11 Years Ago...

On this night, New Year's Eve- 1998, I was sitting in the garage of Joan Berkwitz of Pour Horse Pottery painting what was for me, a very special horse. She was Sweet Kate- my very first ceramic horse sculpture! I remember admiring, I think it was, a grulla Kheer (or maybe Dar) in Joanie's china cabinet- hence the color! But in any case, as I sit here on the eve of 2010, my mind turns to all those years back, and the piece that started it all for me- the one that opened up ceramic horse production as a plausible vocation, and started me into my future of shiny ponies.

I think it is safe to say that I have come a little ways since then, and I hope to say in 11 more years, that I've come even further! It dawned on me as I was typing this that I must like the word "sweet," as it definitely found its way into the name of my latest creation*. The Toot Sweet orders I took last month are coming along all right. I've finished some, have others in-progress, filled one of my drawers with bisques to be painted, and I'm finishing up the last few greenware bodies for this set and Sweetie Batch #1! I'll leave you with a picture of one of the finished pieces- it was a good color to work on at this time of year- somehow, I kept singing about "Cream-colored ponies, and crisp apple strudel...!"

Happy New Year, Everyone!!!

:)


*Why yes, I do have a bit of a sweet tooth. Why do you ask?

Christmas Tidings!

A very Merry Christmas, glad tidings for the winter season, and a wonderful New Year to you all! I have a feeling it is going to be a very shiny one!

Ode to Wondermark

So, some of you may recall that I have an affinity for comics. I mentioned my love here once for Darby Conley's "Get Fuzzy", and now I have another comic I thought I'd wax lyrical about today- a webcomic, Wondermark, by David Malki ! Always silly, sometimes juvenile (yes, he does some poop-jokes...), and occasionally brilliant, Wondermark is a comic that is relevant today because it is so in touch with the past. Like Trader Joe's advertising on steroids (I'm sorry to say I don't know who was doing it first!), Wondermark uses Victorian engravings that are cut, re-assembled, tweaked, and very much twisted (it's not really P.C.) to form fantastic comic strips. My very favorites are the ones that make little sense, or have clever things to do with cats.

It's wildly wonderful, So head on over to:

Wondermark.com

to check it all out!

:)

Pet Love!

I've been meaning to share this poster I did for the Pasadena Humane Society with y'all. It was done this past summer for their Artistic License art auction benefit. PHS is a wonderfully run humane society, and it is where I got my dog Clover this past spring. It was a bit of a surprise, getting this dog- I went to an environmental fair at the L.A. County Arboretum, and there she was with the mobile pet unit- as pretty and happy as could be! It was right around St. Patrick's day, and with my love for all things Celtic, the name Clover seemed the right fit for her. Being the happy owner of both a dog and a cat, and I thought them the perfect subjects when I was asked to make something for the art auction. The original was an acrylic painting (my first full painting since college!) on canvas board, and the wonderful lady who won it commissioned me to make a print of it to hang in the adoption room at PHS. Gallery Street did a beautiful job of producing the giclée, so if you find yourself in the Pasadena area looking for a pet, pop your head in at PHS and take a look. And find your own fuzzy friend to inspire you! Here are the models, in case you are curious:

Jeanie, my 7 yr old American shorthair rescue cat

Clover is a 3 year old Lab/Australian Cattle Dog mix

Lotteries are GO!

Huzzah!

The November & Matching Mare Lotteries are now open! They run from today, through Saturday, 11/21 at 6 p.m. PST. A new piece was added to the November Lottery- a super-spotty Jellibaby clabody custom (shown above)! The AAA mare I was working on didn't quite get finished in time (I was scritching spots for a bit longer than I hoped I would be!), so I'll probably sell her on MH$P soon.

Yes, you may enter both* lotteries, but please do so in separate emails! All of the info you need on both lotteries can be found from this page:

http://www.velasquezartistry.com/forsale.html

Toot Sweet Batches begin in the New Year! :)

*The Matching Mare Lottery is only open to current Jellibaby owners.

Ta Da!

She's done! She's finally done! I'm proud to present, Jelli's Mom, Toot Sweet! So sorry to keep y'all waiting- I decided I wanted to get all of the juicy info on her up on my website, so I could post the links here. And oh, do I have several links for you! These first two castings will be sold next week- one by herself, and one with a Jelli as a set, as part of my November Lottery. At the same time, I will be running a "Matching Mare" lottery, for current ceramic Jelli owners! The third link will take you to the main Toot Sweet distribution info page. Batches will start in 2010! The fourth link takes you to the resin info page (also in '10). The fifth and final link takes you to my yahoo group- the main place to be if you want a heads up on Toot Sweet batches, and all of my other sales. Whew! Hope you can handle it! Send me an email if you get confused!

