the way back

The road back took us past the other side of Nicanor's paddock. He wanted more carrots.

Nicanor still being adorable

There are two equine cemeteries at Old Friends---a large one near the back of the farm where most of the residents are eventually laid to rest, and a smaller one near the front of the farm for a few very special horses. Charismatic, who died at Old Friends, is interred there along with several horses who died elsewhere. The remains of the mighty Skip Away were moved to Old Friends when his original resting place, Hopewell Farm, was sold at auction. The headstone for Springsteel, a tough campaigner in the 1930s, was moved from Rockingham Park before the land was developed. Similarly, when the California ranch where champion handicapper Noor died was sold to developers, his remains were disinterred and sent to Old Friends. (Noor is famous for having defeated two Triple Crown winners, Citation and Assault.)

Noor's new resting place

Sarah and I both agreed that Old Friends was one of the most fun horse farm tours we'd ever been on. It really was a treat to be able to feed and pet so many famous horses all in the span of an hour and a half. And our tour guide Lisa was so welcoming and enthusiastic. If you haven't been to Old Friends yet, definitely go. You won't regret it!

After Old Friends, we had a late brunch and hit a few antique stores before heading to Ashford.The only things we liberated were some Derby glasses. Next time, on to Ashford to see the champs (and more old friends)!

Return of the Polar Vortex

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsten Wellman) — Thu, 31 Jan 2019 03:54:00 +0000

When I rolled out of bed this morning at the crack of 10:30 AM (I stayed up until the wee hours), the temperature outside was -18 with a wind chill of -45. It's been ugly cold for several days with a fair amount of snow and temps around zero, but today, the weather is so extreme that most of Chicago---schools, businesses, cultural institutions, even the post office---closed up shop and told us all to stay home.

Because it's been so cold, I haven't been able to do any prepping or painting for about a week. It's just way too cold to be spraying primer or fixative, so commissions have been in a holding pattern temporarily. That said, I have made some progress working in my studio. Or rather, on my studio. Admittedly, "studio" is a rather grandiose word to describe a cheap plywood desk with lots of stuff piled haphazardly on it and near it. And while it worked well enough for years, many of the shelves were just dead space because they weren't sized with model horses or customizing supplies in mind.

So I cleaned everything out of my tiny work space and demolished the desk...

And installed a much more sturdy and efficient structure!

I even ended up with more storage space on top for my body boxes which I desperately needed. This new set up will make it so much easier for me to work on models in color batches because everything is so much more accessible. I also went through my art supplies and tossed a bunch of worn out brushes and empty paint tubes. Hooray for reducing useless clutter!

The weather shamans are predicting a 60 degree warm up into the 40s this weekend (and 51 on Monday!), so I'm planning to make up for lost time. Prepping-palooza! In addition to commissions, one of the models I'll be working on is my 2019 NaMoPaiMo victim.

Obligatory NaMoPaiMo selfie

The unicorn version of the new-ish Breyer Yasmin mold was cheaper than than the hornless variety, so I'll cut the horn off and save it for use on another model. I'm not sure which one yet, but a fantasy model will be a fun change of pace!

In a continuing effort to paint a color I find challenging for NaMoPaiMo, I wanted to try a brindle this year. I couldn't decide on a model to use though, and I suspect that a brindle would prove difficult to finish in just 28 days. I also didn't want to take time away from working on my commissions, so I settled on a portrait of the part-Arabian mare DA Remote Control (aka Clicker).

I have long been intrigued by her "reverse brindle" coat, and a bay with white markings is a color I can easily rotate into the queue as I work on other bays. (Clicker's coat, while it resembles the stripes found on brindle horses, is the result of a random genetic mutation that essentially turned off the color coding for her hair in certain places.)

I know I've been quite remiss in blogging (on all of my blogs), but I have been steadily working on models. I'm finding that Instagram is a fun place to share my day to day progress that isn't otherwise necessarily blog-worthy. I'll probably post a fair amount of NaMoPaiMo stuff there before writing a wrap-up post here. And that said, I will try to put together a pretty pony pix post here as well in the near future, especially if we get another crazy cold snap like the current one. T.S. Eliot wrote that April is the cruelest month, but he clearly never experienced a Chicago February.

Justify: Bittersweet Immortality

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsten Wellman) — Fri, 17 Aug 2018 18:14:00 +0000

Back in February, trainer Bob Baffert went to the Santa Anita racing secretary to make sure a particular maiden race would fill because he had, as he put it, a potential Kentucky Derby horse to enter. The secretary was justifiably gobsmacked---that's one hell of a boast to make about any horse, but especially an unraced three year-old less than 3 months out from the first Saturday in May. Still, Baffert had trained no less than four Derby winners already including Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, so if anyone knew what a potential Derby horse looked like, it was Bob. The race filled and Justify went to the post as the odds on favorite after word of Baffert's confidence in him spread.

The big chestnut did not fail to live up to the hype. He broke slowly, but then jumped back into contention, making up the lost ground on his own and getting his head in front by the first quarter. By the time he'd run half a mile, he had widened his lead to half a length, and he was still just cruising along with no urging. At the top of the stretch, he was five lengths clear of the field with nothing more than a bit of hand-riding to encourage him to pick up the pace, and he continued to draw away, winning by more than nine lengths in a quick time of 1:21.86. It was a sensational debut for a maiden, and racing pundits sat up and took notice.

Justify's maiden win (via the Paulick Report)

A two-turn test in a muddy one mile allowance race was next with Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith aboard for the first time. Justify broke a step slowly again, and Smith was content to let the colt rate behind the leader around the first turn and down the backstretch. Midway around the far turn with no apparent urging from Smith, Justify launched himself forward and passed the tiring frontrunner in a few strides. By the top of the stretch, he was clear of the field, and he flew home with ears pricked to win by six and half lengths in a solid 1:35.73.

Even though he had only two starts to his name, Justify certainly ran like a horse with Derby credentials, but in order to be eligible to run for the roses, he first needed to earn sufficient points to qualify. Baffert had originally planned to send him to the Arkansas Derby to prep as he had done with American Pharoah, but when his other top three year-old was sidelined with a bruised hock, Baffert decided to keep Justify in California for the Santa Anita Derby instead.

Facing more seasoned competition for the first time, including the talented Derby hopeful Bolt d'Oro, I thought Justify would likely be in over his head. Few horses are capable of running in a Grade 1 race in only their third start after all. Justify however broke well and moved easily to the lead, setting sensible fractions while running several lengths clear of the field. As they moved around the far turn, Bolt d'Oro began to close the gap, but before they'd even reached the quarter pole, his jockey had gone to the whip while Mike Smith still sat chilly. Coming to the top of the stretch, Bolt's jockey neatly cut the corner to save ground and moved to the inside. For a moment, he looked certain to gain on Justify, but with a little urging, Justify found another gear and pulled away again to win.

Justify in the Santa Anita Derby (photo by Jae C. Hong/AP)

I confess I was never really a fan of Justify's sire Scat Daddy nor of his sire Johannesburg. They were both precocious two year-olds who retired midway through their three year-old campaigns due to a seeming lack of stamina and/or injury, and I really didn't expect Justify would fare any better. The mile and a quarter Kentucky Derby tends to separate the men from the boys when it comes to distance ability, and many, many top youngsters have come up short in the stretch at Churchill Downs over the years. So while Justify came into the Derby off seemingly facile wins, I fully expected him to run out of gas at the quarter pole and finish up the track as his sire and grandsire had done before him. Furthermore, his juvenile training had been sidelined early on because of a pulled muscle, and he therefore did not race as a two year-old. No horse had been able to overcome that particular hurdle since Apollo in 1882, largely because building a foundation of strength and stamina over many months is essential for competing at classic distances. To say that the odds were stacked against Justify is an understatement.

