Velasquez Artistry

I think it's done!

2008-05-10T10:06:00.000-07:00

My website, that is. I sat down last night & for a bit this morning, and I think I finally finished it! I added in a few missing pictures, revised the (long-winded!) artist's statement, and finally put in the "Spiritual Art" section. You can see it all at VelasquezArtistry.com. And please let me know if you find any links not working, or pictures not loading! I would much appreciate it. Cheers!

Security

2008-04-29T17:31:00.000-07:00

Hi folks- just wanted to let you know I've added some security features, as there was spam posted in the comment section today. Besides signing in to Google, you will now have to fill in one of those little word boxes (so we knows you're not a computer!), and comments will be approved by me. Stupid spammers creating more work for all of us!

-A

The Birds

2008-04-28T19:58:00.000-07:00

Ah- spring is in full swing here in sunny, Southern CA (actually, with the weather we've been having the past few days, it might as well be summer!). The flowers are blooming, the bees are buzzing, the birds are singing, and squawking, and yowling... Yes, there's a new species of bird moved into the neighborhood this year... the Peacock. We have always had some of them nearby- my house is close to a botanical garden, but they always stayed in other neighborhoods. But not this year. This year, they are definitively here. Not that I mind too much- but it is amusing. They add a unique soundtrack to my workday. And I certainly don't mind looking out the window to catch one of these beautiful birds, now and then. I don't think too many of the neighbors are of my opinion- I guess they have more flowers in their yards to be eaten. But hearing them day after day now, I thought they were definitely a blog worthy subject... So, what are the sounds of spring in your neighborhoods?

Boxing Shire Up for Grabs!

2008-04-25T13:54:00.000-07:00

Howdy, folks! I was thinking that I ought to let you see this guy first, and I have decided not only to do that, but to offer him to y'all first as well! Hot from the kiln earlier this morning, we have a Pour Horse Boxing Shire, sculpted by the talented Donna Chaney. I have glazed him to a rich dapple bay- another color I taken from my good 'ol copy of The Encyclopedia of the Horse. He's got lots of little details, including wonderful hooves with growth-rings and stripes, and some small fiddly sabino-ed areas around his white markings. I'm asking $225 ppd. for this guy- I accept M.O.'s, credit cards through PayPal, and checks from previous customers (see my Sales Policy for full details!). He will be listed only here until Monday (4/28), to give you readers first dibs. If you are interested, please email me at: sales@velasquezartistry.com. Okay! Here are more shiny Shire pics for you to enjoy (click to see larger versions!). Thanks! Update- He has been SOLD! Thanks!

I am coming for you!!!

Catching Up!

2008-04-21T15:57:00.001-07:00

Whew! Is it just me, or is this year already going by pretty darn fast?! And here am I... quite behind on my blog again (but you weren't too surprised, were you?). Anyhow, thought it was about time that I stopped and updated y'all on some of the completed and ongoing projects of Velasquez Artistry. First up, a rather dappled beastie, painted and glazed for a dear friend and customer of mine. She thought that you all would like to see him, and I'm more than happy to show him off! It is hard to tell from the picture (which got a little washed out), just how dappley this smutty palomino Jitterbug is- he took me some time! But it was all worth it; especially when I heard how happy his new mom was! That's what makes it all worthwhile for me... Now, compared to this next horse, that Jitterbug was a breeze. Well, maybe a strong gust. Anyways, one of my current projects is quite an undertaking. I think I must be a leeetle bit crazy for taking this on- well, actually, I know I've never been quite "there", so it is fitting. I am working on my very last bone china Brigand. Produced once upon a time by Alchemy Ceramics, I figured, this being my last one, I'd better do something snazzy with him! So what did my crazy mind pick out? Bright bay leopard, of course. I'm doing him vaguely after a Knabstrup from an old horse book (maybe you know the one!). Since I am working on bone china, laytex, enemy of bone china (it leaves odd moldly looking areas after you fire it!), was out of the question. So I drew on the spots, and masked around them all with tiny, torn pieces of blue painter's tape. Yeah... fun. After that madness, I painted him, tore off the tape, and ended up with this: Very spotty, but oddly geometric! Too bad appy spots are not angular! Currently I am in the process (and I work at him in spurts- that much scritchin' all at once would really drive me to the nut house!) of turning squares into little circles and other amorphous rounded shapes, to get the look I am after. It is now going a little faster than previously, me having discovered that a sliced bit of white eraser really helps to remove the excess "chatter" around the spots. I tell ya, erasers are an underglazer's best friend! It's all about finding the right one for the right job... When I'm done with the main spots, I may hand-paint a few small ones in, and then of course, the gray spots on his lower legs will be painted in the center with black, giving them that nice "halo" effect... good stuff. Then comes a favorite of mine- hoof stripes! Yeah, it is tedious, but I hope you can tell that I love what I do. That said, before I move on, here's a pic of his head that I was working on earlier... All righty... what else have I been up to? Um, I'm working on a few pieces for people, glazing a couple of things to sell myself, working on some auction pieces for a couple of churches, sculpting a couple of things (my little mini foal is coming along! I'll be sure to post pictures soon!), dabbling in other art projects as time allows, dreaming up new art projects (like I really need to be doing that!), and trying to balance family and a social life as well . Oh, and casting more Jitterbugs! I'm hoping to be up to my ears in them soon. Ooodles of Jitterbugs. A dance hall's worth of Jitterbugs! Okay, maybe not that many. But enough to complete the small OF run I want to do. And I'm pretty sure I know the color that I want to do, but I'm not saying just yet (gotta make sure it works!). But most likely, you, dear readers, will be the first to know. Now, before I sign off of this long post, I will leave you with a fun image I took yesterday, at the closing day of the season, at Santa Anita Park. I'm sorry I didn't make it over there quite as often as I'd hoped, but thankfully I've got some good photos and reference sketches to tide me over until the fall. Now to find the time to start the beast!

