Icelandics at the Equine Can-Am

Not much on the easel still means just a little...I recently completed an embellished TOPP Front Runner pony for a very interesting cause...

"The Front Runner"; hand painted mini portrait on base, repainted figurine, signed.

A few months back I received a phone call inquiring about an artwork donation. Now as many artists know, these requests always present a conundrum; there are so many worthy causes, but if we gave away art and framing and shipping to everyone that asked, we'd be more than broke! What to do, what to do!

Well, this one was pretty easy.
The call was from 18 year-old Sydney Horas who, along with fellow equestrianne Victoria Stoncius, were going to represent Canada at the Icelandic Horse World Championships, held in Berlin, Germany this August.

They were requesting donations to auction off at the 2013 Equine Can-Am in order to raise money for travel expenses... yes, they have to raise money.

No help from any bigwigs, Air Canada, Sport Canada OR Equine Canada.
In fact, Equine Canada has never responded to their many requests.
So much for a national organization who's mandate is to "to serve, promote and protect the interests of horses and Canada's equestrian community."
Guess representing your country overseas doesn't count....

Yours Truly painting away!

I was impressed that the girls were so organized and took the initiative to call, so I 're-created' a Trail of Painted Ponies Front Runner figurine, repainting, glazing and embellishing with a small head study on the base.
This is an artist's original, with a very low edition #54/2500, signed by the artist (me!) and in its original box w/ packaging.

If you are a TOPP collector, or thoroughbred enthusiast, check it out! The girls will be at Equine Can-Am in the breeds section with OnIce Horse Farm  showcasing their wonderful Icelandic Horses. Bidding will not only get you a fantastic collectible but help out Sydney and Victoria as well!

Hand painted mini portrait on base

APHA and The Trail of Painted Ponies

There is a new competition out at the Trail of Painted Ponies. The APHA has joined in this event and together they are looking for pony designs that represent both associations.
I have a few that I may enter, and here is the one that I personally like the best....

 

The title is "Paint for a Day"
Hopefully the title and image is strong enough to carry across the idea, but just in case its not quite there...

This little pony is a lovely BAY, but its young owner has an idea that she could be even prettier if she was a paint! But how to do that? With paint of course! So out comes the bucket of white paint and brush plus a little diagram to follow and here we go: a number of well placed "spots" and voila!

I think this design works on a couple of levels:
- the bay "pony" is very quarter horse looking, in demeanor and body type, which represents the early merger of the Paint Quarter Horse Association with the AHPA.
- the handprint is reminiscent of the paints' long history with the Native American and its part in the growth of the Western Frontier
- the interaction of the youngster and her very patient mount, gives recognition to the extensive support and programs the AHPA offers for youths
- the title was taken from an AjPHA Horse show which is an open, all breed event, including all youngsters, no matter what they ride, in a fun and friendly competitive outing.
- the white paint...well, it turns our lovely bay into the ultimate "Painted Pony"!!

The voting is now open. Click HERE to vote (I hope its for Paint for a Day!! :-D )

The winner of this competition will be by online voting, so please check back next week when I will be posting the link for votes. I would LOVE your support!!!

TOPP Competition Entries

Another project finished (for now)...
The Trail of Painted Pony people put out a call for entries and I managed to get 2 finished. I had two additional ideas but they just didn't translate well once I got them sketched out over a pony. I only wish I had more time to paint these two on real figurines.

Anyway, TOPP will be taking all the entries, picking the best 10 in each of the six categories and will put them online for voting. I've seen some of the other entries and they are awesome so we'll wait and see....fingers crossed mine get in!



1.) FLIGHT OF FANCY

This pony began as a blast of color, with brilliantly hued parrots bursting out of dark, lush rainforest foliage.
As they "flew" along my pony, I couldn't help but be reminded of the circus horse pageantry, and the way they too "burst" out of the darkness into the circus ring limelight, adorned in their own finery and bling, ready to delight and dazzle us with color, beauty and power...from there it was a natural progression for my design to morph the pony into a tattooed, feathered performer ready for his cue!
I most definitely want to paint this design on a blank pony in the future










2.) MY TYPE OF PONY

Pure fun, this pony is the ultimate play on words...I've taken a number of creative words that are used to describe a perfect pony type but then rendered each word in a different style of type face (font)!
I've made the words in black on a warm cream dun colored pony with her own white bling (socks and blaze). In contrast to the design above, colors were kept fairly muted to keep attention on the words and meaning of the figurine.
Will this make it to a hand painted original? Not sure, doing justice to all those typefaces will take some care.

The Front Runner Autographed Ed. Sold Out!

Last year I posted about a design of mine being made into a Painted Pony Collectible Figurine. Well, I'm happy to say that earlier this month, the Autographed edition sold out!
One of the projects I've been juggling (with a number of others) has been to embellish one of my ponies. Well, it's finished!(below)
Just to explain a bit here: The TOPP Figurines are sold beautifully painted and numbered. The artists are then allowed to take their ponies and paint, add to or embellish them in any way. I have taken this figurine and repainted the horse so he is a dark bay with undertones of red, touched up the riders and ponies, added a hand painted chestnut foal galloping across the base, signed it and glazed the entire piece.

The picture at the top of the post is of the original figurine, the pictures below are of the embellished pony. This may be sold privately, but if not, it will go up in an ebay auction next week.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful weekend and a Happy Easter!

"The Front Runner"

A busy April has kept me hopping...unfortunately only some of it has been at my drawing board! Here are a few updates...

My Trail of Painted Pony figurine, The Front Runner has arrived! I have a number of low editions that are signed and are available purchase. I will also hold a couple of others back to embellish and sign. Not sure what the embellishments will be, but I will post them here when they are in progress. These will be ready some time early summer.
If you are interested in purchasing a pony, please contact me.


Two of my miniatures ("A Lite Bite" and "The Raspberry Thief")have been accepted into the Artcetra Auction, to be held on Thursday, May 6th to Saturday, May 8th at the Elora Center for the Arts. There will be free previews and both a silent and live auction. Visit their site for further info

And last, but not least; I am working on a sweet little portrait of Max the Bunny, but can't post anything until he's done and the client has okayed it---Look for him possibly next week :-)

More Painted Ponies

The Trail of Painted Ponies had a special call to artists this month; to design a pony to be painted and auctioned off at the the 2010American Heart Association's Heart Ball in Washington,D.C. The theme was "Horses and Hearts" and "Take the Reins for Heart"

I submitted 2 designs;
One was a very whimsical, decorative pony entitled "Pony of Hearts"
Taking inspiration from carousel horses, but heavy on the hearts, I also gave a nod to the Native aspect of the Trail of Painted Ponies and embellished the saddlecloth with small iconic ponies.

The other was a more emotional piece, entitled "My Pony Reigns in my Heart"
This piece featured memorable horses / breeds that inspire us with their courage, bravery, persistence, willingness to help and partnership. There were so many great horses to choose from, but I narrowed it down to: the Thoroughbred (featuring Ruffian),the American Quarter Horse, the Polo Pony, the Show Jumper (and on opposite side) the lovable, kids' first pony, the Arabian, the Service Horse, working with Riding for the Disabled groups and Brigadier, a mount on the Toronto Police Force who was killed by a hit and run driver while on duty (Check out photographer Anne de Haas' great tribute to him).



The winning artist and figurine will be published on the TOPP website after Christmas.

In the meantime, my pony The Front Runner, is now available for pre-order. It is being offered as a Winter 2010 Figurine and as a collectible Autographed Figurine (Limited edition of 75). The actual ponies will arrive sometime in March and I can't wait!