Right on Schedule

It’s been darn hard to resist the temptation to buy things as it is, but now one of my local independent toy stores is going out of business, and the clearance sale starts Thursday! Argh!

Sigh. They were a Flagship Store, and they sometimes held Breyer Events; I think they actually hosted the last official event Peter Stone attended for Breyer (remember the Mustang Rawhide?) – and one of the first public events for “The Peter Stone Company”.

It’s on the other side of town and I have plenty of other stores to take care of my model horse fix, so there is no need to worry about my long-term shopping needs. But it’s going to be hard to resist this sale, no lie. Especially since I am now considering doing the BreyerFest Customs Contest, and I might need a Carrick body.

I cannot believe I am even thinking about it. It all started about a week ago, when I unboxed the Cortes C I bought for the Customer Appreciation Sale. Here he is:

As I was admiring him and his deepest, darkest chocolate black coat – he’s virtually the same color as that 90 percent cacao chocolate some people think is edible – I suddenly realized that he bore a certain likeness to a racehorse I had a great fondness for back in my racing fangirl days.

It’s someone fairly famous who I am genuinely surprised no one has done a portrait of yet; at least, not that I can recall. It’s a project that’s been on my back-back burner, well behind the other unfinished customs I’ve started over the years … along with all those quilts, and novels, and everything else, too.

But I made a promise to myself to finish unfinished projects this year, and keep new projects to a minimum. I have a difficult enough time getting all of my usual silliness done for BreyerFest: another entry, for another contest? Am I mad?

On the other hand, I did want to seriously start customizing again, and maybe a deadline is the kick in the pants I need to get started.

On the other-other hand, the two potential ideas that I came up with for the Diorama Contest also involve a lot of customizing, and I’ll have at least another extra month to toil on that. (Both involve tack: I will need it.)

Great. Six months away and I’m already stressing out about BreyerFest!

In other words, everything is right on schedule.

(And no, not going to tell you who the portrait is supposed to be. Unless I manage to do it and finish it in time – deal?)