Ziryab

Release method: Ebay, Lottery and private sale/private auction only. Contact me via email about the possibility of a private purchase for unpainted copies.

Edition Number: One mold run. Exact number undetermined at this time because casting is not complete.

This is sculpture is a special on many levels for me. It was my first sculpture of a mare and the first created almost entirely 'in the pasture'. She has a lot of personal meaning because she is a portrait of my own mare, RD Ravven Blkbird. Over 50 measurements were taken of Blkbird before I even began putting clay on the armature. When she was within 1 week of foaling (2005), I spent a couple days in the pasture sculpting just her big belly to get all the shapes just right. The circumference of that glorious orb was 8 feet...... the sculpture was done to perfect scale. When a mare is that pregnant, all the rules of anatomy from the elbow to the hip are broken, and there is no other way to sculpt such a thing except from reality. Nothing is as you would think it to be, and a flat photograph cannot do it justice. Veins pop out that you couldn't see before and muscles under the heart girth are stretched at a different angle. Milk veins get huge and the anatomy of a very full udder is totally different from that of a non-pregnant mare. All these details were sculpted. I think she has a spirit and life different from all my former sculptures for this reason. It has taken me over a year to complete this sculpture, but it was well worth the education. Ziryab will be released via Ebay sales, lottery and possibly some private sales.

Introducing the final Artist Version Ziryab, sculpted by Stacey Tumlinson~ known as Zeenat (Arabic for "ornament"). Pastelled by Danielle Feldman to a beautiful, contrasty dapple gray. Danielle's work needs no introduction. She has garnered numerous Championships with her finish work, including National titles, and Zeenat is no exception~ she NAN qualified at her first show and will come with her current NAN card.

Zeenat has multiple shades of grey with subtle fleabites and star dapples; achieving a very soft, yet slightly grainy in appearance dapple grey, just like a real coat. The dapples across her distended tummy are even enlarged to mimic the stretching skin of her growing tummy. And I ought to know, I was pregnant myself during much of her creation!. She has one heel marking to balance out the dark shading on her legs and a lovely blaze and pink snip to show off her delicate Arabian head. She comes to you already NAN qualified in breed at her first and only live show. She is my best dapply grey finish job ever, I am thrilled with the softness and variation throughout her coat. And she is different from the other dapple grey Ziryab resins I've seen, both in color layout and in technique, making her truly unique. Zeenat will be the crown jewel of any collection.

Offers being accepted until April 23. If she is not sold, she will be listed to Ebay.

Artist Version #6: Painted by Cindy Williams. All original casting, a little mane added at the bottom. ~SOLD~

Ziphandele painted by Karen Bartholmew-Dietrich~. Place 2nd behind a Nahar and won the Light Breed Reserve Champion at Tri State Live, Nov. 4th, 2006.

Inspiration for this sculpture: My very beautiful and pregnant arabian mare, RD Ravven Blkbird.