Finished Medallion

2008-04-04T09:32:00.000-07:00

Well, it has taken me a little while to finally getting around to posting the finished "Moose" medallion for CT River Classic Live- Lesli Kathman reminded me a few days ago, by posting her beautiful glaze job... Maybe one of these days I will get 'on the ball'... that is if I can ever find it! Perhaps it is hidden somewhere in my messy room... anyhow, I digress. So here you go- my little contribution- I ended up going with the blue eye after all! He's currently up at Silent Auction if any of y'all are interested!

Happy Friday!

It's a baaaaaby!

2008-03-19T11:52:00.000-07:00

Awwww... Sarah's little Pixie.... I got to paint one! I truly love this piece- she was a joy to paint (all that fuzzy hair picks up the paint so nicely), and she just has the cutest baby face... many, many thanks to Sarah for sculpting her, and to Joan for producing her! I admit I liked this piece from the beginning, but I only truly fell in love with her upon seeing her in person. Pictures just don't do her justice! Well, one can try... if you'd like to see more of this particular Pixie, she's up for sale at the moment, on my website. But really- she makes me want to gush. Sarah, you are just so cool!

Busy, Busy!

2008-03-12T11:43:00.000-07:00

Boy, I didn't realize that it has been over a month since my last post! For shame... Well, the good news is that I have been busy working on more shiny things for y'all. Nothing is quite finished, but a bunch of things will be there soon. In the meantime, I thought I would share with y'all my in-progress medallion for CT River Classic Live. The mane is all done & fired- now I'm working on the body- he (or she?) is going to be a frame overo dun. Question is now- brown eye, or blue eye? Decisions, decisions!

My Little Otto

2008-02-07T21:57:00.000-08:00

What can I say? I was a child of the 80's.... Sometimes I worry about the random things that pop into my head. I was putting this guy into the kiln for his bisque fire, thinking to myself, 'Oh, such a cute little pony...' Next thing I know, I've got the "My Little Pony" theme song stuck in my head, which quickly changed to "My Little Otto", and that lead to, well... um, this. And as all Little Ponies do, I thought it just fitting that he should have a tail ribbon. A red tail ribbon, of course! Otto's hair is a bit hard and shiny, so instead of the usual comb I recall, he got a little polishing brush to keep him shiny. Or, satiny, rather. I did him in a semi-gloss/matte finish. Suits him well I think. He does need one more trip back into the kiln, as the glaze is a bit too thin in spots (an easy fix, thankfully!). After that, he can become someone else's Little Otto, when I hold an "Otto Lotto"!

A Parcel of Pins

2008-01-30T09:24:00.000-08:00

I'm seeing spots... and stripes! Time to get theses puppies to their homes. If you are waiting on a pin from me, it'll soon be on its way!

Look who I found...

2008-01-27T17:33:00.000-08:00

I had a plan in mind for my next sculpture, but as I was cleaning my room today, I came across this little filly that I had started and never finished, some three years ago. Granted she needs a bit of work, but looking at her, I'm thinking it wouldn't take me too long (in the downtime between my more pressing projects!), to correct her, finish her up & mold her. She's a wee thing- a miniature horse foal, and she's about 3" tall (I guess that would make her traditional scale?!). And the really fun part would be that I could paint her in just about any color... So what do you think folks, should I go for it?