Rain fell steadily all day in Louisville on Derby day, and it didn't let up even for the post parade or race. Despite the sloppy track and the usual scrum of 20 horses and riders literally jockeying for position, Justify broke well and moved right to the front, bringing the race to longshot Promises Fulfilled who led into the first turn. Justify shadowed him closely through opening fractions of :22.24 for the first quarter and :45.77 for the half, a suicidal pace that I thought for sure meant he would be cooked turning for home. Horses simply don't run that fast in the opening stages of a mile and a quarter race and have enough left to finish competitively. Nonetheless, Justify took over the lead midway around the turn while Promises Fulfilled, who was indeed fried by the hot pace, faded rapidly and ultimately finished 15th, some 40 lengths behind Justify.

Good Magic and Audible, both talented colts, made a run at Justify in the stretch, but neither could narrow his lead. He swept under the wire two and half lengths in front, smashing the 136 year-old "Curse of Apollo." Justify's incredible Derby performance made a believer out of me---he was clearly more than just a precociously fast colt. To have pressed that sizzling pace and still have had enough left in the tank to win convincingly---easily even---suggested that he was a rare talent.

(Photo by Darron Cummings/AP)

Worryingly, he was noticeably lame in his left hind the morning after the race. He was eventually diagnosed with a heel bruise and reshod with a three-quarter shoe before returning to galloping a few days later. With only two weeks between the Derby and Preakness, any setback like that is a cause for concern, but Justify seemed to bounce back with little fuss, and it was on to Pimlico as scheduled.

Once again, rain fell heavily on Preakness day, making for yet another sloppy track, Justify's third in only five starts. The deluge tailed off before post time, but thick fog rolled in to take its place. Visibility was reduced to a few hundred feet at best, meaning the horses were largely invisible from the grandstand until they were in deep stretch. Watching on TV, I was grateful for the multitude of cameras set all around the oval at Old Hilltop. The usual camera from the top of the grandstands would never have been able to find the field through the heavy fog.

First time past the grandstand (Photo by Horse Nation)

Justify broke well and went to the lead, but this time Good Magic was sent with him and pressed the pace. The two horses raced head and head around the first turn, all down the backstretch, and around the far turn, too. Once or twice, Good Magic looked to have his head in front for a few strides, but Justify was utterly unfazed. As they neared the top of the stretch, Mike Smith turned Justify loose, and Good Magic grudgingly gave way. In the final sixteenth, Mike wrapped up on his mount, allowing late closers Bravazo and Tenfold to get terrifyingly close to nosing him out at the wire. I suspect Mike didn't realize how fast they were flying up behind him, and having put away Good Magic, he likely thought the race was won. Lucky for him, they ran out of track. Justify was headed to Belmont as the first horse since American Pharoah with a shot at the Triple Crown.

A little too close for comfort! (Photo by Mike Stewart/AP)

Having finally witnessed a Triple Crown only three years earlier, I was a bit nervous in the weeks leading up to the Belmont, but the resignation and expectation of disappointment that had always lurked at the back of my mind in past years were blessedly absent. Obviously, I did not want to wait another 37 years to see a Triple Crown winner again, but I felt fairly zen about the outcome of the race. Mostly. Whether or not Justify could win, it was going to be an exciting race, and even if he wasn't able to get the distance, he had still proven himself to be an outstanding horse. That said, I was prepared for Justify to not be a mile-and-a-half kind of horse, but having seen his extraordinary Derby performance, I was also hopeful that he really was a superhorse after all. To win the Belmont, he would need to be.

Horseman are often a superstitious bunch, especially people involved in horse racing. For example, one of Seattle Slew's co-owner's wore the same dress to the Preakness and Belmont after wearing it for his Derby victory. It had to be lucky, and why change something that might be working? Silly undoubtedly, but similar stories are woven throughout the history of the sport. So when it was announced that Justify would race with different silks for the Belmont, those of the China Horse Club rather than WinStar Farm (both part-owners of the horse), more than a few pundits predicted this change would doom his chances.

Nonetheless, Belmont day dawned clear and dry for once, and as horses probably can't see the color red anyway, Justify went to the post unconcerned by the change in his silks. Much like American Pharoah, he was sent right to the lead to dictate the pace. He settled into a comfortable rhythm and was allowed to set sensible, easy fractions with little pressure from the rest of the field. Watching him cruise around the first turn and up the backstretch, I was nervous, my heart was racing, and my hands had gone clammy. We might have had a Triple Crown only three years earlier, but watching Justify try for it was every bit as exciting.

Midway through the final turn, Justify still held the lead, and Mike Smith had not yet asked him to run. Behind him, the other jockeys were beginning to urge their mounts to pick up the pace. Seeing this, I was on the verge of hyperventilating---Justify clearly still had another gear while everyone else was struggling to catch him. At the top of the lane with a quarter-mile yet to run, Smith finally began to pump the reins and wave the whip, mostly to keep his horse from loafing on the lead. Gronkowski and Hofburg both made valiant attempts to catch Justify, but neither were really able to make up any ground, and Justify cruised under the wire a comfortable length and three-quarters in front. I of course screamed all through the stretch run again. Who could possibly believe we'd wait 37 years for a Triple Crown winner and then suddenly have two in the space of three years!

Striding into the history books (Photo by Julie Jacobson/AP)

Not surprisingly, the Belmont took a lot out of Justify, especially on top of such a short but rigorous campaign, and in the weeks following the race, Baffert reported that the horse had lost some weight, a typical consequence of a tough race. In early July, Justify returned to light training, pointing toward a late summer campaign. But after developing some inflammation in his left front ankle twice in the course of a week after workouts, his training was halted so the leg could be evaluated. When you've followed the sport as long as I have, you know these sort of pronouncements usually mean an extended break from racing, and very often outright retirement. Still, one always hopes for good news. Alas, it wasn't meant to be. On July 25th, Baffert and WinStar announced that the ankle was not responding to treatment as quickly as hoped, and because the necessary 60 to 90 day rest would mean missing the Breeders Cup Classic, the decision had been made to retire Justify. The news was disappointing but not unexpected.

Justify's career spanned just shy of four months, a total of 112 days from his first start to his last. In that brief stretch of time, he went from a maiden winner to an undefeated Triple Crown champion. Given his dominance in every race, it seems hard to imagine him having any trouble with the final test of a three year-old, defeating older horses, but unfortunately, we'll never really know just how good he was. None of the other three year-olds this year were ever able to run with him and challenge him meaningfully. His winning times were solid if not scintillating, but his running style and winning margins suggest that he could have run faster had he been asked. There simply wasn't ever a need which in itself is pretty telling.

Knowing that Justify's sire had died untimely and that Coolmore (who stood Scat Daddy) had been making overtures to WinStar to buy Justify, his best son, it was a given the big chestnut would retire at the end of his three year-old season just as American Pharoah had done. That however doesn't do much to ease the disappointment of not seeing him race again this summer and fall. We are left to wonder what might have been and what more he might have achieved. For a few weeks, it seemed like we would have the chance to see not just two Triple Crown winners but maybe even two Grand Slam winners if Justify could score in the Breeders Cup Classic. I am grateful that we had the chance to see another brilliant horse like this without having to wait many long years as we did for Pharoah. Here's hoping that we are perhaps entering another golden decade of the sport like the 1940s or the 1970s!

* * *

A couple of years ago, I turned the head and swished the tail on this Lonesome Glory model, but I could never settle on which real horse I wanted to paint him after. Following Justify's retirement, the answer finally seemed obvious. I plan to paint a Classic-scale Justify portrait for myself at some point, but in the meantime, this guy is available on eBay. The auction ends this evening (Friday, August 17th).

"And they're into the stretch! And Justify comes roaring home to a raucous Belmont Park with one furlong to run! Gronkowski and Hofburg try to run him down. Vino Rosso is fourth. A sixteenth to go. Justify is still there! He's just perfect and now he's just immortal!"

Post-BreyerFest Inspiration (of sorts)

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsten Wellman) — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 18:50:00 +0000

I know I haven't posted much here, but I have nonetheless been slowly chugging away at my commission backlog, and I am happy that even more models are done, out of my studio, and home with their owners. There are still plenty of models to go, but I feel like the weight is starting to lift at last. I'm getting closer!

