2020 was hard on all of us. For an entire year, many of us have not seen our families, lost our jobs, or in some cases have barely left our houses. My 2020 NaMoPaiMo ambitions were cut a little short by burn out from work... and little did I know that Covid was going to be a thing to make it all worse. I ended up scraping across the finish line in the Hawaii timezone, and I took the walk of shame of 'I didn't do it too'. I was extremely disappointed in myself because I knew I could have taken a little bit more time for it and put just a little bit of extra effort in. In the end, my model, Takoyaki, was a learning curve but not a success. So for 2021, I set the bar extremely high and went head first. After all, I was locked in my house by myself so what else was I going to do?
My goal was to finish my official horse, of course, and complete a massive list of extra models. Officially, I chose the curio scale Eberl Icelandic (who doesn't have an official name). I bought this little blank horse with the hopes up upping my prepping game and to challenge myself on a larger scale- I'm very uncomfortable outside of micro scale. The finish work I chose was a darker bay pangare, to be a loose portrait of a gelding I rode in Iceland named Stormvic. Extra horses included (all Maggie Jenner-Bennett micros):
Bangles (a portrait of a friends late Arab mare, Aqaba)
Thunderdrone (a portrait of my late gelding A.A. Grenade)
Lyskra (a chestnut pinto Icelandic, shaved of course)
Castnea (a portrait of my mean tb mare, Lola)
Ultramax (a portrait of my homebred racing filly, A.A. Fast Lida) - #MinisPaintingMinis
Why all Maggie Micros? Let's face it, if you don't paint them and you have had a subscription for 3 years... they start piling up xD I really do hope to continue my progress and finish more Maggie micros soon (I have 6 prepped and ready for primer).
My official horse started off without a hitch and I progressed well into the month keeping to my schedule, rotating my painting herd and allowing oils to dry later on. The biggest derailment of my plans was not accounting for the stomach area of my reference and instead of going pangare, I went seal brown. A colour correction was in order and it delayed my project for several days. This was the biggest challenge I have ever faced during a NaMoPaiMo.
I don't know if it was the boredom, the isolation, or the pandemic in general, but I was revving to go all month! I had my models prepped in advance, which I certainly credit towards being stuck at home during lockdown. The biggest problem I did face however was the isolation. Though I was glad to have the time to paint, it was extremely lonely. Being a social event, NaMoPaiMo felt a little hollow for the January prep. I decided to take it upon myself and host online parties with a variety of people.
Painting Parties with Erica Ferguson
Usually, Erica Ferguson and I have prepping parties to stay motivated during the most tedious part of the process, but that was not to be. How fortunate we are to live in the age of technology, Zoom came to the rescue! We met up every Thursday and updated each other on our progress, pets, and lives. Erica took it upon herself to push her own boundaries and say
"F it. I'm just going to have fun."
She pushed herself to customize and paint a Breyer curio scale Spirit into a raw ruby gemstone horse. Casting her own rubies out of UV resin, sculpting the rock and marble around the gems AND painting them within the month of February was a feat for sure! I wish I was as brave as Erica, I'm too much of a perfectionist. Did I mention she also sculpted and cast her own unicorn horn for the occasion? Through a lot of trial and error she succeeded. I invited her to write a guest post about her trials and tribulations, which you can read here: COMING SOON.
Painting Parties with Eric Yeh
It's true, I was very alone while working on my model, but nearly every weekend Eric Yeh would arrive with exotic snacks and stay for the weekend. We both are on our own so luckily the government allows single households to visit each other - otherwise I really would have gone crazy. Last year, Eric watched as I struggled with my micro appaloosa. This year he signed up to complete his very own model! Not only did he paint, but he wasn't happy with the original sculpture. He said something along the lines of
"It just doesn't motivate me."
So what did he do? He decided to customize the model that Erica gave him - a Breyer Morgan unicorn stablemate. He turned her into a horse who got herself into a sticky predicament - she got a cone of ice cream dropped on her head. Yikes, the poor thing may have been part of a children's birthday that went a little out of control. He opted for a cherry bay with vanilla ice cream (and sprinkles). I really didn't coach him that much other than offering encouragement. The entire horse was done in acrylics which was extremely impressive. All the while he complained about using the tiny brushes. This mare was far from vanilla as she sported many subtleties in her cherry bay coat shading. He was a little discouraged by her rough texture and "burnt colour", but is nonetheless proud of his first model - he named her Paprika. In Jennifer Buxton's words - Eric you are a winner!
Painting Parties with the Toronto Hobby Scene
Throughout the month of February and one day in January, I held weekly online painting parties for my local hobby group. The parties were successful with a lot of attendees, horses being painted, and news being shared. I called them Dinner & Paint parties and they were every Monday at 7:30pm. I wrote a monster blog about each and every one of them which you can find here: https://andreab527.wixsite.com/thefoalwatch/post/dinner-paint-parties-a-namopaimo-post
These painting parties have paved the way for discussions on Toronto Plastic Pony Club online meetings and activities for the future, which I think is very exciting. Thank you everyone who attended, it was so much fun!
I painted nearly daily, only taking time off to let oil paints dry, and once to take a break and visit Eric and his house (again to let oils dry). This of course affected my health like it always does, but it did push me to invest in new fans and new air filters... and start the plans for a brand new screened in porch specifically for summer painting. It was still a ton of fun listening to Mares In Black, watching Sailor Moon again, and being productive with art. Being the crazy person I am, and in an effort to push myself even further, I signed up for #MinisPaintingMinis because clearly I need more work to do! You can find that adventure here: https://andreab527.wixsite.com/thefoalwatch/post/minis-painting-mini-s-2021-summer-a-namopaimo-post
On top of all my extra models, three medallions also snuck into the mix - all three I received from The Jennifer Show back in September 2019. I challenged myself using mostly acrylics as a warm up towards next years NaMoPaiMo.
I even managed to complete some non model art through the month too which I hasn't been a thing for a very long time. A highlight of the season was earning a Champion Of The Day title from Jennifer. It is an absolute honour, something that really does mean a lot to me. Erica also got a Champion of the Day, because Jen is right, we are virtually the same person. You can find that post here on Jen's blog: https://braymere.blogspot.com/2021/02/namopaimo-day-eight.html
Though I didn't finish because my oils didn't want to dry after my troubleshooting, I am still very proud of my accomplishments and what I learned. In total I finished 4 models (Ultramax, Bangles, Castnea, and Thunderdrone) & 3 medallions. I did not manage to finish my official Icelandic or my extra Icelandic (what's with that?). To be fair, they will both be finished during the month of March come hell or high water!
I always say it, but this time I really really really mean it, I hope to keep up the momentum this year because art is all the therapy I need and my mental health hasn't been as good in a very long time! I credit that all to Jennifer Buxton and team - thank you for another amazing year, you really have no idea how much you help the thousand people who participate. Some of us (including me) shuffle our lives a little to accommodate NaMoPaiMo, and it really is one of the highlights of the year! Heck, this blog wouldn't even exist if it wasn't for your efforts! Thank you!!
Without further ado, here is the step by step of Stormvic almost being completed.
But wait, there's more! What about all the extra photos of painting my extra horses? Here is the step by step of them being completed.