
In the model horse hobby, it is common to see what are termed "customized" models. These are generally either Breyer or Peter Stone models that have been partially resculpted through the
use of heat (to move parts) and epoxy (to resculpt what has been changed), or artist resins, which
the original sculpting artist casts from their own original
sculptures and then sell as unpainted "blanks" for other artists to paint
and customize. I sculpt my own originals, which can be seen on my
sculpture page, but I've also
had lots of fun customizing other artist's pieces over the years.
Pictured on this page are some of my favorite custom
model horses and resin artist medallions.
Click on any thumbnail to
enlarge
Rayvin
Maddock’s medallion that was sculpted from a photo of baby Thunderous painted as his portrait for Thunder's new owner Kate Cabot.
Kate mounted the finished piece in this lovely shadow box frame. I love how it came out!
August 2021. |
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Customized classic Arabian foal to a brown silver Morgan filly,
pastel and acrylic. Detailed out mane and forelock, hooves reshaped properly and "girl parts" added.
My favorite Breyers to paint are the old Maureen
Love molds and this gal is the cream of the crop
among those. February 2021. |
Morgan medallion- approx. 4" across,
sculpted by Ramie Nunally,
(thank you Crissi Goreham for that info!) painted to a sooty dappled buckskin, September 2019. |
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Deborah McDermott's LB scale Missouri Fox Trotter painted
in pastels and acrylics to a silver bay for my friend Lisa Garcia. Painted September 2019. |
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MEM No Inhabitions resin, silver bay. A custom order for Lisa Sents, this Morgan mare sculpted by the incomparable Jennifer Scott
was a true delight to paint! And in my favorite color :-) Finished in pastels with acrylic details, June 2018. |
Becky Turner donated this “so stinking CUTE” pony bas relief medallion
to the 2017 Southern Model Horse convention and I did some minor CMing on it before painting it a bay silver.
The original was named “Holly” and it was a winter coat pony with a small holly decoration on the bottom. I removed the holly and made her into a summer coat
pony for a little something different! With a faux marble painted frame. Created using pastels and acrylics.
Owned by Johanna McClanahan. |
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Morgen Kilbourn Rossamondo donated her “Tango” medallion to
the 2016 SouthCon, but it arrived after the show- so I held it over for
2017 and painted this “big hair” dude to a bay dun with frosting. The frame is painted gold and really accents the “golden” stallion. That eye draws you in!
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“Topsails Rosebud” Customized Breyer old classic scale QH mare completely CMed to a bay roan. This was my summer
2017 project (with many months of daily work on it) and no detail has been spared- right down to the tiny maiden mare udder (forgot to take pictures of it but it is there!). Inspired by a mare I found while surfing the web one day
(Poppy) who I thought was just beautiful. I’ve probably forgotten all I added/resculpted on this piece (darned old age!) but here goes: deeper heartgirth, head/neck moved around to the right, legs lengthened, belly tucked, new mane and tail, longer face with completely new muzzle, new ears set closer together. Despite all that I did to it, I tried to keep to the spirit of the original piece, sculpted by one of my favorite equine artists, Maureen Love. The paintjob has hair by hair roaning, which is a bit hard to see on a model this scale but I did include a closeup of the flank where it is a little more visible. She also has very subtle reverse dapples, sometimes found on roans.
Owned by Lisa Wickham. |
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Jennifer Kroll donated her gorgeous “Lil Rio” Miniature horse resin
to the 2017 SouthCon benefit auction and I could not wait to paint him a quintessential
Miniature Horse color- silver- in this case, buckskin silver! He has subtle dappling and lots of hair by hair detail in the mane and tail.
This is a really beautiful sculpt, with such character, attitude,
and expression. My photos do the piece no justice- it must be seen in person.
The base is painted to look like white marble- a really
classy effect. Owned by Susan Taylor. |
Breyer Valegro CM to Morgan mare "Indigo Sierra"- (Brigitte Eberl sculpture) with a more Morgan-y head and neck, resculpted mane and tail added. Painted dapple sooty buckskin in pastels and acrylics, spring 2017. Owned by Dana Nolan Flaherty.
