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Friday, November 19, 2010

Lizi Ruch - Artfully Equestrian

"Country Hunter"

I had the privilege of spending the morning with a talented artist and equally interesting fellow horse lover today, Lizi Ruch. Lizi is so kind, she took the time to show me some of her projects in the works, pictures of her horses, and I had the pleasure of meeting her two wonderful doggies, Jessie and Zazu. It is always fun to meet a new horse person to share stories with.

"Resting in Reno"


After graduating with a B.A. from Transylvania University and while working on a graduate degree, Lizi taught art and served as department chair at Eastern High School in Louisville. She completed an M.A. in Ceramic Sculpture from University of Louisville and began to create work for showings in local galleries. This work featured animated sculptural interpretations of local restaurants and residences rendered with whimsy in ceramic form. Many of these pieces are still treasured today by their owners as estate heirlooms.

Awarded a partial scholarship to study at Parsons School of Design, Lizi moved to New York City. Upon graduating with a B.F.A. in fashion design, Lizi launched her own knitwear business (with the help of a very supportive dad). Her designs were sold throughout high-end specialty stores like Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus as well as the Neiman Marcus Christmas catalog. Lizi Ruch Designs were also selected by the PGA as opening merchandise for the golf championship at Valhalla.

Lizi has taught within the fashion design departments of both Parsons and Otis College of Art and Design, and currently works as a freelance consultant and instructor at Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM). Still crazy about horses and animals, she is passionate about the sport of foxhunting. As a member of the West Hills Hounds and an occasional guest riding with both Santa Fe and Santa Ynez Valley Hounds, Lizi has had plenty of opportunities to gather inspiration for her current passion and artistic endeavors. Lizi lives in Marina Del Rey, California with her husband Harvey Plotnick and their two four-legged children, Jessie and Zazu. Unfortunately, her trusty steeds, Chuckee and Woody, have to live in Chatsworth (because there isn't much grass at the beach), but she makes the trek to the barn on an almost daily basis. Lizi is regularly commissioned to paint horses, hounds, and dogs of every sort, both on canvas and clay. Her ceramic sculpture of the barn at "Runnymeade" (located in Woodside, Calif.) won third place at the Draft Horse Classic. She is currently painting hunt scenes that highlight open western landscapes. Two of these paintings were selected to tour with the Masters of Foxhounds Association of America MFHA Centennial Traveling Art Exhibition, which initiated in New York City in January 2007. Her illustrations for “A Horse Named Duke” (a child’s horse story) and the paintings may be viewed via the Gallery within the Web site. She is currently marketing her spectacular line of "hunt theme" dinnerware and gifts and plans to add some fun new designs for upcoming markets.



Her beautiful china can be found in many stores listed here. A few are...Horse and Hound Gallery, Equestrian Collections, Beval, Malvern Saddlery, Equine Chic for Horse & Home


Her GLASSWARE, PAINTINGS, PINS, NOTE CARDS,& OTHER ITEMS can be purchased through Artfully Equestrian

Friday, November 12, 2010

Mazzy update


Mazzy has been really enjoying herself. She gets a morning swim in the aquatread and then a nice walk on the eurociser. What a life!


I then ride her around the racetrack. So fun! She feels great after her little vacation.

Friday, October 29, 2010

Happy Halloween!

Ray Villafane, America's favorite carver .Two-Time Winner of Food Network's Outrageous Pumpkins Challenge Show....

If you would like a tutorial on how to carve these pumpkins, Ray Villafane has one you will never be able to follow, but it is fun to look at anyway:http://www.villafanestudios.com/pumpkins.htm
Bruno Bohrer inspects a Trojan Horse made entirely of pumpkins and gourds on his farm in the German district of Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald. Each fall, he commissions a series of harvest-themed sculptures to attract diners to a restaurant on his farm.

The AOHA State Championship Show has costume lead-line class with amazing costumes. Here are a few pictures I found from it:

John Deere Tractor and the Farmer's Daughter
Cinderella
Amazing Breyer horse costume!

Here are a few other cute costumes:

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Rainy day creations

The weather hasn't been too good for riding lately, very wet and rainy. So I've been making some jewelry instead. Last night a message from the National Weather service came out: SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING...
"DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL ARE LIKELY. GO INSIDE A STURDY BUILDING AND STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS!"
Really? Hmmm, the big storms must have missed my area, we just got some rain.