VA November Lottery

"Matching Mare" Lottery

Toot Sweet Ceramic Edition

Toot Sweet Resin Edition

VA Yahoo Group!

And now for more pictures! Click for larger versions.

ETA...

Thursday, November 12, 2009...

(**Fingers crossed!** It's fun what you can do with Photoshop, no?)

Halloweekend!

Casper thinks it is hard work, living in this cushy manner....

Happy November, everyone!

Gosh, I still can't believe the year has come this far! I vividly remember it being January... Anyhow, I hope y'all had a fun and safe Halloween weekend. I sure did! Yes, it was filled with more play than work, I'm afraid, but I did manage to get some stuff done. I went down on Friday to visit Joanie of Pour Horse Pottery to do a little playing in the mud there, and a lot of petting of her American Eskimo dogs! I was working on a project which shall soon be revealed... ;) Saturday evening found me down in Old Town San Diego with Joanie's cousin (my old roommate) and friends. So many cute little trick-or-treaters were down at the shops in their adorable costumes! Sunday- well, I didn't get any work done at all. I went down to my friend's "Marie Antoinette Tea" at the wonderful Tea Upon Chatsworth down in Point Loma. In a borrowed 18th century gown, I foofed up my hair in a big wig, and dined upon scones with pumpkin-cream sauce, other delectables, and three kinds of tea. The San Diego Costumer's guild was there, so everyone looked wonderful in their 1700's attire. Here's a pic of us all- we were quite the sight to the 'modern' tea-drinkers!


I did manage to get some ceramic stuff attended to, after I got home yesterday. One of the projects I was working on was a set of bonsai pots for the upcoming GSBF Bonsai Show. I have a neighbor, Jim Barrett, who is a long time bonsai potter, and I occasionally paint some of the pots he makes, to sell at shows. It is a fun diversion from the horses! So, some of the pots pictured below (along with a few others I painted earlier) will go to the show to be sold along with Jim's regular pots. He does some neat work, and is known for his tiny pots (some smaller than the size of toothpaste caps!). Fun stuff!


Okay- back to work! I've a lot to do today, and hopefully I'll be able to share some of it with you soon!

They're up!

Charlotte and Chickadee are ready to find a new home! The My Auction Barn auction is up & here's the link:

http://myauctionbarn.com/auction_details.php?auction_id=134665

The auction ends Monday, November 2nd at 6 p.m. PST.

Thanks so very much!

:)

Tomorrow, Tomorrow!

Yes, indeed, the "Charlotte & Chickadee" auction will go up tomorrow afternoon on Auction Barn! I'm very excited to be finding a home for this pair. I imagine they are the only ones I'll be selling, seeing as I am determined to keep the other set I painted for my own collection! These sculptures are simply awesome with a huge helping of fantastic, sprinkled with wow on top, so I feel very honored to own a shiny set. But I am equally happy to be sending a set on to one of you, dear readers! So look for the link tomorrow- it will probably go up first on the VelasquezArtistry yahoo group, and then I'll post a link here. I'm going to end the auction on Monday, November 2nd at 6 p.m. PST. So until then, enjoy these couple of pictures and keep dreaming those shiny dreams! Thank you!

Lesli's Jelli!

While I was busy painting horses that Lesli had produced in ceramic, she was painting horses I had brought her. She finished one of them while I was there- an ever so cute flaxen chestnut sabino Jellibaby she named "Maisy". It was quite fun watching another artist paint & glaze her; she has the distinct, very detailed, Lesli style! If you haven't seen her already, I invite you to pay a visit to the Blackberry Lane Blog to check her out!

Now back to work!

Happy Thursday, folks!

Today was the day I got back to work. It would have been yesterday, but I seem to have come down with a cold as I was winging my way westward, so I thought that bed was a good place to be instead. But that seems to have helped, as I'm feeling a fair bit better today, thankfully, and thus able to move around and do things. Things, like pour more Jellies to go with some mares... ;)

Speaking of mares and foals, here's a picture of the shiny Vixen and Imp I painted for myself, as I promised I'd share:


They are too much fun! Thanks, Lesli!

