Giddyup!

Horses, horses, horses! It's pretty much all one of my daughters thinks about. Horse stuffed animals, horse pillows, horse blankets, horse coloring books, horse shirts... you name it. And, of course, Breyer horses.

This past Christmas, my wife gifted her and me with a set of Breyer paint your own horses. Fun! A few weeks ago, we finally sat down for a daddy-daughter craft day and busted out the paints.

Here is one of my efforts. I mostly used the paints that came with the kit, which were surprisingly good and in realistic colors. I did supplement with some Vallejo for the hooves, eyes and such. And I used a Vallejo ink wash to simplify the shading. But overall I think it turned out pretty well.

And the best part is, it was more painting time with my daughter. Always a bonus! I just wish I had taken more photos.

Oh, as a sidenote, she has also talked us into a family trip to Kentucky in July for Breyerfest. Should be horse heaven for a little girl!

Sleeping Beauty

Wake up! Oh, I'm supposed to kiss her? Well, that's kind of weird, since she's only about 7 inches tall.

I think painting her was enough, don't you? Yup, I finally finished another one of these Disney Paint Your Own Statue things. I painted Snow White a couple years ago, then got busy with other things. But now with my mantra of catching up on old projects, here is Sleeping Beauty. Or Brier Rose, if you prefer.

These are quite fun to paint. You can do them as simply or as elaborately as you wish. My daughters have painted up a few to practice their brush skills, but I use an airbrush to try to get as smooth a finish as possible. I actually use Ceramcoat craft paints, thinned with water and a bit of a flow agent. You have to be careful not to get them too thin (first coat of her dress, ahem), but too thick and it can really clog the airbrush. Like most things, practice, practice, practice!

The hair I actually did use a brush with some Vallejo Pale Yellow. Same for some facial details, including the lips and eyebrows, with some drybrush rouge. I did the eyes with a technical pen.

I still have a bunch of these in the stash, with Belle up next, followed possibly by Ariel. But it's not all princesses - there are some Monsters Inc. characters, Mickey and Minney, and Starlord and Rocket Raccoon. Enough to keep me busy for a while.