Kelly Savage very kindly wrote up this wonderful show report for the blog!
The Dartmoor Live Show was organised by Lauren Islip and held at the Bridestowe Village Hall in Bridestow, Devon, on the North-East border of the Dartmoor National Park on 26th June 2010. This, with the promise of a Cream Tea and Cornish Pasty for lunch made me decide to book a couple of days off work and made a relaxed long weekend of this show! My weekend began on Thursday, I had a few hours of overtime owed so took off home early and got packing. It took me 2 hours to pack up my models, and a further 2 hours to pack my suitcase! My parents live in Birmingham so I stopped over with them Thursday night to break up the 250+ mile trip from Northampton down to Devon. Friday morning I set off on my travels, my trusty Garmin Sat-Nav reassuring me that yes, I should be heading South on the M5! The traffic was quite busy and my trip was interrupted by both a broken down car, and a car-fire in the first 15 miles! So, when the sat-nav told me to turn off I wasn't too surprised. After a while though I was beginning to get a bit nervous, should I really be heading along the A38 for this long? Well, just as I was beginning to worry I passed a field with the most beautiful Clydesdale group in it. I twirled around the nearest roundabout and parked up to take a closer look. The horses were fabulous, an enormous gelding and two beautiful mares. I took a heap of photos, mostly of their legs (for Jasper reference - my heavy horse sculpture for anyone who doesn't know me), and eventually tore myself away to continue on my way. Immediately, the sat-nav directed me back onto the M5 - how did the Garmin know??
I won't bore you with the rest of the journey, it was pretty standard issue athough the super-bright, crisp light of the June sunshine made the landscape glow, so as I headed further South into the more rural areas, my jaw dropped regularly with the fantastic rolling hills and distant horizons. I had booked into a Bed and Breakfast about a mile from the Village Hall, called "Week Farm" - I can heartily recommend it. The farmhouse part that I stayed in was very homely, I was welcomed and made to feel at home immediately by Margaret and John, the owners of the B&B and working pedigree North Devonshire stud (for cows, not horses) and who also turned out to be the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of North Devonshire to boot! I was immediately offered a fresh Cream Tea with scones baked that morning, the perfect refreshment after a long drive! Friday evening, after recovering and freshening up I took the short drive to Bridestowe (pronounced bridd-E-stow) and had a pleasant walk around the village. It is a typical old-school small village, with Post Office, pub and church, a primary school and lots of lovely cottages. The Village Hall is just outside of the village, it's a very new building, just a couple of years old, they're still laying the top-finish on the car-park! As far as village halls go, I was pretty impressed - the car park was right by the door, there were large doors to the rear promising some fresh air and the modern wooden-built building sat beautifully in the Devonshire countryside. There was even a field of young bullocks over the fence.
Satisfied I knew my way, I headed back to get ready - I was meeting Lauren, Marion and Dorothy and her husband for dinner at the local pub called the White Hart. We had the local speciality, fish and chips and were not disappointed, Marion's fish was a whopper and after an hour she had to admit defeat!! The Show report
On the morning of the show I awoke to birdsong and lambs bleating (that sound took me a few moments to work out before I was fully awake!), but as I was so close to the show location I felt relaxed. The doors opened at 9 for a 10 o'clock start, I arrived at 9:30 and about half the entrants had arrived and some were setting up for the performance classes. I immediately had my first "Wow" of the day; an XTara Endurance Arab resin painted to palomino, being tacked up ready for the opening classes. I unpacked my models, I'd donated a trio of Romeo clinky medallions created by Barb Ness for NAN last year (she sent me a selection for my donation of the original) and it was decided to use these as prizes for the UK Workmanship section which I had chosen to sponsor. There were some fabulous prizes for the raffle donated, including a Sarah Rose Doodlebug mini resin, some very sweet custom models and a selection of Breyer goodies including a few traditional models, lots of minis, some accessories and some dogs.
I toured the room and found a fantastic array of models; Julie had, sat on her table in full parade costume, the instantly recognisable Sarah Rose Independance resin customised by Cindy Williams; Deb had a refreshing customised Mini Scarlett resin, with a straightened head which gave the model an interesting twist; Deb also gave me a sneak peek at her show-stopping Independance resin painted by the UK artist Naomi "Nell" Coffin. One model struck me though - a Moore Hall resin painted and shown by the UK's own Heather Irvine, painted in oils to an incredible dappled grey, this was my star model for the day!
The classes kicked off - Lauren's show was an all-rounder; classes for everyone including OFs, customs, resins, chinas (OF and AC), a whole section for AAs, one for Bendies and one for UK Workmanship. Each section had on average about 10 classes which meant some models had to go into a broader class (ie Spanish, Friesian etc all went into "other Light Breed"), but the day saw virtually every kind of model displayed - if you can't get to many shows each year so want to take your whole collection with you, then this is the show for you!
