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A collector since 1997, I am deeply entrenched in the world of the model horse hobby. I have been an active shower for seven years, and I have recently begun judging in the divisions in which I love to show, custom and artist resin halter. I am also a very chatty member of the Model Horse Blab online community, where many of you may know me as "cranbonite." What you might not know is that I am a longtime model horse artist, having painted my first horse at BreyerFest 1998, and I've been hard at work experimenting and improving ever since. I am a finish artist almost exclusively, having only tentatively dipped my toes into the world of sculpting, but pursuing sculpture more seriously is an eventual goal of mine; recently I've decided I might give minor customizing a try. As a painter, I work entirely by hand and paintbrush, using primarily water-miscible oils, but also employing acrylic paints, powder pigments, and colored pencils to great effect. I do not discriminate against any media and use whatever I feel will give me the most realistic look. Realistic, lifelike portrayal of horse colors is the goal at Studio Spirans, and the reason behind my choosing this name. "Spirans" is a Latin word meaning "living" or "breathing" and that is just what I aim to do with my finishwork: complete a fine sculpture so that it truly looks like its living, breathing counterpart. To that end, I am deeply interested in the study of horse color, as I feel it is important to know how colors and patterns work to understand how they play out over a horse's body. I am also committed to using extensive reference photos of the real thing for each horse I paint, and seeing horses up close and in person as much as possible. My biggest influences in the hobby are the oil painting queen Carol Williams, whose Color Formulas and Techniques remains the most significant contribution to my present-day skills; Lesli Kathman, the hobby color "guru," whose articles and chat have sparked my own passion for horse color and my push for realism; and Tracy Eilers and Melanie Miller, two young artists whose work I've watched evolve tremendously over my years in the hobby, and who have patiently provided me with so much encouragement and enthusiasm. Together these fine artists have inspired me to work at making realistic color and convincing detail my biggest focus, and inspired me to experiment with non-traditional approaches to all my media. The model horse hobby has remained a long constant despite numerous life changes since I became involved with it. At the age of 11 when I bought my first Breyer, I was an active rider and dreamed of becoming an equine or zoo veterinarian. Ten years later, I am a graduate of Simon's Rock College, where I majored in - surprise! - history and minored in classics (the latter being my inspiration to use Latin and a Roman theme for my studio). A winding path led me to seriously pursue a career in academia as a historian, but I ultimately realized as I finished my bachelor's thesis in ancient history that nothing has been more constant or pervasive in my life than my love of animals. Now out of school, I am shifting direction slowly but surely. While I have a full-time office job, the most rewarding things in my life are my equine artwork and in particular, volunteering at an animal shelter. I do eventually aim to make animal advocacy and rescue my career in some way, and I plan to do graduate work in public policy or law with a focus on animals and the environment. All the while I hope to keep pursuing my artwork, and would love to have the time one day to expand in the realm of working on other animals aside from horses. I have always been drawn to horses for how closely I could connect with them, but my love of animals truly does extend to just about every creature out there - after all, it was lobsters in the grocery store tank that drove me to become a vegetarian at the age of 9! I currently reside in Somerville, MA (across the Charles River from Boston) with my cat, Jaina, and two betta fish. While I was born and raised in Reading, PA, I fell in love with the New England region while working on my bachelor's in Great Barrington, MA - though really, the first time I set foot in Boston at the age of 10, I knew I would live there one day. My love for the area is not hurt, of course, by the fact that showing and judging in Region X is an absolutely wonderful time! I volunteer at the Massachusetts SPCA shelter in Boston, and I work for Harvard. My other hobbies include reading (especially fiction, history, and science), both playing and listening to music, writing, cooking, travel, and photography. I'd love to hear from anyone interested in my work - feel free to email me at any time! |