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May 2017- One of my very
favorite paintjobs is this dark bay roan on Stacey Tumlinson's awesome mini Fabrizio.
He is just a lil punkin and loaded with detail! Hair
by hair roaning that is hard to see without a magnifying glass,
it's subtle and in scale with this small piece. He even has
reverse dappling as some roans do. I haven't done a roan in
years and I'm just tickled at how well he came out! Painted in
acrylics, pastel and colored pencil glossed eyes and hooves.
Owned by Susan Taylor. |
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Kristina Lucas Francis' "Morsel" mini resin with a lowered and resculpted neck, slightly resculpted/refined head and ears, braided mane and new tail,
painted a black leopard Appaloosa in pastels and acrylics. The pattern used for this guy was Stephanie Blaylock's App pony "Goosebumps".
I've watched his dressage career with interest so it was only natural that when I thought "I'll do an Appy on this guy"- which by the way, I haven't done
since at least the mid 1980's!- that Goose would be the "model"! Thank you Stephanie for all the helpful additional detail pictures! Because this is a tippy pose,
I added a base that securely holds the model without even needing sticky wax. It is removable/separate and
the model stands without it, however in a show environment
it is nice to have the added security of the base. Painted
September 2016. |
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This complete CM on the Breyer/Love classic
QH stallion mold was created in Setember 2015 for the
SouthCon benefit auction. He has lengthened legs, a new
longer tail, and facial refinement. Pastelled to red dun, he
is owned by Kate Cabot. |
Stacey Tumlinson's mini Finn resin painted
(in pastel with some acrylic detail) to a sandy bay. I
resculpted his tail to be longer as well. Fall 2015. |
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Becky Turner's magnificent Welsh plaque was
donated by Tom Bainbridge to the 2015 Southern Model Horse
Convention. Airen Chandler was the lucky winning bidder and had
me paint and pastel the piece to a gorgeous dappled buckskin.
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Stacey Tumlinson's Dacaprio
customized with a braided mane, a shortened back, a more dished profile and a higher raised
left foreleg. That forearm was also lengthened. He is probably my most favorite dapple gray to date. Pastelled in September 2014 and sold in the 2014 SouthCon auction.
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This is the mini (about 3" to eartips) Cromwell sculpted by the renowned Doris Lindner,
who sculpted for Royal Worcester. He was donated to the 25th Annual Southern Model Horse Convention Benefit Auction by Jackie Moore.
Kate Cabot won the bid and had me paint/pastel him to a bay roany tobiano-sabino. I don't do many pintos and I think this is the first roany one I have ever done.
Painted January 2013. |
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This is a resin American
Saddlebred stallion medallion sculpted by the mega
talented Linda York. Linda kindly donated the
unpainted piece to the 25th Annual Southern Model
Horse Convention Benefit Auction last fall. It was
sold on ebay and the winning bidder chose to have me
pastel it to a bright bay. I love this piece so
much- I wish I could keep it! Painted in pastels with acrylic
bridle and eye detail in
January 2013.3. |
Here is Morgen Killbourn's "Eros" medallion painted to a liver chestnut for Carolyn Hastings, to match
her Morgan gelding, Scandia's Gentleman in Red. Morgen donated the unpainted medallion to the 25th Annual
Southern Model Horse Convention Benefit Auction, and
Carolyn was the lucky winner. Thank you Morgen and Carolyn!