The morning saw the OF and Custom sections, I found myself drawn to the Custom section; there were customs at every level which was a pleasure to see, from those just starting out (very strongly too!), to the likes of an incredible Lynn Fraley custom of, I believe, a Peter Stone draft horse and two awesome Sarah Minkiewicz-Breunig ponies. It was a real treat to see some of these models, very inspirational! The Fraley deservedly (IMO) won the CM Champion place, a too-cute-to-be-true tiny CM Welsh pony won Reserve Champion and a custom ISH model won Res.Reserve Champion.
Lunchtime saw the raffle, hot Cornish Pasties which were a great treat and really stamped the South-Westerly identity onto my show memories, the sales tables which are always fascinating, and then onto the lunchtime classes including the Mare and Foal class, Me and Minime and collectors class which held the largest conga of SM models I think I've ever seen! It was great to see a pair of Breyer models, forgive my ignorance - one is the opposite of the other, they have a pinto pattern in a pearlescent purple-green colour and one model is the negative of the other - well anyway I've not seen these models up close before, the colours just glowed and I found them beautiful! OF course it was impossible to capture the amazing colour, but I did try.
After the fun classes, the AR/AC (Artist Resin / Artist China) and AA (Animal Artistry) classes kicked off. My collection includes mostly these types of models so my afternoon was quite busy. I was quite surprised by the quality of the entrants, not just down to the sculpting and finishwork, but down to the presentation - many entries had professional, laminated breed cards placed alongside the horse which made me think... I think there's an opportunity for someone, especially in the UK as our showing rules are slightly different to those elsewhere in the world, to produce these show-cards - I for one would happily buy them, I would even pay someone to research my models for me; sadly I don't have enough time to research my models fully so I would welcome this! Perhaps someone might have enough time to offer this service (hint hint)?
The AA classes were well populated (even taking into account my lot!) and I was thrilled when the model I had pinned my hopes on; a Chasing Rainbows painted to a roan blanket appaloosa made it through to take AA Champion! Reserve Champion position was taken by an exquisite AAA Quarterhorse owned by Diane, and Res.Reserve Champion was won by a custom-glazed Boxing Shire mini, recently glazed by Joanie Berkwitz (and part of my collection too :).
The Artist resin Championship saw an unusally coloured Valor resin, painted to a grey with bird-catcher spots, I don't know the correct term for this colour. Reserve Champion was taken by a resin I don't know the name of - a cutting horse painted to an awe-inspiring appaloosa (ed: This was an Ima Sharpe Cutter resin), and Res.Reserve Champion was taken by a Mini Independance resin painted a scrumptious subtle paint.
The Bendy section passed me by unfortunately, I recognised the Julips, a few Equorum models and a few other bendable models (including an extremely flexible model of Jackie's). The Champ and Reserve both went through to the Supreme Championship though, which I was pleased to see - these were a white-grey Arab I believe, and a big chunky chestnut that I found adorable (and I don't even "do" bendies!).The UK Workmanship section was a fabulous showcase of the UK's talent, and though these models didn't go through to the Supreme (which could have caused a conflict due to them being in other breed classes also), they had their own championship. The top model here was that amazing Independance resin I'd got a sneak peek at earlier in the day - I have to agree though, the finish on him was absolutely flawless and the colour just radiated! Res.Champion went to a Little One resin painted by Jane Burn I believe, and Res.Reserve Champion went to a gorgeous little Sarah Rose Hadrian resin painted and tacked up in sircingle (sp?) and ribbons and painted to a luscious dappled black by Jackie Radwanski. Jackie joked that she should start painting again, suggesting this was an older model - if this was the standard of her work a while ago then I definitely feel she should get to work!
The Supreme lineup for the day consisted of the Champion and Reserve Champion for the OF, CM, AR, AA and Bendy sections and was a sight to behold, the quality of the models was astounding. Judging took quite a while, but the final Supreme lineup saw Lauren's unique bird-catcher spotted Valor resin take the Supreme Championship title, with the Fraley PS draft custom model taking Reserve Champion, and my little AA Roan Appaloosa jumping model brought home the Res.Reserve Champion rosette.
All considered the day a success, the only mild concern being the heat and humidity but that was out of anyones control and with the doors open we got a slight breeze, the sun didn't cause an issue as the closed doors had curtains to block it out. The show ran smoothly, the atmoshere was light and cheery, and to top it all off the raffle raised enough money to sponsor both a Dartmoor pony AND an Exmoor pony for a year.
On Sunday I took a trip to the other side of Dartmoor to the Miniature Pony Centre - I have NEVER met any small ponies so relaxed around people, even the mares with very young foals were relaxed and happy for even small children to approch the foals and greet them. It's well worth a visit and at £7.50 I felt extremely good value for money. I took a drive back through the middle of Dartmoor National Park which I won't even attempt to describe or this will become an even more epic tale, but suffice to say that my artistic mojo, which has been missing for a few months, has now been thoroughly restored and I am becoming more in love with what this country has to offer - from our artistic talent, our Cornish pasties and clotted cream teas, to our native ponies and the breathe-taking scenery they habit. This continent has so much to offer and I look forward to embracing this in my own work and my travels.
Right, where to next.....!