Okay, I know you are still wondering (because a few of you have asked), how I'm going to sell the previous two I painted. I have decided, due to the interest, to put them up on Auction Barn. I need to take a few more pictures, but I'll get to that very soon, and I'll post the link here and on my yahoo group when that's all taken care of! :)

Back in CA!

I made it home safe & sound to the other side of the country- huzzah! And guess what... it worked! My own Vixen & Imp came out nice & shiny. We took pics this morning, but didn't have time to edit them before I left, so they'll have to come. Look for them soon, and news about the pair that I will be selling! Until then... :)

Previously, in Lesli's Studio...

We left our heros and heroines in states of completion, and semi-completion. The buckskin tobi pair were all finished, the dapple grey Vixen & chestnut Imp needed a bit more airbrushing, and even more hand-painting, and definitely lacked glaze. Would they be done in time? Would they see the shiny glory that their siblings saw? Would they be able to outsmart the Bugbladder Beast of Traal? Scroll down below to find out the answer!

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Oooh... they're getting close! Our protagonists have cleared the main hurdles, have their towels, and our sprinting towards the glaze fire. Tune into tomorrow to see if there's a happy, shiny conclusion!

Shiny, shiny!

Wow, look at me, three posts in three days! It's a record, I think! But I'm not just posting for the sake of it- I have cool things to show you- shiny new ponies! Yep, I pulled the buckskin tobiano Vixen & Imp set out of the kiln this morning, and Lesli was kind enough to take pictures this afternoon. These little ones were a blast to paint. Lesli, who molded and cast them, was able to wonderfully capture the minute detail that Sarah sculpted into these pieces. They are so teeny-tiny, but still full of stuff. I tried to work that detail in my paint jobs- to bring it out and not cover it up! I also had the chance to really observe and ask questions about Lesli's painting process, and get a more in-depth tutorial on how she hand-paints manes & tails (they each have a bit of that style handwork in them!). So thank you, Lesli for letting me pick your brain! So without further ado, here's the silvery, sooty-buckskin tobiano Vixen, "Charlotte", and her buckskin tobi Imp, "Chickadee"!

Click for larger images:

Yes, I am working too!

Ahhh... a nice long work day! I'm beat, but seeing as I mentioned earlier that I would post more pictures of my projects, I thought I'd make an effort! I'm happy to say that I accomplished a fair bit today. I have one Vixen and one Imp humming in the glaze fire right now (the ones that will not remain mine... more to come on them later!), I am a little further along with my dapple grey (so many layers!), and I painted an Imp for myself today (a bright red chestnut with high whites and a blaze. I do love chestnut babies!). I forgot to snap pictures today, but I have one from yesterday- a peek into the kiln before we did a bisque fire. Enjoy!

In the Garden

I couldn't have requested a nicer day. The sky was clear and sunny as we took a 7-hour stroll through Brookgreen Gardens. The sculptures were absolutely fantastic, as was the company. I had the pleasure of driving down to SC with Lesli to meet up with fellow artist Sarah Minkiewicz-Breunig, and her husband, Chris at Brookgreen. It was a jolly good time, to say the least! I hadn't seen Sarah in some time, and it was a pleasure meeting her gregarious spouse. We all arrived at Brookgreen at the same time- about an hour earlier than planned, and all but knocked into each other at the entrance. We took off at full steam, eager to see the park, and all it beheld. Our enthusiasm lasted all day, and we pretty well covered the 50 acres that made up the sculpture garden and zoo area. By the time we finished, there were only three cars left in the parking lot... our two, and a third being towed! It seems it had been closed 1/2 an hour by the time we made it back. We joked that our cars were next, if we didn't vamoose!

One of the smaller pieces- "Gold 'n Locks"

I still haven't been able to wrap my head around all that I saw. For those of you who aren't followers of Lesli's Blog (check out her recent post for some of our sillier antics!), Brookgreen Gardens was originally part of a wealthy estate that had been converted to a public venue to preserve historical sculpture, and promote new artists. They have over 1000 pieces in their collection, many of which are on display throughout the garden. Many of the pieces were sculpted by women, and many of them feature equines, which made it the perfect spot for us female equine artists to meet! The sculptures range from tiny models and medallions, to towering displays. I've posted a few of my favorites below, to give y'all an idea of my experience. But I highly recommend that if ever you find yourself along the coast of South Carolina, that you check out Brookgreen for yourself!

I was very taken with these Otters, and how the artist had captured their playfulness in such a fascinating composition.

The detail was exquisite. You can click on any of these photos for larger versions.

This piece was done in the 1930's I believe... Art Deco hearkening back to Art Nouveau. I loved it!