Painted in pastels with acrylic eye detail in
November 2012. |
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This is the Edgington/Davies mini stock horse sculpture "Peewee B. E. (Bold Endeavor) which
I resculpted to be on the bit (not overbent), a new mane, resculpted through the hips
and shoulders,
legs and
hooves refined, and head and ears refined. He was
painted in pastels and acrylics to a dappled golden
buckskin. Owned by Gail Schueneman. Finished in
August 2012. |
The Blessed Broodmare Project
relief plaque, sculpted by Kelly Savage, painted in
pastels. The mare is bay dun and the foal is a brown
buckskin. Owned by Lynn Baum Von Mayr. Finished in August
2012. |
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Morgen Kilbourn's "Flitwick" jumping pony resin painted in pastels to a
dappled brown buckskin. Owned by Bev Manderfeld. Painted in August 2012. |
I have always worked in acrylics, but at the 2011 1
Southern Model Horse Convention (the live show we host here at the farm) my favorite models were
done in pastels. I'd been fortunate to watch Paige Easley work in pastels when she attended SouthCon a few years
previous, and to see her finished
work first hand at the show (it won everything!). For some reason, the gorgeous models at this year's year's show really lit a creative
fire under my tail, and I decided to try pastels. Google was my friend as I read everything I could find about pastelling models on the Internet,
and watched every YouTube video on the subject! Jaime
Castleman's Yahoo group was a huge help,
too. I went supply shopping at Michael's, and ordered other necessary items from Dick Blick, and
finally everything was assembled and I was ready to go. For my first pastelled model I decided to use a SM in case things went horribly wrong ;-)
rather than one of the more expensive
unpainted resins I had on hand. Of course, it had to be a Morgan, and it had to be a silver...
I am just thrilled with her, though I must say she
sure went through a lot of ugly stages before she got to
this point! The same thing happens when I work in
acrylic, though (I paint in thin layers, light to dark,
much the same technique as pastels require), so I knew to
persevere. I am so glad that I did! I am now a pastel
convert! Created in late October/early November 2011,
and sold in the 2012 Southern Model Horse Convention
Benefit Auction.
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Maureen Love's sculptures are always a favorite to paint. Here is her mini scale Arabian mare, produced in plastic by Breyer,
customized with ears forward, a new mane and longer tail, and refined legs. Painted a medium dapple gray, she was the high selling lot in the 2011 Southern Model Horse Convention's
Benefit Auction. Owned by Pauline Entin, and created in September 2011. |
This big girl was one of the very few traditional scale resins I have painted in the last 5 years, and I found it took me a LOT longer than I thought it would- I'm just too used to painting minis! My color reference for painting were photos of the palomino Morgan stallion Sir's Sunny, who can be seen
here (scroll down to his pictures in the "S" section). Owned by Paige Jones, who kindly waited very patiently over a year for her- thank you, Paige! It usually does not take me that long to complete a custom order, but I am also usually painting something quite a bit smaller! Completed July 2011. |
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Sarah Minkewicz's Morgan medallion painted dark bay/brown. This beauty was the ultimate pleasure to paint- Sarah's work is just SO beautiful and this is a very evocative piece.
Commissioned by Kristal Homoki as a Christmas gift
for her Mother, owner of the Morgan stallion Springlake Pallidin, who the medallion was painted as a portrait of. Finished in December 2010. |
Morgen Kilbourn's "Echo" medallion painted flaxen chestnut, as a portrait of the Morgan gelding, Dusky Duke ("Dude"), who can be seen on the
MtnTop Morgans website. Owned by Kristal Homoki, who purchased this medallion as a 25th
anniversary present for her husband Kurt, Dude's owner. Finished in
November 2010. |
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I think this is one of my all time favorite dapple gray paint jobs! She is such a soft, pretty color! Carlee Balling's
mini scale
warmblood mare resin, painted in December 2010. Owned by Pauline Entin. |
This handsome fellow, on one of my favorite molds, is also owned by Pauline Entin. He is the old SM Morgan stallion
(another Maureen Love sculpture) with the legs cleaned up and articulated better in the fetlocks, ears and head slightly resculpted, tail made free swinging rather than attached to his leg, and painted a pretty dappled flaxen liver chestnut. Completed in November 2010. |
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This may be a “simple CM”, but actually there’s nothing simple about all the work that was done on this lovely little Breyer old mold Stablemate Morgan mare! She was first impeccably prepped, with carved out ears and hooves, and a refined/resculpted muzzle. Her legs were refined, especially in the fetlock area, and her hooves were resculpted to all be symmetrical. She had a bit of a pudgy belly which has been reduced, as has the slight bulge on her under neck. I thought the tail on the original mold was a little short; after all, Morgans are known for their long flowing locks! So I added a bit of length to her tail, now gracefully draped behind her. I carefully kept my sculpting to the style and “feel” of the original piece, which is one of my favorite sculptures by the late Maureen Love Calvert of Hagen Renaker fame. She then was
finished as a dappled buckskin silver. No detail has been spared, from the shading in the dapples to each hand painted hair of her mane and tail. Created in September 2010 for the 2010 Southern Model Horse Convention Benefit Auction. |
Mini "Ravenhill" CM. This guy had his mane removed, tail resculpted, neck resculpting, ears refined and painted red dun. August 2010. Owned by Kate Cabot.