As usual, the bug to be productive kicked in hard right before I traveled to BreyerFest, and it helped motivate me to finish up and mail out a couple of models that had been lingering nearly done for far too long.

Now that I'm home again, I have a lot I would like to get done before the summer is over. I am inspired to get to work in the studio and on the studio itself. The first order of business is going to be to sort through my six body boxes and cull a bunch of the models. They take up too much space, and the reality of my ever actually getting to them all isn't high. Better to pass them along to other artists with more time on their hands. I then need to replace the decrepit desk my painting booth sits on and buy something sturdier with better storage capacity. I have a shelving unit picked out that should be ideal; I just need to sell a bunch of stuff so I can afford it.

With that in mind, in addition to the plastic body cull, I will probably be selling most of the rest of my resin collection and a number of miscellaneous Peter Stone and Breyer models. At the moment, I'm listing stuff on eBay---my seller name is kwkelt. One of the model currently listed is my 2018 NaMoPaiMo model who is now NAN qualified.

Stay tuned for more goodies!

American Pharoah: Finally the One (and Justify, too!)

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsten Wellman) — Mon, 11 Jun 2018 05:00:00 +0000

"And they’re into the stretch, and American Pharoah makes his run for glory as they come into the final furlong. Frosted is second. With one-eighth of a mile to go, American Pharoah’s got a two length lead. Frosted is all out at the sixteenth pole. And here it is! The 37-year wait is over! American Pharoah is finally the one! American Pharoah has won the Triple Crown!”

Photo by Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

A number of years ago, I began painting the American Triple Crown winners. I intended to paint all eleven, and I started with the last three from the 1970s, Secretariat, Seattle Slew, and Affirmed, thinking they'd be the most popular. I then went back to the beginning and painted Sir Barton and Gallant Fox before becoming distracted with other projects and other Thoroughbred portrait models.

When American Pharoah was crowned the twelfth Triple Crown winner in 2015 after an agonizing 37-year wait, I knew I had to pick the project back up again, starting of course with him. I was busy trying to clean out my commissions backlog, but I squeezed in work on him between painting other models. It took me two years to finally finish him up, and while I posted a picture of the model to my Instagram feed and started writing this blog last year, for some reason, I never finished it.

My Pharoah

Three weeks ago, the day before the Preakness as a matter of fact, my sister and I traveled to Kentucky to see our hero. As kids, we always watched the Triple Crown races together, and even now that we're older and live in different states, we talk horse racing regularly. When Pharoah won the Belmont, we both shrieked our excitement to each other across the miles through our phones. Seeing him together in the flesh was a dream come true. It was an amazing, wonderful, perfect day.

The horse of a lifetime

The next afternoon, we watched Justify roll to victory through the fog at Pimlico, and we got to scream and cry and hug in the same room for once. And now, with that big chestnut's almost unbelievable performance at Belmont yesterday, I find that I am hoarse from shrieking again, and I need to paint another Triple Crown winner! I can hardly believe it. Thirty-seven years of miss after miss after heart-breaking miss, and now we've had two Triple Crown winners in just three years. Thank you, racing gods! I am a happy, happy fan.

NaMoPaiMo 2018

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsten Wellman) — Wed, 14 Mar 2018 18:04:00 +0000

The calendar says it's March, but Mother Nature hasn't even thought about spring yet here in Chicago. It even snowed yesterday just to remind us we've still got a good 6 to 8 weeks to go before the weather turns warm. I've experienced colder, snowier winters here, but the longer I live in Chicago, the harder they are to slog through. I know I suffer from seasonal affective disorder, and that combined with several weeks-long stretches of single digit temperatures in January and February made getting ready for NaNoPaiMo a challenge for me. Not only was it too cold to spray primer or fixative, the constant cold grey gloom was downright exhausting. Alas, hibernating until May doesn't pay the bills.

NaMoPaiMo is an event meant to encourage people to paint, especially people who are new to the hobby or who have never tried painting a model before. As someone who's been painting for a number of years, I feel like a bit of an imposter participating, especially when I have been steadily painting and finishing models this last year in order to clear out my backlog of commissions. Nonetheless, I needed a bit of a pick-me-up, and I had a blank copy of one of my new favorite molds just begging for some love, so I decided to go with a challenging color again this year to see if I could improve my techniques.

Greys, whether light, dark, medium, or flea-bitten, have always been the hardest colors for me to paint. I have experimented with airbrushing them, hand-painting them, pasteling them, and combinations of all three with varying success. In the last year or so, I have figured out a technique combining pastels and airbrushing with a little bit of hand-painting that I think works reasonably well. I would still like to finesse the shape and placement of my dapples, but this is definitely an improvement on past attempts.

After priming the model, I base coated it in soft white paint. I then used an old, worn brush to apply black pastel dust. (In this case, it was technically charcoal dust because I ran out of proper black pastels. The pastels are a tad softer and easier to blend, but charcoal sticks work nearly as well.)

I then used an eraser pencil to create dapples...

Which I blended a bit with the worn brush and a little more pastel dust.

I then sealed my work with Krylon fixative and moved on to the barrel using the same technique.

With each body section...

I repeated the same steps...

And I used the eraser pencil to gently tease out highlights in the muscle grooves, elbows, flanks, and other "warm" areas where horses tend to grey out first.

Once I had most everything but the head pasteled, I came back over the topline, shoulders, and rump with another layer to pastels to darken them up and add some contrast. I did the legs as well, but forgot to snap a photo.

I then airbrushed a very fine layer of dark grey and then a bit of black to add a little more of a contrast than I could achieve with just pastels.

I decided to go with one dark leg to give him a bit of character. I hand-painted the mane and tail, hooves, and face markings...

and voila! I'm pretty pleased with him. I managed to finish him up with about an hour and half to spare on February 28th, so right down to the wire in typical fashion. (These photos were taken late at night with soft lighting, so the color's a bit off.)

.
Having tried this technique a couple of times now, I have more ideas for tweaks and refinements, especially to the dappling. More practice is warranted, maybe on a Proud Arabian Mare?

I am still hard at work finishing up commissions---check out my Instagram feed for more pictures of models on their way home---and I will find some time to blog about them here, too, in the near future.

Onward!

More finished commissions headed home

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsten Wellman) — Mon, 18 Dec 2017 05:33:00 +0000

The end of the year is rapidly approaching, and while I haven't finished clearing out my commission backlog as I had hoped, I am much closer to being done than I was when I first resolved to close my books and admit that I was in way over my head. I will be out of town briefly for the holidays, but I have a few more nearly completed horses that I plan to mail out in the last week of December once I return. Then if all goes according to plan, I hope to have the last of my commissions headed home in January and February. In the meantime, here are a few more ponies that have shipped out. Huzzah!

Squirrels at a Rave

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsten Wellman) — Thu, 07 Sep 2017 17:10:00 +0000

A funny meme came through my Facebook feed last week that said something along the lines of, "I don't have ducks in a row. I have squirrels. And they're at a rave." Given my last studio update, I thought it only fitting to recreate this title with Hagen-Renakers, too, because cosclay is apparently what my sister and I do now.

Seriously though, while my life is hectic right now with turnover at my real nine-to-five job and some large projects in the offing, it thankfully hasn't been all squirrels and glow sticks all the time, and I have been making steady progress completing commissions this spring and summer. Just since BreyerFest, I have mailed out 9 completed pieces, and boy does that ever feel good!

I have about two dozen commissions left to complete---they're all in some state of being partially painted, several nearly finished---and my goal is to have them all done and mailed by the end of the year. If I continue working at the rate I have been, I should be able to meet that goal. I am so much looking forward to having all of these models back in their owners' hands and feeling guilt-free about working on non-painting projects like writing, sewing, updating my sadly neglected website, cataloging my collection, decluttering, and even cleaning! (You know you've gone 'round the twist when you're actually looking forward to chores...)

