These stilt-walkers are something I made this Halloween.  It took 60+  hours of research and construction.  The major source of inspiration was a video I found on YouTube by Garen and Melissa called "4 legged stilt costume - handmade"

 I will add more photos and videos of our test runs and show I the bodies were built.  They are built up with foam and surprisingly light!  Below are some of the  early steps in the creation.

 

Thanks also to CricketBoy Studios for the informational video called "How to Build and Walk on Stilts."

Winter is for Wacky and Wild Art Making

There are still a few more winter months left, and this is the time for making art. Do you have a parade coming up in the spring? Maybe you will need a giant puppet! For a child's party, sock puppets can be pre-made or used as an activity for kids to create their own. Maybe you have an idea for 2010 Halloween....I can make a wonderful costume for you. Yes, Halloween is a long way off, however if you wait until August or September I may be too busy with horses. Now is the time for making art!



Here is a photo sample of some of my creations including sock puppets, Giant puppets, costumes and such. There are more photos of various costumes I've made coming....I need to find help to do this project! I can make these sorts of things for you, or make a construction of your own brilliant idea. I love to make things, so let me help with my years of experience.











































































































































































































































********* My newest passionate idea: to learn to make beautiful and functional SWIMMABLE Mermaid Tails!! I've been doing the research and have plans on how to create a couple different prototypes.

Last fall while I was interviewing in Florida for my horse training position and auditioning at Arabian Nights Dinner Theater in Orlando, I had the warm, outdoor pool all to myself one night. After getting bored of swimming laps, I began to play and thought: "If I were wearing a mermaid costume, would I drown?" So I practiced swimming with my legs stuck together, and no, I didn't drown. It was lots of fun. Hence the desire to make a really beautiful mermaid costume that you can swim in.

I am looking for a few people interested in participating in the creation of the first tails with an incentive of a price discount and of course you keep the mermaid costume.

Feeling like making your own costume/puppet/art? I can share tips on how to make any of the things you see here. Or call on me to custom make just what you desire.
Sara

Rowdy driving in town

I'm back from Florida, and will be posting my horse training content to www.saralicht.com

This site will remain open and be updated for the art related projects and ideas that I do. Remember to visit the Murals section, all of those links are on the right hand column of the page.
My contact information is the same; please feel free to ask me questions about anything.

Here's a photo of Rowdy, my miniature, driving in Blue Mounds this spring. Rowdy is very happy in his new home (close to mine) where he has acres to run and graze with his fellow miniature friends. Miniatures must not have too rich of a diet. Rowdy's pasture has a good number of horses on it to keep the grass down so that no one eats too much.

***Note: after the evenings began to get cool (remember this past summer - when it was NOT hot?), the sugar content of the grass elevated and Rowdy had to say goodbye to the green pasture due to painful hooves. Sorry, dear. He recovered and has been doing fine. He gets a few bites of grass while on training breaks with Sara, and of course he still gets some carrot bites and vitamin snacks) 1/8/2010

Keep checking in here, and hope to see you at www.saralicht.com! Call or email me with questions about training or art.
Sara Licht
(608)215-5200
saralicht@yahoo.com

Last Paintings before I move to Florida

Hey, did you know I've accepted a position in Florida? It will be to train beautiful warmblood horses while I get schooled in the art of Dressage. Valhalla Farm has gorgeous horses and a friendly crew. I am very excited about this opportunity to learn from such talented riders! Rainy will be coming down there with me. Click here to see their site.

Anyways, my last painting hurrah while here resulted in these fun images. You can see them at Absolutely Art on Atwood Avenue in Madison.

New Paintings

Van Gogh Mural at Vernon Creek Gallery of Art - Completed!

It's finished! It really only took a few days here and there, but in between those few days were about 8 months. It could sound impressive to say: "This mural took 8 months to complete" if you're into valuing art by how much toil you imagine went into it. This one was pure delight. I took 2 of Van Gogh's paintings and made them into one, and in the center I planted some historic buildings of Mount Vernon. Visit Matt's Gallery to check it out, and to find WONDERFUL solutions for your holiday shopping. He has some fabulous new work. Click here to go to Vernon Creek Gallery of Art website.

