Tales from the Body Box - Blazin Chic Olena

A few years ago, I went to an open day at one of the UK's few QH breeding/showing studs, and found it fascinating getting to see these horses in person for the first time - I owned a few as models, but never really connected with them as the poses were so unfamiliar, reining and cattle-working manoeuvres which were so different to anything I'd seen in my own horsey experience of mounted games, eventing, racing, and heavy horse showing. 

It was really enlightening to watch a champion rider and highly trained Quarter Horse in action, demonstrating and narrating the moves and training for these disciplines I'd heard about but never understood. Having learnt so much about them in one day, I could appreciate my QH models much more.

It was also rather amusing to meet relatives of some horses I'd known as models! Back in 2005, Breyer introduced the Smart Chic Olena model, sculpted and painted as a portrait of the famous Quarter Horse stallion. The horse doing the ridden demo on the open day was one of his sons, Blazin' Chic Olena. When I got home, I got out my model of his sire, and noted there was a strong family resemblance, especially in the face. 

Last year, Breyer added a new miniaturised version of the Smart Chic Olena in their Stablemate range, and when I got a duplicate last week, I had an idea which amused me - I could paint a Smart Chic Olena sculpt as his own son, the one I met up close.
Because all my pictures are rather gloomy indoor shots, here's a professional one out in the sunshine just so you can see him better!

And here's my custom version, where I tried to capture that deep dark coat colour, with a hint of metallic sheen

The mini version looks a bit more plump than the full size sculpt, like he lost a little bit of muscle tone in the shrinking process!

You can kind of see how the gold paint mixed in with the colour layers gives him a shine at different angles, it's quite effective and something I'll try again when painting breed/colour combinations which can have that metallic sheen.

One of the most rewarding things about copying a real horse is the way it forces you to try out different shades of colours you've painted before - I've done loads of chestnuts, but never one with this much warmth in a dark shade.

Nose spots!

Smart Chic Olena, with Blazin' Chic Olena. My own copy of Smart is called Harecroft Autumn Rebellion, so I've named his miniature son Harecroft Blazin' Rebellion.