Once I'm done with my current slate of commissions, I do not plan to take on more any time in the near future. It's much too stressful and I am simply too slow. I will be offering sales pieces periodically though. I'm looking forward to having a chance to try some colors and patterns I don't often get asked to paint like champagne, double dilute cream, and splashed white. I'm also itching to experiment with appaloosa patterns and brindling.

I will post more photos here of completed models as I send them out. It's a good morale booster to me to see progress even if my shelves of commissions still seem crowded (especially as the weather turns colder). I'm getting there, slowly, but steadily. Thank you all again for your patience! I am eternally grateful. <3 br="">

Man O' War's 100th birthday

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsten Wellman) — Wed, 29 Mar 2017 21:38:00 +0000

"He was as near to a living flame as horses ever get, and horses get closer
to this than anything else." - Joe Palmer

One hundred years ago today, a true legend was born. Even now, after a century has passed, he remains the benchmark against which all great horses are measured. Few have come close and none have been his equal. The simple notation below in the Nursery Stud foaling ledger gives no hint of what was to come. And how could it? Who would dare dream up such a horse, such a career, such a legacy? Who would believe it if it hadn't really happened? And yet it did, and the echoes of his greatness still ring down the years despite a world very much changed since 1917.

"March 29th, 1917 - Mahubah foaled ch colt by Fair Play. Star, narrow broken
stripe from right of star down center of nose. Height 42 Girth 33"
(Nursery Stud foaling ledger, collection of the Int'l Museum of the Horse, Kentucky Horse Park)

Mahubah's chestnut colt by Fair Play was of course Man O' War, the greatest Thoroughbred to ever grace the track. I have blogged about him and the models made in his likeness on my collectibility blog in the past, but as today is his 100th birthday, and as he is the source of my lifelong passion for horse racing, I thought I would write a bit about him here, too.

My earliest recollections of horse racing are of my dad reading C. W. Anderson's horse stories to me. Anderson wrote about Man O' War with the greatest reverence, and when I was old enough to read myself, I devoured every horse book I could find to learn more.

My love of horse racing was thus formed early on, and I have collected a number of books, art, figurines, locks of mane and tail, win tickets, race programs, and other bits of racing memorabilia over the years. My Man O' War memorabilia collection is small (if you don't count the books), but here are some of my favorite pieces.

My George Ford Morris print of Man O' War

A pretty and decorative Man O' War coaster (?)

My Hagen-Renaker DW Man O' War

Carol Williams' Valor resin that I painted as a portrait of Man O' War

I have made a few pilgrimages over the years to places where the great horse once stood at stud, like Faraway Farm where his sire and dam are buried. (Apologies for the poor film quality.)

Faraway Farm before restoration

Man O' War Farm just down the road from Faraway was also the site of MOW's original burial.

And his stall at MOW Farm where mares are still foaled out in hopes of a bit of extra talent and good luck.

Fortunately, my family settled within relatively easy driving distance of Lexington, KY, so I've been able to make the trek to BreyerFest every year since it began in 1990. A visit to Man O' War's current burial place at the Kentucky Horse Park to pay my respects is a yearly tradition. He rests under a larger than life bronze by Herbert Haseltine near the entrance of the park. A shady avenue leads to the monument from the visitors' center.

Historical marker near MOW's grave

Several of Man O' War's offspring are buried there as well, including his two most influential sons, War Admiral and War Relic. Man O' War's sire line has become a bit rare these days, surviving primarily through his great-great-great-great-grandson Tiznow. Interestingly, Man O' War's sire line is also just about the last of the Godolphin Arabian's tail male line. I worry that it may fizzle as the Byerley Turk's line seems to be doing, but the tail male line is really only part of the picture. Man O' War's daughters were phenomenal broodmares, as were the daughters of some of his best sons. The blood of War Admiral, War Relic, Intent, In Reality, Salaminia, American Flag, Wavy Navy, and others flows in the veins of many modern champions like American Pharoah, Arrogate, California Chrome, Rachel Alexandra, Zenyatta, Ghostzapper, Point Given, and so many others.

We have been blessed in the last few years with some incredibly talented horses---a Triple Crown winner at last!---and with every new crop of foals, hope springs eternal. It always puts me in mind of the last few stanzas of J. A. Estes' poem "Big Red."

"A foal is born at midnight

And in the frosty morn

The horseman eyes him fondly,

And a secret hope is born.

But breathe it not, nor whisper,

For fear of a neighbor's scorn;

He's a chestnut colt, and he's got a star;

He may be another Man O' War.

Nay, say it aloud; be shameless.

Dream and hope and yearn,

For there's never a man among you

But waits for his return."

Happy birthday, Big Red.

NaMoPaiMo success!

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsten Wellman) — Wed, 01 Mar 2017 04:11:00 +0000

She's done! And with a couple of hours to spare, ha ha! This color and pattern were a significant challenge to execute and complete because I have often felt a lack of confidence in my dun dilutions, but I'm really rather pleased this gal turned out so nicely. I am still struggling with my workload mentally (and temporally) and a big dose of seasonal affective disorder, but NaMoPaiMo has been a very much needed artistic mojo boost. Thank you so much, Jennifer, for organizing this wonderful hobby event! I have thoroughly enjoyed the camaraderie and enthusiasm it engendered.

Hermosa is on ebay now.

NaMoPaiMo: Down to the wire

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsten Wellman) — Mon, 27 Feb 2017 18:21:00 +0000

Getting my ducks in a row is a slow process, but I have been busily chipping away at commissions all month. I've also managed to squeeze in some time to work on my NaMoPaiMo model. I think I'll be able to have her done by Tuesday (the last day of the month, eep!), but it's going to be down to the wire. Unfortunately, working right down to the last minute of a deadline is usually what I do. I always seem to underestimate how long painting will take, especially white layers on pintos. Which brings me to the subject of today's post.

I usually map the spots on my pintos with carefully shaped tiny pieces of blue painters tape or some form of liquid mask, but this time around, I decided not to. Because frame overo feels less intuitive to me than tobiano (my favorite pinto pattern if you haven't already guessed), I opted to draw the pattern on my fully painted model using references to have better control of the pattern. I used a white Prisma pencil to sketch that pattern and fill it in.

Then I began the slow process of adding thin layers of white paint to the pattern.

By the end of Sunday evening, the pinto markings have much better coverage than when I started, but they still have more layers to go. I often find that taking a break from the monotonous white layers is useful, so I decided to block in the basic color on the hooves and eyes. It helps give me a better sense of the finished piece, and it also seems to make finishing the piece less daunting.

Getting there!

So, with two evenings left to me to work on her, I need to finish the white layering, add pinking where appropriate, finish the hooves and eyes, and finish the mane and tail. I'm pretty sure I can accomplish this. Wheee!

Commission and NaMoPaiMo progress

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsten Wellman) — Sun, 12 Feb 2017 04:01:00 +0000

I shipped out three horses last week. Hooray! Progress feels so very good. I have a long way to go, but chipping away at small tasks like prepping and priming is helpful. I work 40+ hours a week, and by the time I get home in the evenings and make and eat dinner, there isn't much time for working on horses. Most of my painting time comes on the weekends, so I do my best to get as much done as possible on my days off.

Painting fuel and an in progress pony

I use an Iwata Eclipse airbrush, and paint primarily with Jo Sonja acrylic guache. I thin it to the consistency of whole milk to run though my airbrush, building up color from light to dark.

I do sometimes use other brands like Liquitex and Ceramcoat if I don't have certain colors on hand. Jo Sonja is carried by Dick Blick, but there isn't a store near me, so I usually order that paint online. Happily, I can get to a Michaels easily to pick up the other brands when I can't wait for an order to arrive.

In between working on commissions last weekend, I painted a few layers on my NaMoPaiMo Hermosa who will eventually be a grulla frame overo. I usually mask off pinto patterns with little pieces of blue painters tape, but I decided to try overpainting the pattern with thin layers of white instead. We'll see how that works out. These cell phone pix are not great, but here are the first few layers of color.

