Thursday, August 13, 2015

Happier w/him (months later), mini Hazel becoming a "thing"! & Silly # of updates here..



Catch up time!!!  So very much has happened since the spring.  Quickly, Tetradrachm man here has gone back to the chopping block and had a bunch of revisions. I honestly haven't been working TOO hard on him.


I'm THRILLED with my changes to Tetradrachm in accordance with what I feel are the ox-head characteristics of the different orientation of the parasphenoid bone... shall we just say simply the "ancient Roman" look to be less intimidating sounding? ;)

I've been painting a storm, (more pics in a sec) and also now have mini Hazel ahead in line "to be
completed" soon.

Mini Hazel wasn't really on my radar but an old friend started poking me to scan the big girl and print a mini-me version.  I said "honestly these days though it seems like sales are a fraction of what they used to be and I'd need like at LEAST 150 orders to be sure I made a profit to cover the month of sanding/detailing AND the thousands (just shy of 2K anyhow) it costs to scan, print and mold and mold again.".  Well I looked into the price of scanning and printing and it went down a few hundred dollars ... and she suddenly tags me on FB and says "look at this spreadsheet of people I have signed up for one.. or two or three or four".  Well THAT blew mind mind eh?  Mini Hazel wasn't even a "thing".

Sooooo I contacted the company for the scanning and shipped her out.  A few weeks later I had a print back from Shapeways.  It's not NEARLY so simple.  Kelly Sealy of http://www.kellys-studio.com/   had to help me out because the scan I got was too complicated but that is a long story.   Suffice to say Kelly rocks! :D

So here we are.  I've got a mini Hazel going... a big long list for her (over 200) that get first dibs (if you want in on this sort of thing in the future please join one of my 2 mailing list types here http://www.artbymorgen.com/contact.htm ..!) :)  I expect mini Hazel to be offered to the "general public" (not that list but the others who never heard/demanded me to make her - lol!).. probably this winter.

Aaaaand I just wrapped up this gal after .. well 5 years! You can read at the bottom of her page on how she got rolling.

I made the first production mold myself so I could have mini army of them to sell at Breyerfest.  They are all gone though and the second mold is being made by Mountain View Studios professionally casting the rest. It's too much work for me!

I've got some 3 painted horses still wrapping up... and here are several that are wrapped up/sold...
This lil guy is on My Auction Barn right now
Sold during Breyerfest

Sold during Breyerfest

Sold during Breyerfest

PROBABLY going to wrap up this fall.. I shared an "intended auction schedule" with my mailing lists too!  There are 2 other horses coming soon too not shown..

In a few weeks I'm teaching another week long AAEA Workshop at the KHP (still time to sign up!!) :) 
AAEA Course Details

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand because the Ranch Mare and Quartermiester started and ended around this time last year I have piles and piles of resins shipping out making life complicated.
You thought I was kidding?  This isn't all either.. time payments take a toll on household space if you order them all at once (which I prefer to to prevent delays - but it's not without problems as you can see). :)

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand then there is the special shipment here of my cold cast bronze Quartermeister to the Society of Animal Artist's show that I"m seriously honored to be included in for a second time.  It's not a small feat. It took me applying 2x to get accepted into the organization.  Every work they select is some of the best for it's style/subject that I've seen.  Cannot say how much I'm honored.   & Please check out the SAA previous exhibitions online here (pdfs) - amazing work.  I cannot wait to see this year's book! http://societyofanimalartists.com/exhibits.html

And that's the long & short of it.  Spring -> Summer.  There ya have it. :)

Oh, (checking and I guess I didn't share this here yet - like HUGE doh?  However I'm frustrated because I was hoping she'd be here by mid-Aug and waiting is really REALLY hard...) last big thing?

--> Breyer is coming out with this horse I sculpted ANY DAY now and that is killing me a little bit... ! 
Bad phone photo but I got to see and hold her at Breyerfest and the details they can capture now in the plastic is absolutely amazing... if I ever do another I'm going to really go wild with those (if the sculpture permits).  I cannot get over how technology has progressed!
Of course again, it really is about the kids & I'm not just saying that.  I cannot wait until the less exclusive "regular run" colors like plain bay are in stores.  Because then kids can get them (well for under $200!, more like $60) and play with them and get inspired.  In the end it is ALL about inspiring the next generation people.

Cheers!!