Hello all! My name is Sara Bercier, and I’ll be your tour-guide for today! :D
As you can probably tell, I tend to be a little on the goofy side, but I find that it adds a little something to an otherwise “flat” (pun intended) experience on the inter-Web. :D
Anywho – I am a Louisiana-born-and-raised “Cajun” (sometimes country) girl. Along with my various models, I am the proud momma of a few cats, a dog, the occasional fish, and a spoiled rotten ’04 Paint mare, Valentines O Rio (Val).
I am the second child of six, which may lend towards my sometimes spastic, often kooky, but never diminishing attitude! I have sketched and drawn horses since I could hold a pencil properly – not that it helped me at first, LOL. (My first horse drawing had no ears, no tail, only two legs, and was VERY obese.) XD
I started unintentionally “collecting” Breyers at the ripe old age of 13, when another close friend of mine presented me with a running stock horse for my birthday. The model-horse bug caught, and I now own an assortment of Breyers, a Stone or two, and a shelf full of resins I just COULDN’T say “No” to! …Nothing like hundreds of eyes staring at you from a shelf on the wall to make you feel sane :D
Through a Science Fair project in high school, I acquired my uncle’s two Quarter horses, which lead to my tutelage under a wonderful friend-of-the-family in All Things Horse. With Marie’s guidance, I developed my equestrian skills and began competing in a few local shows, as well as training young horses (especially my own) in English and Western etiquette. When I lost my two QH’s to COPD and old age, respectively, a show-colleague gave me the opportunity to train a couple of his two-year-olds in exchange for another. Thus, I acquired my Paint mare, Val, and she is the absolute love of my life! (And a total brat sometimes, but I love her anyway :D)
...Slight switch of gears here, so please bear with me!
Because of the amount of “horse-time” I have been exposed to these past five years, I am an admitted and dedicated victim to the parentally-terrifying “Horse Bug.” This disease has grown to encompass all things horse or remotely horse-like – including the model world! Driven by a desire to start immortalizing the equine teachers I have come to know, I renewed my sketching with a fervor! Yet, it did not seem enough to me, not quite… So I started looking into the sculptural aspect of art, and stumbled across a few very helpful (and very addicting!) sites regarding model horses and their creation and customization. Thus began a new journey…
In the summer of 2007, I discovered the world of model horse showing and found to my utter amazement that a show was held in my very own town every year in November! The best part was, the showholder was a very sweet lady that I knew from the real horse shows I attended locally! I thought, “No way!!” and so I contacted her, bought my first resin, painted my first model, and attended my first model horse show! The rest, as they say, is history!
Since that fateful year, I have gotten a little more involved in the model horse world – purchasing more resins and props for my next show appearance, and meeting all sorts of wonderful, helpful people that populate this incredible hobby of ours – online as well as in person.
In late 2008/early 2009 I put my sanity and free time on the line and applied to LSU’s School of Veterinary Medicine. Becoming an equine veterinarian has been a dream of mine since before I can remember… and soI was shocked and awed when I was accepted into the Class of 2013 (that would be the graduating Class of 2013)! So, I packed my stuff and headed to Baton Rouge to start this incredible new chapter in my life.
The only down-side to this incredible opportunity is that I now have a much more limited amount of time available to me to work with Val, or to work on painting these beautiful models. :(
Due to this rather extreme limitation to my free time, I can only accept commissions on a case-by-case basis. This doesn’t mean I *won’t* take commissions, it just means that any commissioner must fully understand that my schoolwork MUST come first, so a model may take a very long time to be completed [a completion date for a commissioned model cannot (and will not) be promised or guaranteed in any way. I realize this is not ideal for many people, but it is unavoidable].
I still plan to work on my “studio horses” in the meantime, and will, hopefully, be able to crank out a few horses every year. [These models are resins or plastics purchased by myself that are subjected to my demented brain. I don’t typically customize resins – but those poor plastics are in for it!!! :D]
These pieces will be put on my Upcoming/For Sale page. I will try not to tease by putting a model I plan to keep on that page, but not all models stake their claim as mine early on. However!! Most of the models that go on there ARE planned for future sale and are open for offers! Should you “pre-purchase” a custom or resin, *you* can (and do!) have a say in the markings/patterns (and color if it hasn’t been started yet) the model will eventually have. Please see the Upcoming/For Sale page for more information on that!
I have yet to find that “perfect model” out there that I can immortalize my sweet ’n sassy girl, Val, on – so one day I may just sculpt her myself. Looking at my current and future workload, however… That might be a LOOOoooOOOng way off!
But! I do still have a custom or two up my sleeves that I want to work on – and maybe a draft mare or miniature stud I’ve been fiddling with as a starter sculpture… so keep your eyes peeled for updates on those!
I opened a Blog so those brave souls can glimpse into my weekly (or bi-weekly, as the case may be) life and the inner-workings of my mind, should they so choose. :D You can see it here: http://rockingshipstudios.blogspot.com/
I also have a Yahoo group that I post all of my commission openings, sales pieces, etc. to first! Want to be among the first to know what I’ve got in store? Look here- YahooGroup
After my group has been notified and given a few days to mull over “first dibs” I will post sales and offerings to MH$P (or to MyAuctionBarn). For some reason, I cannot get the proper links for either, but, if you would like, you can look me up on both of those sites under these names:
MH$P: Sara Bercier
MyAuctionBarn: My screenname here is “dreamweaver88”
Thanks for reading!