Pale iridescent cream

An overlay of pale grey with a hint of silver

A slightly darker wash of grey

Two layers of darker grey

Today, I began adding layers of color with pastels. I apply them with old brushes that have gotten worn and fluffy and are no longer of any use for painting fine details. I have specific brushes for various colors to keep the colors I apply from getting mixed and muddy. You don't want to use a brush caked with black for pink skin tones, for instance.

First I added a layer of dark brown.

And then some black.

I seal all layers of paint and pastels with Krylon Matte fixative. It dries quickly and has a nice, smooth finish.

I'm quite pleased with how this grulla color is shaping up. I rarely mix colors from recipes---I just wing it most of the time---but I do at least make notes for myself when I come up with something I like. I have been experimenting with subtle metallics lately, and it's made all the difference, especially with this color.

Tomorrow, I plan to block in the basic pattern. I'll probably do some more pastel work as well. Having looked at my reference photos, I need to darken up the legs a bit as well as add dun factors. Because I use the tail as a handle, that and the mane will be just about the last parts of the horse I work on. Stay tuned for more pictures!

Safety Dance and other prepping musical numbers

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsten Wellman) — Sat, 04 Feb 2017 03:23:00 +0000

Living in an apartment presents a variety of challenges as an artist. Lack of space in general is the primary one, but lack of appropriate space is also problematic. Regarding lack of space, most of my models live in boxes at the moment because that's the most efficient way to store them. My shelf space is limited, so I have a tendency to rotate models on and off display. Plastic bodies and resins also stay boxed until I'm ready to work on them. And as you can see, my work space is tiny.

Where I prep, airbrush, and hand detail models. Cat for scale, ha ha.

Lack of appropriate space means I have to primer horses in my bath tub rather than in a better setting such as a garage or a deck (like so many turn-of-the-century buildings in Chicago, mine has neither).

I spread newspaper or butcher paper under the models so as not to get
primer all over my tub.

The first step in getting a model ready to paint is selecting appropriate entertainment. No really, prepping is tedious and boring, so having something to listen to while I work helps keep me focused. I occasionally play something from Netflix or Youtube on my tablet while I work, but the vast majority of the time, I listen to my trusty iPod. Audiobooks, especially mysteries or histories, are my usual preference, and my musical tastes run to to punk, ska, goth, new wave, and '90s alternative, with a very healthy dose of Celtic music thrown into the mix. Sometimes you need a good bagpipe jam to keep you going late at night. :)

The second step is prepping. This means removing all seams, the company logo, filling divots and pinholes, as well as restoring any details compromised by the prepping process, like wrinkles crossed by a seam. When I need to remove company logos and heinous seams, I prefer to us a Dremel. You can buy a practically endless array of sanding, cutting, and drilling bits for Dremels which make them incredibly useful tools.

Dremeling is a messy business---fine plastic or resin dust will coat your clothes, so wear something you don't care about. (Speaking from experience, you may also accidentally catch your Dremel in your shirt and tear a hole in it, so again, wear something expendable.) Dremels will also fire larger chunks of hot plastic or resin right into your face (it stings!), so a respirator and safety goggles are a must. I use these (pictured below) which can be found at any home improvement store, but as I wear glasses, I find that bits of plastic and resin can still nail me pretty close to the eye. I recently saw Adam Savage (of Mythbusters fame) using this face shield with glasses, so I plan to acquire one soon. It looks perfect for what I do.

I then go back over the seams and logo with sandpaper, using coarser grit (100-200) to begin with and progressing to finer grit (500-600) to smooth the surface nicely. I use a carbide scraper from Rio Rondo to get at seams in hard to reach places or in areas with lots of fine details (wrinkles, hairs, etc). The scraper comes with 6 different tips of varying shapes and purposes.

I'm not picky about sandpaper. I'll buy anything that looks useful.

Once all prep work is done, I go back over the whole model with medium-to-fine grit sandpaper to give the surface just a bit of tooth to grab the primer. Resins generally get a quick scrub with soap and water to remove any lingering mold release and then some general sanding.

For primer, I use Rustoleum Clean Metal Primer in white. Because I use acrylics, I build up color from light to dark (otherwise, the colors end up looking muddy and dull), and a white base layer is the best option for me. I know some artists use red or grey primer with acrylics, but I feel white makes my paint jobs more luminous and clear.

As I mentioned above, I primer models in my bathtub. Happily, my bathroom has a window that opens to the outside, so I can just open the window wide, spray the models, and turn on a fan for air circulation. I keep the door closed so the smell won't permeate my apartment. And, of course, I always wear a respirator when spraying primer.

I spray models one side at a time and let each side dry for at least 24 hours before spraying the other side. (In humid or hot weather, I usually let models dry for 48-72 hours before adding more primer.) I then spray the top of the model and then the bottom, sometimes in one go depending on the size of the model. If I'm holding the model while spraying primer, I wear gloves to keep it off my skin. (Potential toxicity aside, it's very hard to scrub off, and going to work with primer on my hands would not be acceptable.) After the first rounds of spraying have dried completely, I sand the model lightly to remove any drips or gunk that may have stuck to the primer in the drying process. Very often, I'll have to give the model a couple of extra quick passes with primer just to make sure everything is adequately covered.

"Two by two. Hands of blue."

So all told, prepping and priming a traditional scale model usually takes me about a week depending on the weather and how bad the seams are. I'm sure I'm slower than other artists at the process, but I want to best possible canvas for my paint. Next time, painting tools!

And the obligatory earworm:

NaMoPaiMo

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsten Wellman) — Thu, 02 Feb 2017 01:50:00 +0000

Many of you are probably familiar with NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, an online event in November in which people from all over the world attempt to write a novel, or at least 50,000 words, in the space of 30 days. The only prize is a sense of accomplishment and hopefully a bunch of words that might eventually be publishable.

Jennifer Buxton of Braymere Custom Saddlery fame was thus inspired to create NaMoPaiMo in hopes of some camaraderie when she decided she would like to paint more this year. The idea is to paint and finish one model during the month of February. Any model and any media (acrylics, pastels, oils, even eye shadow and fingernail polish) can be used. To say the idea took off is an understatement---Jen has more than 250 entrants from 16 different countries at last count!

NaMoPaiMo struck me as a lifeline to drag me out of this artistic rut I've been in and to help keep me motivated. I'm going to try to make a couple of posts a week about my artistic process as well as on progress I'm making on commissions. Momentum is key. So that said, my NaMoPaiMo victim will be this Breyer Hermosa model---I'm thinking grulla frame overo. Both color and pattern are particularly challenging to me, so I hope they'll make for interesting blog fodder. Step 1 today though will be cleaning up my work space. As you can see from the photo below, I need to change out the filter at the back of my spray booth and lay down some fresh newspaper to start with. I also desperately need to reorganize my body hoard to make my work space more efficient.

In the meantime, I've dug through my saved reference photos for some inspiration. Grulla is one of those colors that comes out a little different every time I try it, but this shade is what I'll be aiming for.

Berry Sweet Whizard, a handsome QH stallion owned by
Cedar Ridge Quarter Horses

And as for the pattern, I think I'll opt for something with a moderate amount of white like this.

(Photo source)

Getting my ducks in a row

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsten Wellman) — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 18:07:00 +0000

Literally and figuratively

This is hard to admit and even harder to write. I dislike having to confess that I can't handle something, that I got in over my head. But I did. As is evidenced by my lack of posts for almost a year here (and hardly any better on my collectibility blog), I've been in a blogging funk. Worse than that, and directly responsible for it, I've been in a pretty severe artistic funk, too. Depression definitely has played a large part in this. I am unhappy with a variety of life situations---location, vocation, finances (one step forward, two steps back) to name just a few---all first world problems, and problems I got myself into, but they weigh heavily on a person after a while.

