Another Very Little Lady

So, my hands are tied time-wise at the moment, but I am finding little opportunities here and there to squeeze in some creativity.

My next project (before the Hullabaloo foal) is to finish the Broodmare version of The Babysitter.  From the very beginning I planned two versions of the model and it feels good to finally get cracking on the little broodmare.  As with The Babysitter, her current name is Very Little Lady, but this may change – I’m toying with “Itty Bitty Broodmare” but I’m sure a name will come up that fits – any suggestions just let me know via email or comments on this blog or Facebook.

So, here is the Babysitter:

And here are the beginnings of Very Little Lady:

Gruesome I know, but I needed to take her apart in order to rebuild her into her new form.  The difference between a race-fit thoroughbred and a broodmare are astonishing, she will be revamped almost everywhere!  I actually went even further than the photo above, splitting the chest down the middle separating the two front leg/shoulders and adjusting the angles on the legs and hooves too.

Here she is a few days later, looking perhaps slightly uncomfortable in her little travel box (she has a bigger one now I am pleased to say!).  I used aluminium wire for the neck as I don’t know what position it will be in at this point – it’s nice and bendy so allows for tight packing and lots of repositioning as I experiment!

Now for the fun, I knew I wanted to swap the legs round, as this photo shows:

This of course means there will be lots of reworking to the whole back end, all four feet and the shoulders.  It was always my intention to make BIG changes to this little model, even though I have been very open about the fact that there would be two versions, I wanted to make sure the new model is very different to the last and that they won’t necessarily need to compete directly against each other at any Live Shows they are presented at, as I know this can be a concern for some collectors.

So now I just have to work and rework the areas I’ve changed and make a decision on the neck and head positions.  Using the wire to reattach the head allows me to try out a few poses (I did measure it and have attached the wire where the horse’s spine would be, allowing for natural movement while I decide how to pose her, even though in these shots it isn’t bent exactly correctly!):

Here is the model as of last night when I reattached the backside and back legs:

And finally here she is after today’s lunchtime filing session, where I filed down some of the areas that need reworking, for instance the back legs; the near side leg needs building up along the front and the offside leg needs building up along the back as their new angle doesn’t work with the original parts.  I will go further with these amendments but didn’t want to file either leg so thin that it might break before I can rebuild it.  The pasterns will be remodelled and any leg-length issue will be addressed once I have finalised the pose.  Here she appears a little heavy to the rear end, this is (hopefully) an optical illusion due to her having no neck but I will be checking everything all over many times before she is finished – this is no mere cut and shut I can promise!

I’ve not addressed the neck area yet, I need to get a copy of Very Little One and position it near to her so I can set the scene for them and pose her in a nice, natural, nurturing position.  Her shoulders will of course need reshaping once the neck set is decided.

This model is going quite quickly (for me), even taking into account the fact it is a re-work rather than a sculpt from scratch.  I have a lovely feeling when I work on her, possibly due to the warm welcome The Babysitter has had from collectors so I am hopeful she will also be well received, or perhaps because she is going to be in such a natural and relaxed pose (I do try to relate to my models as I sculpt) that I also relax whilst working on her, or maybe it’s just because I know that, finally, I am going to be able to offer all those Very Little orphans a mother to love and look after them.

Perhaps I should name her Atonement?