Ruth's BCC entry

Yesterday was the deadline for entering the 2021 BreyerFest Best Customs Contest. In keeping with recent tradition, I will be featuring as many entries as possible here on my blog. First up, is this absolutely delightful Theme class entry by Ruth Sheridan. Thank you, Ruth, and good luck!

Keen on Classic Customs

by Ruth Sheridan

In thirty five years of collecting, I've never been to BreyerFest. Not even once. But the announcement of this year's Customs Contest theme class, "Classically Customized," was basically an engraved invitation hand-delivered to my thirsty eyeballs.

I've been customizing primarily classic scale models since my dollhouse-obsessed high school years. My feelings about mohair have changed since the '90s, but my love for the dollhouse scale has not. As far as I'm concerned, 1:12 is the One True Size. To put it bluntly: If you see something on my studio page that isn't classic, you can be confident it's destined for the sale barn.

When I was little, I had a babysitter who kept the US Equestrian Team gift set on the highest shelf in her bedroom, and I coveted them with all the greed and longing that my 8-year-old body could hold. Especially the Keen. My whole collecting life, Keen has called to me. 

My answer to that call? Cutting him to bits. 

These custom Keens are all pre-2002:

Black with mohair, meant to be a Missouri Foxtrotter

Bright chestnut — one of my first customs to incorporate metallics

Dapple bay in harness with a matching Might Tango drastic custom. Harness and vis-a-vis carriage by Susan Gage. (My dollhouse family needed a conveyance worthy of their station in the world, after all.)

And without the harness.

Gray bloody shoulder showing off my first Rio Rondo saddle kit in front of a dollhouse so fancy I ended up trading it for a REAL HORSE (that's a story for another day).

In recent years, I've come a long way as an artist... but I'm still cutting up my Keens. 

Samudra (Somali wild ass completed in 2017, photo by Shana Bobbitt)

Reaper (Red Dead Redemption II portrait for NaMoPaiMo 2019)

But back to BreyerFest. Inspired by this year's "Horse of a Different Color" celebration, I started browsing pictures of some of the "differentest" colored horses I know about: the gorgeous pearls of Yeguada Paco Martí. 

And then I got out the Dremel and got busy.

Gaudí: Celebrating Spain’s colorful contributions to art history and equine genetics

Named in honor of the famed Spanish architect and mosaicist Antoni Gaudí, my newest Keen is a sooty buckskin pearl PRE stallion.

His wild dappling and his colorful base are both meant to echo Gaudí’s whimsical Trencar mosaic technique, which encrusts several historical buildings in Barcelona. Horse Gaudi's footing was inspired by the arid climate of the Castellón region, home to Yeguada Paco Marti, and includes miniature Majolica pottery — a nod to another beloved Spanish artisanal export.

Keen sports a brand new head, neck, mane and tail. I also lengthened his barrel and did a lot of muscling (including butt wrinkles!) and veining over the original sculpture. Because he's leaning into the canter, his hind foot has a magnet for extra support. A corresponding metal plate is hidden in the footing of his presentation base, and he also has a separate low-profile base for when I don't feel like hauling the mosaic base to shows!

Win or lose, I'm extremely proud of this horse. Sure, his unusual color represents a leap forward for me technically as an artist. But he also represents a shift in how I see myself in the model hobby. No more sidelines! It turns out I'm a BreyerFest person after all. Classic me.

I'll be on the road during Breyerfest weekend this year (silly wedding anniversary!), but I'll still be hosting a virtual room sale on my website: www.portmanteauequineart.com. Sale items will go up on Wednesday, July 14. Expect to find:

• Unpainted and painted medallions
• Painted resins
• Tack and other vintage goodies from the Linda Spiesschaert (Kitchen Table Stables) estate sale

Readers are welcome to follow my studio page on Facebook to check out my customs and stay on top of sale announcements: Portmanteau Equine Art on Facebook.