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I love painting Sarah Rose's sculptures and this
Tennessee Walking Horse mare "Mindy" was a special treat! There are such beautiful details
in her sculpting. She is owned by Barb Ness. Painted in July 2009. In August 2009, this pretty little mare won Overall Breed Champ AR Mini,
Overall Workmanship Champ AR Mini and then won the Grand Championship of the division at the Mid
Valley Classic in Albany, Oregon- her very first show! |
What a beautifully emotional piece this sculpture is! Debbie Buckler had me paint this plaque- a fundraiser for
the
International
Blessed Broodmare Project- as their rescued draft mare Cinderella and her foal Bandero. Cinders is a blue roan going gray and Bandero is a black or brown (going to
be gray). I really enjoyed painting this
complex, detailed piece and would not mind painting a few more! You can order
it
here and ask
Debbie to send it directly to me to be painted! |
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Randy and Debbie Buckler of
Resins by Randy kindly donated an unpainted Damiana (sculpted by Judy
Renee Pope/Rebecca Turner) to the 2008 Southern Model Horse
Convention's Benefit Auction. Barbara Hewitt was the winning bidder on this exquisite piece and had me paint her to look like Amberfield's Dun Lovin', a dun Morgan mare formerly owned by
me and owned at that time by Barbara's daughter, Amanda.
I had not painted a large scale model in years, but I found it was
actually easier than painting the minis! |
Tibbi Searcher's "Deseo" slightly CMed to a buckskin splash Abaco Barb. This guy is definitely a flashy attention getter despite his small size! I straightened his facial profile slightly, smoothed and rounded the croup a bit, and added a soft waterfall of hair at the tailhead. Striking blue eyes and detailed dappling complete the picture.
Created in September 2007 and sold in the 2007 Southern Model Horse Convention Benefit Auction. |
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Breyer SM standing foal (sculpted by Maureen
Love) painted to a buckskin silver Morgan foal (still in foal coat). I love doing colors I haven't done before, and this was one of them!
I can only recall ever painting one buckskin silver before and that was an adult. Buckskin silver foals often look like palomino or light buckskin foals; the chocolate
ear tips and back of fetlocks, as well as the gray-brown mix of hair in the mane and root of the tail, are a clue to the
presence of the silver gene as well. Painted in September 2007 and owned by Kate Cabot. |
Breyer classic Arabian foal,
sculpted by Maureen Love, painted to a dunalino Morgan filly. This was another color I hadn't done before. Dunalino foals are notoriously hard to identify; they may have few visible signs of having the dun gene, looking mostly like a palomino. Others have a more peachy tone,
a faint dorsal and leg barring indicating the presence of the dun gene; when they shed the foal coat, the dun markings may become much more vivid. This little filly is about three weeks old and just beginning to shed around her mouth and eyes. If you look closely you can see faint leg barring on her. Owned by Tom Bainbridge. Painted in August 2007. |
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SM Morgan stallion (old mold) to a flaxen liver chestnut. I so enjoy painting any of Maureen Love's sculptures! This one goes in Tom Bainbridge's SM Morgan stallion
"conga line" (scroll down to see 3 more of them!). Painted in August 2007. |
Karen Gerhardt's "Meribel" Draft filly to a silver dapple splash/sabino Gypsy Cob. I find foals of any breed to be irresistible! Owned by Christine Patterson. |
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Breyer Stablemate Highland Pony CM to silver dapple black. I seldom get to paint a "pony-style" silver dapple; most light
horse silvers do not exhibit the heavily dappled form of silver.
