Karen's BCC entry

As its name would suggest, the BreyerFest Best Customs Contest Excellence in Finishwork category is a painting competition. Only standard prepwork is allowed. All customizing enhancements and embellishments are prohibited. Because of that, it's tempting to think of this as the "easy" class. 

It's not.

First of all, this class is huge. Every year, dozens of painters - including some of the hobby's top tier artists - vie for those three spots on the table. The competition is absolutely brutal.

Also, painting realistic model horses is hard.

In this short-but-sweet guest post, Karen Zorn describes the steps that went into her 2025 BCC Excellence in Finishwork entry. Thank you, Karen!

The Making of Mambo Number 5

by Karen Zorn

Jumping on the BCC bandwagon, here's my Finishwork Division entry, Mambo Number 5.

I started with an airbrushed bay basecoat, using Golden HiFlow custom mixed acrylics with an Iwata Micron.

Next, I blocked in where his white markings would be in white acrylic.

After that, I finished his dappled bay basecoat in hair-by-hair colored pencils (Cuminance and Pablo by Caran deAche and PrismaColor).

Finally, his white markings were finished off, and edge-detailed with colored pencil and a touch of Pan Pastels. The mane and tail were done with acrylic and pencils.

I think the biggest lesson I learn from these pieces is patience!

Congratulations, Karen. The time and effort you put into this piece is obvious. Mambo Number 5 was worth every painstaking moment. Good luck in Kentucky!