They had an amazing number of intricate medallions on display in a building at the gardens. This was one of the larger ones, and I thought it thoroughly cool.


Look at the longhorns! There was a special display of Western Art.


Laura, this centaur is for you...


Holy Marsh Tackies! There was a smallish zoo with native species at Brookgreen. Marsh Tackies are a rare breed of the Carolinas, and, as the name suggests, good at tramping through marshes. This gal was such a pretty dun!


My intrepid companions, on our last leg though the park. It was quickly decided that dinner was in order soon after, and that led to a new adventure in burgers. Really, if you have not yet read Lesli's Blog, you should! I'll post Sarah's Blog, after she gets back to Idaho & posts...

That's all folks!

Too Much Fun in NC...

Ah, day three at the wonderful Kathman residence! I arrived Thursday evening for nearly two weeks of visiting, painting, glazing, and (of course) eating good meals (Lesli had some wonderful stew in the crock-pot, with fresh bread, waiting for me when I arrived!). It's been great fun seeing Lesli and her family again (and meeting her dog Emma, and horse, Sprinkles!). I also had the added bonus of getting to see our mutual friend Mel, who drove down for the weekend. So fun!

Lesli, the fabulous shiny pony maker, runs Blackberry Lane Studio. She also has a blog about her work, and decided to blog about my visit to her studio. So, not to be outdone, I thought that I should blog about her blogging about my visit. And thus we have:


As for the projects I am working on, well, let me say how tickled I am that Lesli is letting me paint a couple of ceramic Vixens and Imps (sculpted by the super-talented Sarah Minikewicz-Breunig)! I'm just jazzed. And it has been interesting to learn about some of Lesli's methods and painting techniques. I've always admired her dapple greys, and just how soft and delicate they were. Being here, of course, that was one of the colors I needed to try- dapple grey a'la Lesli! As you can see below, I've started on one of the Vixens in this color- she will need many more layers and firings before she is done. I really hope all of y'all don't mind, but... she is for me! Yes, I cannot tell you the last time I painted something for myself, so I've decided this one's a keeper. But I'm happy to share photos!


Because I knew Lesli was casting some bisques for me, I thought I'd bring over a few of my pieces for her to play with. Here she is with Mel (and Emma), discussing what color to paint the Jellibaby she is holding:


I'm pretty sure that's what I recall they were saying, anyways....

All in all, it has been a fantasic trip so far! I hope to post more when I get a chance!

Until then, I'll let you meditate upon this thought: Right before I left for NC, I finished Jelli's mom... my new Mini Mare, "Toot Sweet"! I'm rather excited.... :)

Still September Lottery!

Howdy!

Well, looks like my website composer is not cooperating, so the September Lottery pieces will be pictured here! First off- the rules:

1. One Lottery entry per person. You must be a member of my Yahoo Group to enter the lottery.

2. View the (5) pieces pictured below. You may try for as many as you would like. Items are listed A-E.

3. Email me your name, phone #, and the letters of the pieces that you are interested in. The winners of each random drawing will have the chance to purchase that piece. You may win *one* piece in this lottery. If your name is drawn for more than one, I will contact you and ask you to choose between them, and a new name will be drawn for the other.

4. The Velasquez Artistry Sales Policy applies to each item sold. I'm sorry, but I cannot take time payments at this time.

5. This Lottery ends Monday, October 5th at 4:00 PM PST! Email me before that date & time to enter!

Lottery Items:

Click for larger images!

A. "Fudge Stripe Brownie"
Not a Jelli! He's the adorable donkey foal sculpted by the ever talented Sarah Miniewicz-Breunig, produced by the stellar Pour Horse Pottery. I painted him a fun dun pinto color!
$450 ppd.

B. Jellibaby in Bay Appaloosa (#49)
This is the missing #49! She started as a red roan, but had her own ideas... Crazy scrtiching, spots, stripes... the works!
$195 ppd.

C. Jellibaby in Buckskin Sabino (#52)
She's got a pretty pattern with lots of fiddly bits! Very fun. Hand painting in her mane too...
$185 ppd.

D. Jellibaby in Silver Tobiano (#53)
You want a few cat-tracks with that?
$195 ppd.

E. Resin Jellibaby
If you would like to try for one of the remaining 5 unpainted Jellibaby Resins, list the letter "E" in your email! I will be drawing 5 names.
$50 ppd.

That's it! If you would like to enter, please email me using the address found in your VelasquezArtistry Yahoo Group announcement! Thank you!!!