The Equine Art of Blair Lyons
This is a Breyer Phar Lap custom. He is a commission. My task was to give him a total make over. He was
looking pretty gross when he arrived (first pic). I began by shaving off a good half inch from his crest and
sanded off his eyes in anticipation of re-sculpting them. I also removed his mohair mane and tail and his
shoes. However, everything changed when his head fell off.
I had to re-attach it. The person who repo-ed it before forgot to support the head with an armature wire
and used some nasty clay that had disintegrated. Well, he'll be in good shape when I'm finished.
I never did actually strip his paint. Some muscle was added to his hindquarters and barrel to match his
heavy forehand. I sculpted his neck and eyes, added some wrinkling to his face, and gave him more
realistic wiggly lips (with teeth!). My next totally unexpected challenge: his right foreleg fell off. While I was
trying to sand his hoof and leg, I noticed a crack. With a little bit of pressure the crack got bigger until it
finally broke off just below his knee. At least there was an armature wire in this one (although I have no
idea how anyone could rebuild a broken leg without a wire). I am adding to his hooves and his ears, both of
which were very badly sculpted by the factory. His hooves also had holes in them where the past artist had
tried to attach shoes. The glue that was used seems to have been very corrosive.
His mane and tail are now re-sculpted. I tried to make them similar to the length he came with. I also
finished fixing his hooves, finished his stifles, and added boy parts. When I was finished with the
re-sculpting and had just begun the first stages of sanding and priming, his tail fell off! THREE TIMES!!! It
turns out that his last customizer used some kind of paper armature stick in his tail, as well as the same old
clay. I would have scrapped the tail bone and started from scratch in the beginning if I had known that the
tail was not made of original factory plastic. Most artists who put mohair on horses leave the factory tail but
sand it down to just be a tail bone to support the addition of hair. What a wonderful surprise. I had to drill a
hole in my sculpted tail and the horse to insert an armature wire and then use gapoxio to glue it back
together. However, when it kept falling out, I finally made the wire into a corkscrew and drilled a bigger hole
in the body. That tail is not going to fall off again; it is now probably the strongest part of the horse.
He has now been painted a rich palomino color with the same markings he started with. His eyes are very
detailed and realistic. They actually kind of scare me because it looks like he is watching me. I think this is
the fastest paint job I've ever done. It only took me about four days, probably because I was on break and
actually had time to work on him. The final pics are now posted and he is finished! Yay!
Carrots
