inda Watson, known in the past as Linda Watson-McCormick,
is from the northwest, and has been active in the hobby for many
years. Not only creating some fabulous horses, but costumes as
well.
Linda started collecting in the 1960's (although she received her first Breyer, an Alabaster Shetland Pony, when she was 5) and in the 1970's joined her first club. She was a big participant in photo showing, usually coming home with a ninth or tenth placing and remebers being very happy about that!.
Her first custom was a Hong Kong Breyer Wanna-be that she painted black and haired with some of her dog's hair trimmings (eek!). She made her own western saddle and used a yarn potholder as the blanket. She then spent the next ten years refining her techniques.
When she moved to the Seattle, Washington area, she met Daphne Macpherson and boy did things happen then! Linda and Daphne started the live show circuit in Washington State. They hosted monthly shows in their garages. It was always worrisome to try to break even on the shows ($30 for awards and $8 entry fees). Eventually, this lead to the Northwest Congress show held each May in Renton, WA. Linda traveled around judging and showing throughout the Northwest.
After a hiatus from the hobby (1997-1999), Linda took up the paint brush again. She moved back to Southern Oregon and assisted with getting shows in that area. Costume making, painting and collecting once again, what bliss.
Update from Linda 2010:
Gosh – where has the time gone??? This has been a decade of changes for me and my studio. And while things have been quite busy here, I have been pretty quiet on the model horse front.
I was lucky enough to be able to take a sculpting class taught by Lynn Fraley a few years ago and have been putting that education to use making medallions and even have a few sculptures in various stages of completion. Maybe some day I’ll even get one finished and produce a resin!
Speaking of resins, this decade has certainly seen some lovely resins produced! And, I LOVE to paint on these exquisite wonders! Basically I have stopped doing any customizing because of the variety of resins available in the marketplace today. Most of the pictures in my archives are of my paint jobs on various artist’s resins. I don’t take custom orders anymore, but rather enjoy painting what I want when I want.
I’ve slowed down quite a bit on attending model horse shows. I did manage to make it to NAN when it was held in Portland. It was great to meet up again with friends from years ago and to be able to drool over the beautiful models competing. Even today’s tack is outstanding. I did host a small model horse show in spring 2010 – I had conveniently forgotten how much work that is! And I do still judge at shows when asked. My collection is quite small compared to what it used to be. I have a conga line going of the Peter Stone Arabians and I love the mini’s – both resins and plastics.
My husband and I have combined talents to make jewelry and I love doing chain maille. In fact, I’m working on a costume for a draft horse, or charger, incorporating the chain maille into the armor. I’ve also started silver smithing and those possibilities are endless. The jewelry aspect of our lives has taken over and we are attending festivals, Farmers Markets and other events to showcase our work.
So, what will the next decade bring? I hope to produce a resin horse or two. I’ll continue to paint and offer pieces when they are ready. And I’ll continue to produce medallions – I’m expanding into dogs and cats now, too. I would like to start casting silver equine jewelry. So, you may not see me at many model shows, but I’ll still be there on the fringes and you can always visit my website to see what’s new.
You can contact Linda by email.
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