For quite some time now, I've been feeling overwhelmed by my commission obligations and lacking confidence in my artistic abilities. I reached a point where I was finishing horses but couldn't bring myself to send out photos because I was sure they just weren't good enough. Naturally, this spiraled into a guilt black hole as delays turned into weeks and then months.

So I am now working very hard to claw myself out of this hole I've dug. It's not easy, and I feel awful for being so very slow and wretched at communication, but every finished horse will be just a little less anxiety and guilt weighing me down. I will not be accepting any new commissions for the foreseeable future, and I have set a goal to finish all of my existing commissions by no later than the end of May.

I am also planning to try to post more updates here to keep me motivated and hopefully more positive, starting with some blogging about Jen Buxton's wonderful NaMoPaiMo idea. The event spans the month of February, and while I do plan to finish one specific non-commission model for NaMoPaiMo, I definitely also intend to finish as many commissions as I can. More on that starting later today. Thank you all for your kindness and patience!

The best laid plans...

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsten Wellman) — Tue, 08 Mar 2016 03:38:00 +0000

An apt title for all of my endeavors lately. Model horse-wise, I have meant to update this blog far more often than I have, and yet somehow it's already March, and I haven't posted since November. Guess I can delete that New Years post I never finished. Uffda. But though the blog has been dark, I have at least been hard at work in the studio.

I have mailed out two dozen horses since the New Year, and more are nearing completion. In fact, I was busy working through my backlog this weekend when I tripped, dropped my airbrush, and this happened...

I would never have guessed an airbrush could break quite like that! Needless to say, this disaster put a halt to the day's productivity. I have had this airbrush and used it heavily for more than 10 years, so it's paid for itself many times over, but I'm sorry to see it meet an untimely end. It has been a (mostly) faithful friend for a long time. The damage alas is irreparable. I'll keep it around for spare parts (and as a lesson to myself to be more careful).

Iwata no longer sells this particular model, so I ordered their current equivalent. The new airbrush should function pretty identically; it just has some slightly smarter engineering of the tiny pieces I always worried I'd lose when I disassembled everything for cleaning. It should arrive tomorrow, and hopefully I'll be able to give it a test drive after work. Onward!

Doh! A deer! A broken deer!

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsten Wellman) — Fri, 27 Nov 2015 02:59:00 +0000

As an artist, by necessity, I've learned to do some basic restorations---fixing broken eartips, touching up scratches and rubs, filling cracked legs, etc. In particular, I specialize in restoring Breyer woodgrains. Generally speaking, I try to buy mint pieces for my collection, but sometimes you find things you can't help but want to rescue. This poor Hagen-Renaker DW Patience had a bit of an accident (prior to my acquiring her). And as an avid collector of HRs, especially the wildlife, I had to try my hand at restoring her.

Happily, the breaks were pretty clean, and with a little gentle sanding of the edges (to make them fit back together again) and some water soluble glue, she was easy to restore to one piece.

With a little touch up of the edges, she's good as new.

Fairytale ending

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsten Wellman) — Tue, 10 Nov 2015 04:51:00 +0000

The racing gods are often a cruel and capricious lot, and while I've cursed them often in the past, in hindsight, perhaps, just maybe, all of the anguish and frustration of the last 37 years has been for the best. Most of the 13 horses who tried and failed to win the Triple Crown since Affirmed in 1978 went on to have decent if not especially noteworthy careers (Spectacular Bid being the wildly talented exception). In light of what American Pharoah has done this year, would any of them really have been worthy to wear the crown? Maybe, maybe not. The racing gods dole out tastes of greatness stingily to give us perspective, to keep us from becoming jaded and blasé, to keep the Triple Crown something that is rare and extraordinary---to be sure we recognize true greatness when it glides past us, ears pricked, vanquished foes left dazed and far behind.

American Pharoah winning the Breeders Cup Classic with ease
(Photo by Taylor Pence, kykernel.com)

Fairytale endings are rare in this sport, but a week ago before a crowd of more than 50,000 people, we got one. American Pharoah, making the last start of his career, raced once more into the history books with a dazzling romp in the Breeders Cup Classic. He led from wire to wire, ears pricked, and was never seriously challenged. At the top of the stretch, jockey Victor Espinoza turned him loose, and Pharoah coasted to an easy 6.5 length lead, passing the wire in a sharp 2:00.07, and shaving five seconds off Keeneland's previous track record for 10 furlongs on any surface. He will be forever remembered as the horse who ended the 37-year Triple Crown drought and the immortal who claimed what is now being called horse racing's "Grand Slam," the Triple Crown plus the Classic.

Over the last week, I've struggled to find the right words to sum up Pharoah's incredible performance and career for this blog, and I have been struck all over again by how different this horse has been from others who have gone before him in the quest for racing immortality. In the years leading up to Pharoah's Triple Crown victory, as the wait grew longer and longer, I opined on more than one occasion that it wouldn't necessarily take a great horse to win the Triple Crown, just a lucky one. All we needed was one horse who was a stand-out in a crop of mediocre three year-olds, one who had just enough extra talent to get the job done. But I was wrong. It does take a great horse to win the Triple Crown, and American Pharoah has driven home this point emphatically all year long. It takes luck, yes, but it also takes soundness of body and mind, stamina, incredible fitness, great heart, a willing spirit, and that little something extra that sets a great horse apart from his contemporaries.

American Pharoah possesses all of these qualities. Looking back now on his exploits of the last fifteen months, it is awe-inspiring to see how he seemed to thrive despite his grueling schedule. He improved with nearly every start, winning regularly by daylight even though Espinoza usually wrapped up on him in the last sixteenth of a mile. His times got faster with every race, culminating in his scintillating Breeders Cup performance. He also displayed remarkable physical resilience all year long. He crossed the country 14 times, traveled more than 28,000 miles, raced at 7 different tracks, and never once put a foot wrong. He has a beautiful, fluid, ground-eating stride that allows him to effortlessly glide over the ground and that supposedly measures two feet longer than Secretariat's. It may be the secret of his ability to run on any surface at any track, from dirt to polytrack to a sea of mud.

(Photo by sportingnews.com)

Pharoah's contemporaries by comparison have not fared nearly as well. Brilliant speed-horse Dortmund was laid up most of the summer with an injury after the Preakness; Firing Line was put on the shelf for the rest of the year after failing to fire in the mud at Pimlico; perpetual bridesmaid Frosted eked out a win in the Pennsylvania Derby after challenging Pharoah in the Travers and wilting before that colt's gritty determination (and was never even a factor in the Classic); Keen Ice, who managed to pull the upset in the Travers and whose trainer boasted that he would do the same in the Classic, finished some 13 lengths behind a fresh Pharoah despite also having been rested since the Travers.

One of Pharoah's greatest strengths I think is his good mind, easy-going demeanor, and kindness of spirit. Pharoah by all accounts is a smart, friendly horse who thrives on attention. He has been utterly unfazed by the throngs of press and fans who have come to visit him, something few racehorses have the temperament to handle. Baffert has allowed unprecedented access to the horse because of his good nature, and Pharoah has taken it all in stride as if it were his due. Which it is.

(Photo by courier-journal.com)

Traditionally, the final test of a great three year-old has been the ability to defeat older horses. Of the three Triple Crown winners in the 1970s, only Secretariat was able to do so. And though the Classic field this year was small, it was one of the deepest in a number of years. Six of the seven horses who faced Pharoah were G1 winners: Honor Code (Whitney and Metropolitan Handicaps), Tonalist (2014 Belmont Stakes and Jockey Club Gold Cup twice), Hard Aces (Santa Anita (formerly Hollywood) Gold Cup), Keen Ice (Travers), Frosted (Wood Memorial), and Gleneagles (2000 Guineas, Irish 2000 Guineas, St. James Palace, National Stakes, and Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere). American Pharoah made this quality group of horses look like claimers as he bounded away to an easy victory, ears pricked all the way.