So I was thrilled when Angel Gordon won the bid on a custom paint job I donated to GEM Live 2006 and asked me to paint this SM as a silver dapple!
February 2007. |
Tibbi Searcher's "Deseo" painted dark dapple gray. Tibbi kindly donated two of these resins to the 2006 Southern Model Horse Convention Benefit Auction (the second was auctioned for the
2007 show; he is pictured earlier on this page). Sally Nash purchased him and
commissioned me to paint him a dark dapple gray as a portrait of her Andalusian gelding,
Casanova. February 2007. |
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Sometimes the neatest customs are just simple repaints on a really excellent mold. Such is the case with
this trio of handsome gentlemen painted on Maureen Love's sculpture of a Morgan stallion, originally created for Hagen Renaker
in the 1950's but later produced in plastic by Breyer. Painted in December 2006 and January 2007, the sooty palomino and
sooty buckskin are owned by Kate Cabot and the seal brown by Tom Bainbridge.
This mold is a favorite of mine due to its expression and undeniable Morgan type. |
Deborah McDermott's "Paisley" as a buckskin going gray- what an interesting challenge this color was to paint! Painted in January 2007. Owned by Debbie Farrell. |
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Morgen Kilbourn's "Flitwick" pony, silver dapple splash- I
love this model. Seldom do we see a sculpture that captures the true "pony character", but this little guy certainly has it. What better color to paint him than the quintessential pony color of silver dapple black, with minimal splash markings to make him even more interesting, including a blue eye! Donated by Morgen to benefit the 19th Annual Southern Model Horse Convention.
Painted in September 2006. Owned by Lisa Algarin. |
Deborah McDermott's "Paisley" Arabian mare painted grulla. Years ago we had the most exquisite grulla part Arab boarded with us.
I've wanted to do a model of that horse for a long time, and when Deborah donated a Paisley to the 2006 SouthCon benefit auction,
I got my chance! He has lots of dun factor markings including leg barring, wither striping, face masking, mane and tail frosting and a
dorsal with "barbs", along with subtle shading that shifts to a buff colored belly. Owned by Anita Poole.
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Donna Chaney's mini scale Welsh Cob mare, buckskin. This little mare reminded me so much of my Morgan mare
Kennebec Topaz that I just had to paint her buckskin! She was a custom
order for Emily Leslie. May 2006. |
Chaney Friesian to a liver chestnut sabino rabicano Welsh Cob. I had a lot of fun painting all those roany hairs! Also owned by Emily Leslie.
May 2006. |
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Mini "Nahar', Arabian stallion painted to a dapple rose gray.
Sarah Rose's work is always a pleasure to
paint! Owned by Barb Ness. Spring 2006. |
CM on Carlee Balling's mini Morgan resin, painted to a flaxen
liver chestnut.
This refined, leggy little horse got some bone added to
the legs, head
prettied up and more jowl added, a slightly different mane with shorter bridlepath, more depth through the flanks, stifles and flanks resculpted,
and probably more that I've
forgotten! "He" is now a "she". She won the Morgans class at
the September 2006 Meows and Minis live show. Owned by Diane Thiele.
Painted in spring 2006. |
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Chris Jolly's WBP Barrister Morgan resin in
grulla.
This was a portrait
model done for Jackie Wyandt of her grulla Morgan gelding, Storm Quest (pictured
on the right). Notice the interesting brindling on Stormy's flanks and fainter
brindling along his dorsal area. I really enjoyed painting these unique details! Winter 2005-06. |
This beautiful traditional scale Morgan mare started out
as "Intaada", an Arabian, sculpted by the very talented Linda York. I could
envision this mare becoming a Morgan and Linda gave me the go
ahead. The head and neck have the most resculpting on this
piece, and the mane has been changed a bit as well. A 2005 Southern Model Horse Convention Benefit Auction
model. Owned by Debbie Farrell.