To see the earlier stages of this mural, click here.

Police Clinic - in July...

Here's a little catch-up blogging. Remember when it was HOT outside? Dad, Holly, and I took horses to a Police Clinic and they got to play with many toys. There was a podium for the horses to stand on, a water hazard, barrels, scary suspended noodles, and much more. Rainy liked inventing new tricks, and she was rewarded with treats to encourage her creative behavior. We took the horses on a very short "trail ride" across the road to meet COWS. A very large barn full of cows were surprised to see us. Holly's horse was nervous at first but improved. Rainy was interested, not scared. She quickly snuggled in as close as she could to the cows and let them lick her nose. Even after seeing this, Dad's horse "Ranger" was not convinced that these strange animals should be trusted.

Printed Baby T's

To make these prints I used fabric paints and a brayer. I hand cut a potato for the pea pod print, and for the other one I used a baby cabbage from my dad's garden. When the vegetables were ready, I inked them up and voila! Little rubber stamps dabbed with the fabric paint were used to make the letters.

Moving Sale - Giant puppet and Accordian lesson!

Who knew that selling all your stuff could be so much fun? I met some wonderful folks and even got some inspiring tips to help me practice Accordian more frequently. The giant puppet featured in the first video has a twin, and they are both for sale or rent. Great at parties, parades, football games, or for Halloween, they stand about 4' taller than the operator - hard to miss in a crowd.

Please feel free to contact me if you are interested in the puppets. (608)215-5200 Thanks! Sara
Note: the puppets have been sold. Look for them on State Street this Halloween or in the Milton parades next summer.

Rainy Paints!

This clip is from the DVD Requisite Variety made in July of 2007. This is the second painting Rainy ever made. Now she has learned to hand me the paint brush when she is through with it. I trained her to do this using a click and reward method. I will be giving a workshop on "Clicker Training, With and Without The Clicker" this month and am working on a short video about how I use the clicker method with my horses.
You can also click here to see Rowdy and Rainy in other movie clips made by Requisite Variety.

Rowdy and Rainy at McFarland Family Festival

At the McFarland Museum, Rowdy and Rainy were the hands on exhibit for the "Horse Power" theme. Rainy stood quietly for a harnessing and hitching demonstration and Rowdy let the kids pet him and braid his mane and tail.





















Holly took Rowdy for a walk after helping out all day with both horses.


When it was time for Rainy to demonstrate how she paints, she was SO SLEEPY and not in the mood to make much of a painting. Meanwhile, Rowdy was leaning over the fence saying, "Let me do it, I can paint!" So even though I had not trained him to paint yet, I gave him the paint brush to see what he would do. See the video below of Rowdy making his very first painting.

Lesson from Pat Fitzgerald

I brought Rainy to Pat's barn, and she helped me to feel what "pushing the horse up into your hands" feels like, and then she worked with Rainy while I watched. Rainy and I have both been building our abdominal muscles since this lesson! See the video clips below of Pat teaching me about this.

Previously I had been struggling with asking Rainy to carry her head in a prettier position using my hands (that's a common mistake but a no-no nonetheless) and in this lesson something finally clicked and I learned it happens from my LEGS, not my hands. I believe Pat had helped me with this a couple of years ago on another horse, but I had obviously forgotten it along the way.

A month or so later my dad, Wes Licht, and I shared a lesson with Pat as she helped us with our horses in driving. I am so grateful to have such a resource as Pat in our area. Plus she is lots of fun!
Pat travels giving clinics and lessons for people of all levels. She can be reached at(608)444-4486

Harper and Dylan ride Rainy

Here we are on a very hot morning riding with Rainy. Harper has been riding for some time now, and on this day she invited brother Dylan to share her lesson. Dylan did a great job, and this was his first time riding! Their nanny, RachelAnn, took videos and photos, and both kids were very patient as they waited their turn to ride.