Get Fuzzyness

2008-01-24T08:25:00.000-08:00

I am very endeared to my friend who got me Bucky Katt's Big Book of Fun; a compilation of comics from my favorite strip, "Get Fuzzy", by Darby Conley. I can't even begin to describe how the bizarreness of this strip touches me. It is that odd, nameless, shiny quality that attracts me like a magpie... The same quality I've found in Story People, and my beloved Pratchett books. But of course, "Get Fuzzy" has animals in it. The cantankerous cat, the loving (if clueless) dog, their hapless owner... It's like "Garfield" all gone wrong. It's delicious. I'm sure many of you are fans too.

So I was having trouble getting to sleep one night last week; I decided I felt like drawing something. I looked over at my cat- sleeping peacefully on my bed- and I looked over at my desk with the Get Fuzzy book, and I had an idea... Above of course, you see the outcome. I had wondered what my cat Jeanie might look like, had she stepped into the "Get Fuzzy" world. Now I know. And I'm sure she'd give Bucky a run for his money...

Scritchyness!

2008-01-19T13:39:00.000-08:00

The Spinnaker currently up for grabs on my website is perhaps the "scritchiest" horse I have ever scritched! Those little tick marks came from a rapidly moving x-acto blade... or rather, several! But it was worth it, to get that roany looking pattern you see on certain sabinos. And as this was the last Spinny I may ever get to paint, I thought I'd try for something challenging... not to mention flashy! Still, I am glad he was a mini... Don't want to think how long it would have taken me (or just how crazy I'd go during the process), if he was a traditional sized horse! Man, props to you Breyer etchers out there!

If you'd like to learn more about this Spinny, and see more pics, please click here.

Painting & Glazing

2007-12-10T08:14:00.000-08:00

Howdy, folks! Hope this holiday season is going along merrily for you! I know it has taken me some time, but here, finally, is my painting & glazing demo with pictures. This is just a basic overview of the process for interested parties. I will try to explain it well enough that anyone might understand; please let me know if you have any questions!

First step- Begin with a bisque horse! Although it is possible to start painting a horse while it is still greenware (un-fired), painting on bisque just gives me better peace of mind. I begin by drawing out the pattern in pencil. A rubber eraser works best if I want to change anything (it doesn't smudge). I look at pictures of patterns before I start on any horse. Here I used a pattern my friend Lesli picked out:

Second- Masking. On this guy you will see a variety of possible masking materials. I don't quite know why I used so many on this piece- it is just the way it worked out. The green is saran wrap, the silver is foil, the blue is painter's tape (love that stuff) and the pale peach is masking fluid (for the finer details. I like the edges left by painter's tape- it often works to a nice effect when masking).

Third step- Painting! Starting light to dark, I airbrushed a number of underglaze colors here, painting the horse. I was careful to avoid getting too much chestnut color on the forelock, as I wanted it to be flaxen. All the light areas are left light through a similar avoidance. The grey muzzle and eyes were last, with a touch of black for contrast.

Forth step- All peeled! You can see there is much work to be done in terms of cleaning up the edges and shaping the cat-tracks, etc. All that is done with a combo of x-acto knife (I go through many blades!), typewriter eraser, and sometimes a bit of sanding with a sponge.

The fifth- More masking!! Okay- the edges are all cleaned up, yet I want to add a bit more color to his tail. I did this last so I wouldn't risk rubbing the tail while I worked on the body.

Sixth- A little more cleaning of edges to get the tail where I wanted it, and he was ready for another bisque fire! Even though he's been bisqued once, it was important to bring him up to the higher bisque temp again so that the colors would turn out as bright as they are supposed to be. He came out of the second bisque fire looking pretty much the same, except that the paint was set & less fragile.

Seventh step- Detailing. I tidied up those edges, got the areas I missed, and then I hand-detailed the eyeballs, hooves, chestnuts, and fiddled with his cat-tracks some more. Oh yes, and I painted his nose pink! Sorry no pictures of this...

Eighth- glazing. I sprayed him all over with pink glaze that becomes clear when fired. No picture of this step, but here's an approximation of what it looks like (thank you photoshop!):

Finally, the glaze fire. And praise the Lord, he's all done! Yay! Now to start all over again on another piece...!

The end.

New Website Design!

2007-11-19T08:32:00.000-08:00

Yep, I thought it was about time I came up with a fresh, new design, so here it is! Not everything is quite working yet, but I wanted to debut my new Angel Ornament before it got too close to Christmastime! So without further ado- my new website. The new "Sales Arena" page with the Angel ornament can be found here. I will be taking orders on her, and the rest of the pins until December 1st. Ordering will then resume January 1st, as it gets too crazy trying to ship too late in December!

Please feel free to email me any thoughts or comments you might have about the new design. Until I get it finished, you may find links to a couple of the old galleries by scrolling to the bottom of the homepage.

Cheers!

Sneaky peek...

