Big Red - Not Just A Horse

"Big Red" Not Just a Horse . . . "●
Secretariat also known as "Big Red" was not 'just a horse' but he was the fastest horse of his time.  He was an American Thoroughbred racehorse and in 1973 became a U.S. Triple Crown champion.  He is considered to be one of the greatest thoroughbreds of all time.

This assemblage came together after I watched a youTUBE video about Little Red with my little grand baby. The cartoon video has a catchy tune, that stuck in my head for days. . . . (I dare you to watch the video  . . .  and see what happens)

I had this wooden carousel horse in my studio for over a year. The wooden form was beautiful, but it was a bit too big, and he had a few too many curves, so it just sat there.  Eventually, and with the help of the 'catchy' tune, he found his way to the front of the line, and I started working on him.

The carousel horse came on the round platform you see in the images above. I added a lazy-susan  under the base to give the horse the ability to move and rotate. And in my usual style, I embellished the wooden form with bits and bling, until it couldn't take any more.

But the 'pièce de résistance' (the best part) is his eye. If you look closely you will see that I was able to drill a hole straight through and insert a brass 'peep hole' normally used on a front door of a house, allowing the person inside the security of seeing outside without opening the door.

Oh yes, check out his horse shoes, foils from my favorite Sonoma County wines.
He is fabulous!

 UPDATE: Today 3/27/12 while gallery sitting at the Sebastopol Gallery, where I show my work . . .  the lovely Ms. JustineToms came in telling me she had been in a couple of days before and had to come back and take "Big Red" home with her.  Yey!  He has a new home.
I happened to have my camera with me and I insisted on taking a final photo!  Thank you Justine!  What fun we had today. I hope Big Red puts a Big smile one your face everyday!

"Burbank" The Hollywood Horse

In trying to find a title for this piece i googled "famous horse names" and came up with several I liked:

• Mingo 
• Fancy Pants
• and Burbank

The "Mingo" people were part of the Iroquois group of Native Americans. The word "Mingo" is better recognized as the name of Daniel Boone's best friend from the 1960's TV series "Daniel Boone," where Mingo was a half-Cherokee, highly educated graduate of Oxford University and Daniel's constant companion. I thought this would be a good name for a trusty trail horse.

"Fancy Pants" is the title of a movie with Bob Hope and Lucille Ball, there was a horse named Peaceful but I like the film title better.

"Burbank" - This was the name of Danny Glover's cat in the 1987 movie "Lethal Weapon." It's also a good horse name for a horse that acts like a star.

I chose Burbank, the Hollywood Horse because this horse is definitely a 'star'.

In my typical style, I took a small wooden horse and first covered it in various papers and tissues. I applied a very long black zipper to the front legs of the horse (i think this is my favorite thing on this piece, next to the shoes)
btw: The reason the shoes on the hind legs don't match is because I used the mates on an earlier piece I made titled "Old Friends".

Click on the images to take a closer look, it is very fun to see all the bits, baubles and bling this little guy has collected along the way.

UPDATE:  Meet Janis, Burbank's new BFF!  (8/12)