The Mystery Arab

I jumped at the chance to win this Peter Stone Arabian on ebay because at this price he was cheaper than buying an unpainted factory second. I knew his paint job was jacked up but it would be unlikely I'd have issues such as warped legs/bad seams on a model who was already finished. And I was right! Except now that he's here, I see he has an artist's signature on his belly. I wouldn't feel right stripping him down to his paint skivvies without at least knowing his story. I've posted pics on Blab to see if anyone recognizes him or the signature. It's a shame he's in such lousy shape, as it looks like he used to be a pretty boy.

Interestingly enough, the seller included a couple of freebies as extras. One of them is Charity, the old original palomino Family Arabian Foal in glossy palomino/sorrel. She's also marked up pretty bad, but I'd been thinking of playing with customizing a FAF, so that's pretty neat. The other freebie is also in body quality... it's the first chestnut Swaps stablemate. Pretty cool, and thoughtful of the seller. :) 

Pamplemousse

Pamplemousse, Pamplemousse, PAMPLEMOUSSE!

(It's the new Beetlejuice).


I won him.

I WON a Pamplemousse on ebay! I'm extremely excited. I told myself I was only going to collect Stablemates. Then I got a couple Classics... then the Thunderstorm (also from ebay) that I just had to have...and GG Valentine & Heartbreaker...and Pierrot... and the JCP Holiday Trads... and now Pamplemousse. I guess I can officially say I do collect trads then huh?

But he's palomino, guys! Not just palomino, but the light, creamy, banana pudding palomino I'm sort of obsessed with. With dapples. In gloss. Here's a photo from the ebay listing:

I'd better get to work finding more writing gigs. Um, anyone wanna hire me? :)

Orbit

I guess one could say I am officially back in the model horse hobby.

Opening up my boxes of Grand Champions (and scant few Breyers) during the house remodel became a pandora's box of sorts. I have gone model horse crazy since then, amassing quite the little herd of Stablemates and even a few Traditionals, a luxury I never afforded myself in my teenage collecting days!

Which brings me to this. I finally have my very own commission-painted resin. He's Morsel, sculpted by Kristina Lucas-Francis. It was kind of an impulse buy, but he was for sale unpainted on MH$P for just $35 (thanks Gail!), and KLF horses have a special place in my heart. KLF is actually a distant cousin. I've only met her once in my life though, when I was little. She was really sweet and showed me her studio, her sketches, and even took a look at some of my sketches. It meant a great deal to me, and still does.

And so, Morsel. I had him shipped to the amazing Sue Kern for painting. Originally I had envisioned him as a dark yummy bay with some pangare, but when I was browsing Sue's gallery I was awestruck by a white/grey horse she did, and told her I'd love my guy painted similarly to hers. By the way, can you believe that Lipizzaner started out life as a Breyer Zippo Pine Bar?! Sue's drastics are breathtaking. And her turnaround time is RIDICULOUSLY fast.

And so, Morsel. Or rather, as I have named him, Orbit. I'm so in love. Photos by Sue.

Is he not positively scrumptious?! He sits at the very top of my display, out of reach of kitty paws. I'd take him down and hold him at random except I'm too paranoid something would happen to him. So appropriate to his name, he remains up in the stratosphere of my work area. If I ever make it to a live show (I hope to start showing at some Region 2 shows next season since this season's almost over), I'm definitely taking this boy. I may show him in some IMEHA photo shows too if I can get my collective photography skills in order!