He won 6 G1 races all told as a three year-old, including 5 races with purses of a million dollars or more consecutively, something no other horse his age has done. Of the four Triple Crown winners since races became graded in the early 1970s, he is the only one to win more than one G1 race after the Belmont. He retired as the fourth richest American horse in history with earnings of $8,650,300. Had Visa not cancelled their $5 million Triple Crown bonus several years ago, he would have retired as the richest American racehorse of all time.

But all numbers aside, even as impressive as the statistics are, there are more ephemeral qualities that some great horses possess. Like so many Thoroughbreds, Pharoah ran for the sheer exhilaration of running. In nearly every race, his ears were pricked observantly, listening to the roar of the crowd and the rush of the wind as he sliced through it. I have never seen anything quite like it in my 30+ years following the sport. As I've mentioned in the past, I learned to read from C. W. Anderson's horse stories, and I think he would agree that American Pharoah has the "look of eagles," that quality in great horses of heightened awareness and of seeing something in the distance just beyond the sight of mere mortals.

As Bob Baffert so aptly put it in the latest issue of the Blood-Horse, Pharoah is a throwback to the hickory-tough horses of bygone ages. He proved himself to be fast, determined, versatile, sound, and above all, worthy of that elite company he joined at Belmont Park. He is the horse of a lifetime.

Groupie Doll

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsten Wellman) — Fri, 04 Sep 2015 02:12:00 +0000

While I haven't had much time to blog or work on updating my website this summer, I have made some steady progress in my studio. I've finished up a variety of commissions, including this portrait of Groupie Doll, the two-time winner of the Breeders Cup Fillies and Mares Sprint. Hilary R. commissioned her and requested that I depict her with her tongue hanging out like the real mare often ran. I had never sculpted a tongue before, so this was a fun challenge. I'm really pleased with how she turned out.

Thirty-seven years

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsten Wellman) — Tue, 09 Jun 2015 20:04:00 +0000

I turned two months old on the day Affirmed won the Belmont and secured his Triple Crown in 1978. Obviously, I was too young to even comprehend what a horse was, let alone what Affirmed accomplished that day when he out-dueled Alydar to the wire. As a child, I cut my literary teeth on C. W. Anderson's horse stories, reveling in his tales of the glory days of Man O' War, Whirlaway, Citation, and Native Dancer. I watched my first Kentucky Derby in 1984---Swale was both my first love and my first heartbreak. I have been a racing fan as long as I can remember, and for so many years, I have waited and watched and hoped that I too would have my chance to witness a Triple Crown.

Naturally, as an artist as well as a racing fan, Thoroughbreds have been a popular subject for me. I have painted more than 60 racehorses over the years, some of them Triple Crown winners, some of them near misses.

Affirmed

Seattle Slew

Secretariat

I was still too young to appreciate Spectacular Bid and Pleasant Colony's attempts at history in 1979 and 1981, and while I do remember the hoopla surrounding Alysheba's try, Sunday Silence's run at the crown in 1989 is the one that stands out most clearly to me. The week before the Belmont, I was preoccupied with thoughts of how amazing it would be to witness a Triple Crown finally. After all, eleven years had passed, and there had been three Triple Crown winners in the 1970s, so surely we were due for one again soon. My fifth grade self would have been shocked to know that not only would Easy Goer upset the Belmont, but that another eight years would pass before any horse would even have a shot at the Triple Crown again.

Sunday Silence

Easy Goer

I was in college when Silver Charm, Real Quiet, and Charismatic all tried and came up half a length, a nose, and a length and a three-quarters short three years in succession. In 2002 after moving to Chicago for grad school, I attended my first live race, the Illinois Derby held at the now demolished Sportsmans Park. War Emblem upset the field that day in a run away victory, much as he did a month later in the Kentucky Derby and then the Preakness. But he stumbled badly out of the Belmont gate and was never a factor, finishing eighth. Seattle Slew died a few days after the Derby that year, leaving the world without a living (American) Triple Crown winner for the first time.

War Emblem

In 2003, Funny Cide could only manage third behind the mighty, mud-loving Empire Maker (who had been my Derby pick) at a rainy Belmont. Fan favorite Smarty Jones likewise succumbed to a late charge from Birdstone the following year. More than 25 years had now passed, longer than the drought between Citation and Secretariat, and there were rumbles that the series should be changed to allow more time between races or no horse would ever wear the crown again.

Smarty Jones

The parade of misses went on: Big Brown failed to stay in 2008 and was controversially pulled up; I'll Have Another injured a tendon the day before the Belmont in 2012 and was immediately retired; and California Chrome ran gamely but could only manage fourth in 2014. After the race, his owner angrily ranted that it wasn't fair to enter fresh horses and new shooters in the Belmont. He predicted the Triple Crown would never be won in his lifetime because of this. In retrospect, his timing is almost funny.

California Chrome

This year, 2015, began like many others. The Breeders Cup Juvenile winner dropped off the Derby trail early, and there was the usual jumble of sprinters who failed to move forward when the races lengthened in distance. Interesting to me though, were the unusually slow times for the winners in nearly all of the preps leading up to the Derby. The only real standouts in my opinion were a pair of colts trained by Bob Baffert---Dortmund, a strapping chestnut, and American Pharoah, a bob-tailed bay, the Two Year-Old Champ with the misspelled name who had missed the Breeders Cup because of a foot bruise.

American Pharoah had turned in quick times in his two wins as a two year-old, but his three year-old debut over a sloppy track at Oaklawn was slow but dominant. Dortmund meanwhile fired off quick victories in the San Felipe and the Santa Anita Derby, remaining undefeated as he headed into the Derby. A week after Dortmund's impressive Santa Anita Derby win, Pharoah skipped away from the field of the Arkansas Derby at the top of the stretch to win geared down in a hand ride by 8 lengths. Jockey Victor Espinoza never so much as waved his whip at Pharoah, and the colt floated down the stretch with his ears pricked. I was very impressed, but cautiously so. Plenty of horses have won their last Derby prep in an exciting fashion only to fizzle at Churchill.

Arkansas Derby win (DRF.com photo)

Interestingly, Pharoah did not in fact bring his "super-A" game to the Derby, as Baffert phrased it. The colt was upset by the loud and raucous crowd on the walk over to the paddock, and as others have done before him, he fretted away his energy before the race even started. Nonetheless, Pharoah's B game was good enough, and after stalking the pace early, he gutted out a one length victory over the tough Firing Line and his fading stablemate, Dortmund.

Kentucky Derby victory (Concord Monitor photo)

Going into the Preakness, I was uncertain of Pharoah's chances after such a hard-fought win in the Derby. I worried we'd see another race like Orb's in 2013 where he simply never fired and finished a tired fourth. But then, moments before the post parade, the heaven's opened up and a deluge of almost Biblical proportions fell on Pimlico. The track rapidly became a sea of mud, and water pooled into a small ocean at the rail, right in Pharoah's path where he would break from the 1 hole. Like his grand-sire Empire Maker before him however, Pharoah was a known mudder, and with the right positioning, I thought he suddenly had an excellent chance at adding the Preakness to his resume. Victor gunned him from the gate, dueled briefly with Mr. Z for the lead, and then moved the colt just off the rail onto firmer footing. Pharoah led the procession around the turn and down the backstretch in the driving rain, and while the field tried to make a run at him on the turn, Espinoza asked for another gear, and the plain bay colt obliged with that easy, ground-eating stride of his, winning by an ever-widening 7 lengths. The time was the slowest since Hill Prince had won the Preakness in 1950, but the rain-soaked silks and saddle pad had added 15 pounds to the 126-pound impost Pharoah already carried.

Ears pricked for a very muddy Preakness win (Patrick Smith/Getty images/NPR.org)

And so we headed into the Belmont with a chance at a Triple Crown for the 14th time in 37 years, wondering if maybe this would be the year. I tried not to get my hopes up, to steel myself against the surely inevitable disappointment. Nonetheless, insidious little thoughts crept through my mind---Belmonts are often won by front runners who can dictate the pace; Pharoah is versatile and can run from off the pace or he can set it himself; Belmont is a quirky track, but Pharoah seemed to relish the surface in his exercise gallops; Empire Maker won the Belmont, so maybe Pharoah inherited some of that stamina. Round and round and round it went.