"And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain, there would be no rainbow." Jerry Chin


Gold Good Luck Horseshoe Necklace

The Chocolate Blues Bracelet


Verdigris Equestrian Necklace

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Microworlds

I am fascinated by what people do with miniatures only millimeters tall....

MINIMIAM: Pierre Javelle, Akiko Ida
Cracks in, what would appear to us as, a basic Eclair, turn into a hazardous fault line and peas become weights lifted by an Oldtime Strongman. Slinkachu
In his street art/photography campaign, The Little People Project, his miniature figures from train sets or architect models are photographed and then left to fend for themselves in the bustling city, for those with keen eyes to stumble upon. "When you are a kid, you are always looking at the ground picking up bugs and things. As you get older you stop doing it, so I thought about what surprising little things I could leave for people to find" he said.
The one above had a speaker hidden in the drain that played sounds of screaming kids and splashing.
Commuting - Metro goes micro...

Unnoticed by cleaners and most of the working population, a five millimeter tall man could be found patiently waiting for a lift outside the Whaf's DLF station on North Colonnade (UK).

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Miniature art of Kendal Murray
"Family Recruit Fruit Pursuit" Kendal Murray 14.5 x 18.5 x 14 cm
"Dog Awash Backyard Splosh" Kendal Murray 10.5 x 10 x 10.5 cm


Audrey Heller composes delightful photographs of miniature people engaged in herculean tasks, many involving food.
This is taking it to the extreme....
Micro-sculptor Willard Wigan, known all around the world for his miniature sculptures that are invisible to the naked eye. Willard uses tiny homemade tools and paints with a hair plucked from a housefly's back (the fly has to have died from natural causes, as he refuses to kill them for his art) and carves microscopic figures from grains of rice or sand or sugar. The sculptures, which often take months to complete, are then mounted on pin heads or needles.
Another extremist: Nikolai Aldunin works between the beats of his heart, in order to keep his hands perfectly still. Using superglue, syringes and toothpicks, he creates works of art so tiny, a microscope is needed to see them.
Aldunin's work naturally leads to some frustration. It took Aldunin six months to create this gold AK-47 (yes, that is a matchstick it is on!). It consists of 34 individual parts. Aldunin's work naturally leads to some frustration. While crafting the miniature rifle, he lost the weapon's butt after having worked on it for two weeks. I would want to shoot myself with that tiny gun!
Seven camels in the eye of a needle

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Catch Up

I know I have not been very good at keeping up with my blog lately. Time just seems to get away from me these days. I want to make things more efficient, I want to be more productive, but there just aren't enough hours in the day sometimes. Work consumes most of my day and then its an hour and a half drive to ride and take care of my horses. I try and spend some time with my wonderfully understanding husband on the nights he is home, and work on my jewelry on the other nights. Household duties...I'm not even going to go there.

The weather here has been crazy!!! We had record breaking temperatures in the 100's two weeks ago (113 degrees on 9/27!!!). Kylie had already grown a 2 inch long winter coat, so she got body clipped. Last week it rained and dropped into the 50's, so I had to put a sheet on her. Now it is back to about 80 degrees and low 60's at night.

Mazzy's coat isn't nearly as thick as Kylie's, so she hasn't needed a body clip yet. It sure is shiny and dappaly (is that a word?), must be all the good stuff they are feeding her. She gets a hot lunch everyday. I can start riding her again at the end of the month, and I know we are both going to miss all the pampering she gets at the place she is at now!!!




A new equestrian mixed media necklace creation. It has a fox hunting theme. I'll be posting it in my etsy shop soon.
Here are some new goodies I just got with a verdigris patina that I can't wait to create with.


We saw Berlin at the Brixton this past weekend. Our friend Carlton is the guitarist in the band, so we got to go back stage! They played a great show including "Take My Breath Away" from Top Gun, “Sex (I'm A...),” “The Metro,” “You Don't Know,” “No More Words”. Carlton just released a solo project, Shades of Scar "The Hollow Season", available through itunes. If you are into Electronic/Synth/Industrial/Darkwave music, you should check it out.
Terri Nunn

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