Paint Me A Pony...

I don't mean literally, you silly goose!  ;-)

I don't have any custom painted models anymore.  I had a couple in the 1990s, but they were also haired and I don't have them anymore.  I think good customizing was still in its infant stages back then.  Yes, there were some really nice customs, but people were using make-up sponges to "dab" acrylic paint onto the models, which often resulted in a rather rough and bumpy texture to the model.  Air Brush was just starting to be used, but mostly it was a regular paint brush or the make-up sponge.  I tried painting a couple of times, but I could never figure out how to get an even layer without the brush strokes being painfully obvious.  I didn't know about gesso or priming a model or sanding seams or any of that.  I just wanted to repaint a rubbed model, you know?

So why don't I just BUY an already repainted model, you might ask...because.  Yup.  Just because.  hahaha.  No, not really.  I'm very picky.  I've seen a lot of models that look like they've been painted.  It's a better job than I ever did, but it's still very obvious the paint job isn't original and I don't like that.  I HAVE seen models where the paint job looks very close to being original finish, but you know what?  Those are out of my price range.  Well, they're more than I want to spend anyway.  I can hear you now.  She has an excuse for everything, doesn't she?  hahaha.  You wouldn't be the first person who has thought that or said that.  And I suppose, to some degree, that's true.  I prefer to thing of them as "reasons".  But this isn't about that.

Now before you tell me about Peter Stone's Design A Horse program, let me show you...

These are only 2 of my 6 or 7 Stone DAH horses.  So yes, I know I can get a good-looking, somewhat custom painted horse for a decent price if I don't want too many extras.  Heck, I even tried for a really customized custom and managed to keep it at a reasonable price, but he didn't turn out exactly like I would've liked and I'm not even sure you can tell who he's a portrait of...

The model...

And the inspiration...

Maybe if I'd been able to customize the socks a little more and continued with the face decoration down to his lip, they might look a little more alike.  Plus, Stone gave him darker points than he really has, striped his front hooves and made all 4 pink when the real horse has "white" hooves in back.  I think one person on Blab said they could actually see a resemblance, but she was probably just being nice.  Obviously, I can't get a model to be identical to *Muscat unless I find someone to paint me one because he's a "known" horse and Stone won't do those unless you have permission from the owner, or something like that.  Don't get me wrong, I like my *Muscat sorta look-alike, I just wish it looked more like him.

Back in the latter part of the 1980s, I became aware of the large number of Arabian ranches in my city.  It was back when horses still had the right-of-way on city streets and the Arabian industry was still going strong.  In the Sunday newspaper I kept seeing an advertisement for an open house at Tom Chauncey Arabians and one day I decided to go.  And I was hooked.  I would go at least once a month, but often more.  TCA had a pretty much open door policy.  There were no electric gates to keep people out so it was easy to drive up the long driveway to look at the horses in the fields that fronted the main buildings and barns.  I'm surprised.  I've tried looking for pictures of the ranch and haven't been able to find a single one and I know I didn't take any of it because it was on a busy road and not really conducive for pictures of the entrance.  During the Spring, the fields had quite a few babies and those were always fun to see.  The public showings were held in a small ring next to the sales office and about 6 or so horses were brought out, one at a time, to show off.  It was where I learned about horses being born a solid color and if they carried the grey gene, would eventually turn "white".  It was interesting to see a chestnut foal with a circle of grey hairs around its eyes.  One Easter, they brought out a grey mare and her grey gene-carrying foal and that's where I saw it for the first time.  I believe the mare belonged to their vet.  They had put bunny ears on the her and led her around with an Easter basket with candy for the kids.  The showing always ended with Tom Chauncey coming out to say hi.  If the weather was bad, they still did the public showings, but they were held inside the auction room.  I still remember the smell (and look) of it.  Dark wood walls.  Wood shavings on the ground.  It was where I was introduced to a daughter of *Muscat named Amber Rage.  She was a beautiful, coppery chestnut with 3 white socks.  They had nicknamed her "Lost My Sock" because she only had 3.  She was very type-y, too.  Just a gorgeous young mare.  During that time frame, everyone raved about Khemosabi and while he was a great horse, I was all about the Russian import *Muscat.  Tom Chauncey was responsible for bringing the great stallion *Bask to the United States from Poland and most of his foals were by *Bask.  At the end of the showing, you were encouraged to tour the barns and see the horses, which I always did, of course.

But this post isn't about Tom Chauncey and his Sunday showings and Arabian horses.  Well, not directly, but it is somewhat related. This post is about customizing...sort of.  Hahaha.  I know.  I'm not making much sense.  What else is new?  During my time spent at TCA, I came to "know" a part-Arabian gelding named Sioux City Warrior and Oh My Goodness, he was a stunner.  They said he initially competed as a Pinto, but because he'd won so many awards, they "invited" him to not come back so they started showing him in Part-Arab, where he also cleaned up.  Like photos of the ranch itself, I have been unable to find any photos of Sioux City Warrior, which is a little odd if he was as prolific in the show ring and they said he was.  Anyway, they called him a "Chestnut Bay Tobiano Overo"  Yeah.  Confusing, I know.  He was brown, black, "silver" and white.  He had gorgeous mapping and was just super flashy.  I can't even find a picture of a horse that looks even similar to him and any photos I have taken are long gone.  I don't have any of the pictures I took while going to all of those public showings at the ranch, which is very disappointing.

Maybe kind of like these 2, but Sioux City Warrior had very black mapping...I hope I'm using the right word for that...the edges of the white were black...

Now, maybe, if you combined the two and added some silver, you'd have Sioux City Warrior.  He is the only portrait model I would ever consider having done, but it would be based off my memory of him.  And let's face it, my memory isn't perfect and he may not have been as flashy as I remember him to be, but I do remember him to be very colorful.  The more I look at the two above pictures, the more I think his color and pattern resembled the bottom photo more.  If you edge the pattern in black and put some grey in his tail and mane...but I don't remember any markings on his face.  UGH!  Yeah.  I think the 2nd picture looks most like him.  If I could draw then maybe I could make a pencil sketch then fill in the colors that I remember, you know?  But I don't know what mold to have it painted on.  He did possess some Arabian features, but mostly it was stock horse.  Yeah.  I am definitely liking the pattern of the 2nd horse more and more.  Anyway, it's not likely I'd ever be able to get a model made to look like him so I don't know why I'm even thinking about it.  But I'd like to get one and call him Bohemian Rhapsody.  I think a horse of that many colors would perfectly fit a song of many meanings.

I'm sorry.  I know this post has been all over the place and probably not making a whole lot of sense.  Maybe I should just end this now.  But not before I ask...

What about you?  How do you feel about custom painted horses?  And if you could have a model painted of any color on any model, what would you have done?  Is there a horse you'd want a portrait done of?