Saturday morning at Belmont dawned with pouring rain. An omen? By the late afternoon though, the track was fast and dry. As the horses were loaded into the starting gate, I thought my heart would pound right out of my chest. Espinoza sent the colt to the lead immediately, and he quickly settled into an easy rhythm, ears pricked and loping along with that smooth, far-reaching stride. When the first quarter flashed up in :24, a tiny corner of my brain began screaming, "Oh my god, he's going to do it!" but I couldn't say it aloud for fear of jinxing him. The half came in a perfect :48 and then three-quarters went in a reasonable 1:13. Victor and Pharoah were setting the perfect, sane pace for a mile and a half race. That excitable, uninhibited part of my brain was jumping up and down and yelling that as long as the colt could stay the distance, the chance of a Triple Crown was very, very real. But the quarter pole is where the real action usually begins, and I thought I might expire from nerves while the horses swept around the long far turn toward the pole at the top of the stretch.

The other jockeys began to ask their mounts for more as they wheeled out of the turn, and for a moment, it looked like Frosted was going to make a serious challenge. But Victor let his colt out another notch, and Pharoah's lead opened up to three lengths and then four. By that time, I was screaming incoherently. As American Pharoah flashed under the wire five and a half lengths clear of the field as America's long-awaited twelfth Triple Crown winner, I whooped and cried happy tears. It was everything I had hoped it would be and more---euphoria, elation, absolute wonder.

Belmont bliss (si.com photo)

American Pharoah's time of 2:26.65 was the fifth fastest Belmont in history and second only to Secretariat's in terms of Triple Crown winners. His final quarter mile, which he sprinted with apparent ease in :24.32, is the fastest of all the Triple Crown winners. (Secretariat's in comparison was :25 flat, the equivalent of about 3 lengths.)

After the race, I had to watch the replay again (and again and again) as I had shrieked all through the stretch call and had no idea what Larry Collmus said. In the hours after the race, it seemed surreal that at last a twelfth Triple Crown winner had been crowned, but now that a few days have passed, it has slowly sunk in. It's a fantastic feeling. I keep surfing over to Youtube and rewatching the race, and I get choked up hearing, "And here it is! The 37-year wait is over! American Pharoah is finally the one! American Pharoah has won the Triple Crown!” I suspect I always will.

Arazi, portrait of a champion

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsten Wellman) — Fri, 24 Apr 2015 21:27:00 +0000

As a lifelong horse racing enthusiast, I was thrilled when I was commissioned to paint a portrait model of Arazi, the 1991 Breeders Cup Juvenile winner. Arazi was inconsistent but brilliant, and few BC Juvenile winners have sparked so much hype leading up to the Kentucky Derby.

Foaled in 1989 into a crop that included the likes of A. P. Indy, Bertrando, Pine Bluff, Devil His Due, and Dr. Devious, Arazi was as regally bred as they come. The small chestnut colt with the crooked blaze was by French champion and top sire Blushing Groom out of a G3-placed daughter of Northern Dancer. Arazi was born in the heart of the Kentucky bluegrass, and like so many youngsters, he was sold as a weanling at Keeneland. Allen Paulson, who later owned the great Cigar and Azeri, purchased him for $350,000 and sent him to France to train, a logical move given Arazi's pedigree. Paulson, a longtime pilot as well as the CEO of Gulfstream Aerospace, frequently named his horses for aeronautical navigational checkpoints. "Arazi" is just such a point for aircraft enroute to Yuma, Arizona.

As a two year-old in France, Arazi began his career with a second place finish at Chantilly, but that would be his only loss for nearly a year. He put together a string of 6 victories including the G1 Prix Morny at Deauville and the G1 Prix de la Salamandre and G1 Grand Criterium at Longchamp, earning him the title of Champion 2 Year-Old in France as well as the Cartier Award for best 2 year-old in Europe.

Paulsen then daringly shipped the colt to Churchill Downs for the 1991 Breeders Cup Juvenile. Sent off as the slight favorite over Bertrando, the impressive winner of the prestigious Norfolk Stakes, Arazi broke from the far outside post and trailed most of the field through the first turn and down the backstretch. Entering the second turn, Arazi suddenly unleashed an incredible turn of foot that still gives me chills no matter how many times I watch it. Weaving through traffic and passing horses with ease, Arazi caught the leader Bertrando before they reached the top of the stretch and, as Tom Durkin said in astonishment as he called the race, "ran right by him!" He blew the turn and entered the stretch wide, still running on his left lead, but it made no difference. He won by daylight in what is one of the most impressive Breeders Cup wins of all time.

Photo by Racing Post

Footage of Arazi's astonishing performance is available here. The race begins at about the 4 minute mark, but there is some interesting footage of Arazi winning in France leading up to the race.

Not surprisingly, Arazi was named champion 2 year-old in the United States as well. He wintered in France and had minor surgery to remove chips from his knees. As a European-based horse, he was prepped for the Kentucky Derby as most trainers would do so for the Epsom or French Derby---to wit, with only one prep. He won said prep, a one mile Listed race, with Steve Cauthen (of Affirmed fame) in the irons. He won as he pleased by 5 lengths, but his time was absurdly slow. It was little more than a paid workout. Nonetheless, the hype surrounding Arazi in the weeks leading up to the Derby suggested he was practically invincible. Many were already speculating about the Triple Crown before he had even competed for the first jewel.

That said, any student of Kentucky Derby history can tell you that a schedule consisting of one prep in six months simply doesn't work for a race like the Kentucky Derby. And yet Arazi made a huge move again on the far turn, looking for all the world like he really was the second coming of Secretariat. He was absolutely flying, gaining with every stride, and he nearly made the lead. But as they straightened for home, the game little chestnut flattened out, and though he battled on willingly, he faded and could only finish eighth.

Arazi returned to Europe where he ran 5th at Royal Ascot before being given the summer off. In the fall, he finished 3rd in a G3 and then won a G2 before returning to the United States to contest the Breeders Cup Mile where he finished an uncharacteristic eleventh. He was retired after the race, and as a stallion, he traveled just as much as when he was racing. His stallion career began at Dalham Stud in Newmarket, England. He later moved to Three Chimneys in Kentucky, then to Japan, on to Australia, a season in Switzerland, and once again to Australia. In 2012, he was pensioned there and is happily enjoying his retirement.

Arazi had only modest success as a sire. His best known son Congaree proved to be a terrific miler, and surprisingly, Arazi's daughters have produced several top stayers including Americain (Melbourne Cup winner and champion stayer), Electrocutionist (Dubai World Cup winner), and Lahudood (champion turf mare). Interestingly, Arazi also sired a number of top steeplechasers.

My customer chose the John Henry model for the Arazi portrait, and the tack was created by Lisa Merrill of Painted Daisy Studio.

Arazi may not have lived up to the media hype his BC Juvenile win engendered, but many still wonder how he might have fared in the Derby with a proper schedule of preps. He also crossed the Atlantic no less than 6 times in the span of a year which had to take its toll. Most horses hardly even travel across the country in a given year, let alone the ocean. He is generally thought of as being "just" a talented two year-old or miler, but I can't help but think that there was more to him than we ever got to see.

Pining for the Fjords

noreply@blogger.com (Kirsten Wellman) — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 18:01:00 +0000

I had so much fun painting CollectAs before Christmas that I had to acquire a new batch of them to paint. I went a little Fjord crazy as you can see. I bought another Safari Percheron as well because it's such a nice, hunky little sculpture. He was sculpted by Jane Lunger who is better known as the sculptor of Breyer's G3 and G4 Stablemates. The CollectA Fjord of course was sculpted by well-known hobby artist Deb McDermott. I am willing to take commissions on these bodies ($75 each ppd in the USA, overseas shipping will be extra). Just shoot me an email at whitehorsepro (at) yahoo (dot) com if interested. Thanks!

Uffda!