Kira's BCC entry

Every year, the BreyerFest Best Customs Contest inspires artists to do things they might not attempt otherwise. In today's post, Kira Matrejek, who specializes in small scale work, shares how she upsized her skills for this contest. I think you will agree, the results are fantastic!

The Making of Hambletina

by Kira Matrejek

This is “Hambletina”, my 2023 Best Customs Contest entry in Finishwork. She’s named after Hambletonian 10, a foundation sire of the Standardbred breed, and Constantina, a variation on the name Constantia.

Over the winter holidays I took Karen Beeson’s dapple grey painting workshop. This was a five class workshop done over Zoom. It was a *fantastic*! We spent a lot of time looking at photos of dapple grey horses in different stages of dappling, as well as looking at common features of dapple greys. It helped me learn how to really see the details in dapple greys. 

I had meant to start painting Constantia during the class, but was bogged down in prepping her. So instead I painted this little bantam-scale jumper "Uptick B" by Morgen Kilbourn.  

Now for the challenge: could I upscale my miniature work to a full size traditional model? (I think I can, I think I can…) I started off airbrushing some gray shading, then I handpainted all the dapples. Then began endless rounds of hair-by-hair detailing, and more airbrushing to soften the dapples a bit.

I looked at *so* many photos of dapple grey horses. I have a photo album filled with reference photos. (With a few non-grey photos in there, too…) 

In mid-May she was looking pretty good, but a bit flat. I used Procreate to do some digital painting to help me visualize where I wanted to go with her:

And by the end of May she was getting pretty close:

I spent every last day leading up to the deadline painting tiny hairs, veins, and details. Her horseshoes are entirely hand painted. I painted these first with acrylics (grey and white), then went over them with a silver acrylic paint. Finally I sealed them with a clear epoxy, which protects them from damage and keeps them shiny!

Finally I hauled out my good camera and took her glamor shots for the contest! 

I rarely paint Traditional scale models; I much prefer minis and micros. She was a good challenge though, and I’m thrilled with how she turned out!

Congratulations, Kira. Hambletina is amazing. I am blown away by all the tiny details, and I hope this is not your last foray into the 1:9 scale world!