I finally found time to sit back and reflect on NaMoPaiMo. The month of February flew by and now I think all of us are feeling a little lost. What do we do with our free time? What can we use to procrastinate? Something feels like its missing. National Model Horse Painting Month filled the void in our creativity slumps and taught us a ton about technique, materials, and sportsmanship. The following post is both about NaMoPaiMo in its entirety and my own personal journey this month.
I started on this journey with the plan to paint a micro entirely in oils and be happy with it. I had never attempted a micro... especially not in pewter. Though I have painted in oils before, I always highlighted with acrylics which I was never happy about. I purchased an Amber micro secondhand specifically for the purpose of NaMoPaiMo, so that I could try my hand at a low risk model (no way I was going to use my Superlumina II as a guinea pig!!). It
was a totally bonus that she was a decently clean cast.
I have posted a lot about the process of how Knickers came to be so I can spare those details I think. But in the end, I had to break and decided to troubleshoot my lack of details with Prismacolour pencils. Thanks for the tip NaMoPaiMo! I got more detail than with oils or acrylics, and made me feel better overall about my final product. I even managed to finish my two mini medallions! I'm especially pleased with the dun! The dark bay arab had a few issues and I may have to tweak it a little because of some sealant malfunctioned in the eye area. However, I had fun dousing him in PearlEx muahahaha.
So in the end, I finished on time and learned a lot in the process. Next year, I am already planning and hope to change
gears. I think I will be trying pigments next year, since a lot of people seemed to have success with them. I love oils, don't get me wrong, but the biggest issue I had this month was drying time... even with my hack. As for victim... I am unsure if I will be returning to mini or going bigger. Stay tuned.
Though I didn't manage to finish my draft for NaMoPaiMo, I just completed him today
for the Maggie Bennett micro contest. Phew... talk about cutting it close. I used another NaMoPaiMo technique regarding applying whites in acrylics, and I feel like I had success with it.
Over 430 official models were completed, and thats not even counting the nearly 200 extras as well! Congratulations everyone on your learning! A huge thank you to Jennifer Buxton, I think I speak for everyone here, you have put on an amazing event (of course with lots of help from other hobbyists)! Without you, there wouldn't be a NaMoPaiMo!
Now... off to shamelessly show off my official model. Meet Knickers.
Comments