anessa (né Fairs) Crawley was born in South Australia, but has been living in England most of her life. She now lives in a small village in England.

Since she was 12 years old, Vanessa has been collecting models and she's been customizing since she was 19.

Vanessa got involved with model horses after seeing an article in a real horse magazine called Pony, which is still published today. She bought a few customised models from Marilyn Sweet (now of Beswick fame!) and completely fell for the customised models. After seeing what could be done, Vanessa decided to have a go herself, with much help from Marilyn.

Although she has tried countless times to paint by hand, the results have been for the most part unsuccessful, so Vanessa has paints with her favorite medium, an airbrush. She does take on the occassional custom order.

A huge fan of Arabians, Vanessa has owned real horses until 1997. She is happy to be horseless at the moment, but one day when she has more time she plans to have another horse again. Her other main obsession is Border Collie dogs--she has a lovely dog named Barney who is her baby, pride and joy!! She collects Border Collie sculptures too, also Animal Artistry horses, and other resins of all types. (her husband collects wolf sculptures and has a large collection of Royal Worcester horses--between the two of them, there isn't much room left in their house!)

Vanessa would like to thank Marilyn Sweet for all her help in getting Vanessa started with customizing and also Donna Chaney for all her help in the years that she has known her. Vanessa hopes that the future will bring her more time to do a few more customs!

If you would like to get in touch with Vanessa, check out her website below:

Vanessa Crawley
www.horsingaround.com

The Crawley Gallery

Appaloosas

Arabians

Arabian Half-Breds

Ponies

Other Breeds

Top: El Presidente, palomino part bred Arabian colt customized from the Breyer Classic Arabian stallion and owned by Bernadette Treacher; created in October 1990

Bottom: Sacred Spirit, chestnut tobiano Paint gelding customized from the BHR Hunter resin and owned by Vanessa Crawley; created in 1996

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