2007-10-18T16:45:00.000-07:00

Today I couldn't resist sharing a sneak peek of one of the soon-to-be-lotteried Jitterbugs! Yes, it seems an overwhelming 64% of you prefer lotteries as a mode of sale, so here we go! My goal right now- provided all goes well, of course- is to lottery off two Jitterbugs at the end of this month. I may only get one finished, but I am aiming for two. And for all those interested, I'm pricing them at $525 each, ppd/insured through UPS. I will be making an announcement on my Yahoo Group about the lottery when it goes into effect. If you are not a member of my Yahoo Group, I've placed a convenient link on the right hand side of my blog for your Yahoo Group joining pleasure.

Cheers!

Back at the Track!

2007-10-17T10:30:00.000-07:00

Finally made it back to Santa Anita today! I'd been hoping to go more often to sketch, but a 3-week stint house-sitting in another city got in the way a bit (but I got to take care of an adorable dog, so that made up for it!). Anywho, as I was leaving Clocker's Corner, I spotted an artist working on a big, beautiful painting of horses breaking from the starting gate. Her name is Kathy Pate, and she was wonderfully nice, and was happy to hear that I sculpted horses. She really made my morning- it is always nice to run into other artists who take an interest. I'd been brushed off by a few in the past, and it is heartwarming to know not everybody in the larger equine art world is like that!

I heart Terry Pratchett

2007-09-26T18:08:00.000-07:00

Or at least his writing! Haven't met the man personally... I can't tell you how many of his books I've read- just about all I suppose, but not quite. Anywho, those who are familiar with his "Discworld" series know it contains a fabulous cast of characters. One of my favorites is a werewolf named Angua who is on the city night watch. Just today I came across a contest on Pratchett's publisher's site with a contest challenging fans to draw their favorite character. I couldn't resist, and thus I am submitting this sketch. I set out to make her rather tough looking- as this is the facade the character tries to maintain. Yet, she looks rather vulnerable in this drawing; much as official artist Paul Kidby usually depicts her. Guess that's the way she's meant to be...

No Brain, Whatsoever...!

2007-09-20T23:42:00.000-07:00

Somehow, somehow I managed to misspell my name while listing my auction. In the title of all places! Was it just another of 'those days' or am I ready to admit that I need professional help??

;P

He's Up!

2007-09-20T18:01:00.000-07:00

The first Jitterbug I have ever glazed is now up at auction on eBay! Yay! Hope y’all like his spotty (well, not too spotty- he IS a snowcap) goodness! And please bear with me, as I still haven’t got the pirateness of yesterday out of my system… ;)

Here's the Link!

Huzzah!

2007-09-19T15:39:00.000-07:00

Avast ye readers! If ye not be knowing th' international holiday I be celebratin' this day, then I'd be callin' you a right poxy landlubber! Arrrgh! Course 'tis much later in th' day than I thought I'd be gettin' this blog 'o mine up, but wi' me plunderin' an pillagin' an enjoying me rum, an swabin' th' decks, an enjoying a bit more rum, and suchlike today... aye, such a busy life, that 'o a pirate! So me scurvy mateys, I leaves ye wi' a teaser o' what's to come up on th' likes o' ebay upon the morrow. 'Tis none other than Captain Jitterbug the Snowcap!

Enjoy, me hearties, and Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day to ye! ARRRR!

Mad Bonny Adalee ;)

Clocker's Corner

2007-09-18T10:14:00.000-07:00

Well, I made it to my first (since coming back to CA) morning workout at the track today to sketch horses and take pictures. It was a lovely morning- I'm thankful it has gotten a bit cooler here; that means fall* is just around the corner! I love crispy air... Anyhow, while it is still a challenge to me to capture those fast moving forms, I'm delighted that I can stand in probably the same spot at the same track Maureen Love used to sketch at, oh so many years ago. I figure if I keep up with the sketching, with any luck I'll be able to improve my eye-hand coordination and learn more about the anatomy of the animal I love to sculpt. Yay for morning workouts!

*Having lived in other parts of the country now, the word fall is a relative term. I don't think many places would consider what we have during the months of Sept-November to be "fall"...

:)

Yeah, me too!

2007-09-17T20:07:00.000-07:00

All aboard the blog bandwagon! Yes, this is me jumping into the fray of model horse blogdom. I saw many of my friends having fun and connecting with their customers in this new* and exciting way, and I thought, why not me too? After all, who wants to be the last one standing there on the roof? (Ala, "If all your friends jumped off...?"). So here it is- the Velasquez Artistry blog. All new and shiny. Just the way I like things... :) Speaking of shiny (as I often will), I've got something I am quite excited about in the kiln right now. If all goes well, he should be up for sale rather soon. I took a pic of him right after I finished his mane, as I thought it looked neat & contrasty. He's definitely not shiny in this picture, but think of it as fuel for your imagination...

*Okay, so blogs really aren't that new, but they are fairly new to me, and my slightly technophobish ways.