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Jen Timm customized a Breyer Stablemate "Seabiscuit" to a Trotter and I then
customized the resulting resin to a sport type Morgan mare in bay silver. This was an auction piece for the 2002 Southern Model Horse Convention.
Head refined, new mane and forelock added. This is one of my all-time favorite
pieces and was at one point owned by Sandy Tomezik, although I'm not sure who
owns it now. |
Lisa Rivera mini scale Morgan (Little Bits scale)
custom to a dark bay.
This little guy was such fun to work with! He's
had his neck reworked a bit, head resculpted, and other things that I no longer
remember the specifics of. Such a nice, typy Morgan! Summer 2001. |
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Donna Chaney mini Welsh Cob to a Morgan
stallion, sooty palomino.
I am a big fan of Donna's work and have done many nice customs on them over the years. This
guy just needed to lose his feathered legs and he made a perfect Morgan
stallion. Fall 2001. |
"Until Forever", CM Brigitte Eberl warmblood
foal to a chestnut sabino/splash Morgan colt. Inspired by a sport type Morgan
colt out of Sunleaf's Sassafras, a mare I used to own (a
headshot of the real colt, Battersea Phoenix, can be seen
here).
He has a blue eye and minimal splash + sabino markings. I created a new mane and tail for
him and did other resculpting that I no longer recall the specifics of. Another
of my all-time favorite pieces. 1999. |
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Kathleen Moody's "Magnificence" Morgan stallion to sooty buckskin.
This typy, traditional scale Morgan stallion was an extremely popular
resin in the mid-late 90's. Beautiful expression on this model! Painted in 1999. |
Kristina Lucas-Francis' "Kulfi" Marwari
stallion, to a seal brown Morgan stallion.
Kristina's style is reminiscent of the work of my favorite equine sculptor, Maureen Love. A little head refinement and a new mane and forelock and this
undeniably Morgan stallion was born! I do tend to want to make a Morgan out of
everything that I see! Created in 1998. |
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Stablemate Morgan mare to an amber champagne
partbred. I love painting the dilution colors, but since I paint mostly Morgans, I
don't get to practice champagnes very much. This was just a
simple paintjob on Maureen Love's beautiful mini Morgan mare
mold. 1999. |
Hagen Renaker mini "Liberty Belle" Morgan mare to a brown dun.
Another simple repaint on a Maureen Love piece. 1999. |
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"Kennebec Topaz", customized Breyer classic "Terrang",
sculpted by Maureen Love,
to buckskin
Morgan filly. A portrait model of my 1992 buckskin mare of the same name.
Created in 1993 and intended to represent Topaz as a yearling. |
"Radiance Eliza Babe", customized Breyer classic
"Ginger" to a portrait model of a liver chestnut Morgan
mare I used to own. Liza did lots of winning both live and photo. This picture was
on the cover of the Pony Express model horse hobby magazine in the mid 90's. Created in
1989. |
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"Sleepy Too McCue", customized Breyer traditional
"Halla" to a chestnut Appaloosa gelding.
A portrait model of the real "Sleepy" (shown on the right, with me
showing him in a halter
class at an open show in 1985). LOTS of resculpting on this model! |
"*Africa", customized Shirmar ceramic copy
of Hagen Renaker large "Amir", gray Arabian gelding. This curvy
Arabian looked beautiful in a simple white gray with minimum
flea biting. 1984. |
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"La Belle Farceur", customized Breyer
Clydesdale mare (sculpted by Christian Hess) to blonde sorrel Belgian mare, with
a new short tail, leg feathering removed, and head turned
slightly right. I later found out that mares don't show in a surcingle! It's a cool old pic anyways!
Created in 1981. |
"Casenna", customized Breyer #48
Morgan, flaxen liver chestnut Morgan mare.
Casenna was a portrait model of a real Morgan mare of the same name. One
of my first very successful customized models (the other being a gray Quarter
Horse mare named Positive Image), Casenna was the 1980 American Model Morgan
Horse Association Grand National Champion. Created in 1978. |

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