Dapples take too long. & this will only be the first layer of them. 🤪
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Happy little me FINALLY got to lay the second layer of oils on my NaMo Lola today!! What a week plus... There's nothing like not having time to paint, especially during NaMo month! Here's hoping I can concentrate on her from here on out, I'm quickly running out of time! Her dapples should be next, & they are seriously intimidating me. 😝 That light color is going to show ANY screw ups!  Day 3 & I finally got Lola's first layer of oils down! Boy did that take forever too. You wouldn't think such a flat pale color would take me as long as it did. She was an all day project!  Also, there's nothing like a light color to prove to yourself just how desperately you need to freaking DUST. Sweet mercy.
But anyway... Light color oils seem to take longer to dry than dark colors, so I don't expect to do any more to her until the beginning of the week now. Looks like simply mixing paint is going to be my NaMo progress of the day. Ah well...  Day 1 of NaMoPiaMo! I was out of the studio most of the day, but I did get Lola's base coat mixed & painted tonight. She'll probably get one more coat before I move on to oils, pretty sure there are still a few thin spots. But that'll wait for tomorrow, I'm not going to oil her tonight, & the encroaching winter weather front is giving me a headache. 😣  Since there is no way I am even going to TRY to do the HxH red roan I intend to paint my Juggy all in one week, I have decided to have a NaMoPai-NO, & unofficially paint my Upton a dapple black before month's end!  This guy has a fun story to him. My friend Laura & I went down to BF last summer, & in the AG, I was sorely tempted by an Upton second that Morgen Kilbourn had for sale. I've had my eye on Upton for a portrait of 2000 Olympic gold medalist Custom Made, but being the cheapskate that I am, I hadn't gotten a hold of one yet. Morgen had this one Upton on her table marked down simply because he had a dark stain on the resin. I was eyeballing him, & being the doll that she is, Morgen knocked off another $50 from his price. With the goading of Laura, I bought him. No regrets! As the months went on, I knew I wasn't going to be able to resist the name that was right on his price tag. He had to be black, & he had to be named Come To The Dark Side! Custom Made will simply have to wait for another model.  So, black he is, & replacement NaMo he will be! Since I am pressed for time, this isn't going to be as in depth a NaMo tutorial as I usually write. But I have a few people interested in how I do a dapple black, so, even a less detailed tutorial has to be better than nothing! :) Of course I wash (in warm water with dishsoap & a nail & tooth brush to get any mold release off), prep (sand any seams, fill any holes, remove any blemishes), & prime (with red Dupli-Color sandable automotive primer) my model. All ready to paint now!  I'm sure I left an impression on the new neighbors as I stepped outside in shorts & tee to spray a toy horse on a 9 degree day as they went past... I then use a soft inch or half inch flat brush & smoothly paint a couple or three layers of black gesso; this one was Master's Touch, the Hobby Lobby brand, but I have also used Liquitex Professional as well. You can thin either with water & carefully brush on as many layers as are needed to keep brush strokes at bay.  Let the gesso fully dry, & then spray with Testor's colorshift paint. I have used Pink Champagne for sun bleached blacks, & Purple Mist, along with this Purple Sunrise, for true blue blacks. If you do not let the gesso dry thoroughly when you spray over it, it will 'craze' on you (raised crinkly texture). Also, at least with the Purple Mist, if you spray too many layers of it, it will lose its color & look more silver than purple-teal, so don't go too heavy if you use it. Pink Champagne, on the other hand, takes a few layers to actually cover. It is spray paint, so make sure to shake the can vigorously, & spray in a well ventilated area (like OUTside)! It stinks! Especially the Pink Champagne!  This stuff is soooooo much fun though!!!  I mean, LOOK at it!! Enough playing with the colorshift! Let it cure fully, & then spray it good with Testor's Dull Coat. The colorshift is glossy, & if you try to oil over it, the oil paint will not be happy about having to cover such a slick surface. Dull Coat is matte enough that it gives it a good 'tooth' to hold on to. I've never used it, but workable fixative *might* work for this as well. I have several tutorials that show how I hand paint base coats (the black gesso is a base coat), & mix & paint with oils, so please do check them out under the Tutorials tag. They will show you how I go about doing them since I don't have the time to elaborate on it this year. I had to mix a new batch of paint for Dark Side. My last black pallet dried up in Dec, but it was nearly three years old too, so I can't complain! The colors I used were:  Body: Oils-
Powders-
Shading: Oils-
No powders. Blue Shading: Oils-
Powders-
Brown shading: (probably not going to be used on this guy) Oils-
Powders-
Highlighting: (also probably not going to be used on him) Oils-
Powders-
Many other Pearl-Ex powders can be added as well, blues, reds, browns, etc. Fold a sheet of pallet paper in half (wax paper is, unfortunately, not a substitute for pallet paper, the oil just soaks through), & mix these colors on the seam & one half only; then you can fold it over & store in a Ziploc in the freezer to keep! You can see below that the biggest blob of color is the Body blue-grey. It is what I use the most of.  Clip your 'page' of pallet paper to a clipboard when you need to use it. * Regarding the asterisk. Last February, the natural gas boiler needed cleaned (that's a story in & of itself!), & I discovered that the carbon soot is a STUNNING, light eating, BLACK. I am certain that the plumber thinks I am crazy, but I had him save me three containers of this beautiful black treasure! Carbon soot is actually what they use (or at least used to use) to make lamp/carbon black paint, so it is a legitimate pigment. I carefully shovel small amounts of it it into a paint pot with a pallet knife & try to mash the fragile chunks out of it. I then use it like pastel. So unfortunately, not many people are going to be able to attain this pigment. My apologies for that!! ANYWAY! Armed with my new pallet of black mix, & grab a faithful frizzy half inch flat & sort of thinly scrub it on. I do have videos of how I do this in other painting (NaMoPaiMo) tutorials, if you want to see the technique in action! You want only enough paint to cover, not so much that it will take forever to dry or get 'muddy' when blending. About 98% of the splendor of the colorshift is lost when you oil over it, but it is still slightly there, especially in bight & sun light. & anything to add depth & dimension to black is worth it in my opinion!  As I go, I will use a quarter inch angle or a small flat to add the black shading to the low areas, the muscle grooves & such (again, see past painting tutorials for a better description of this), & blend it in. I work in such a way, that every section is finished, & I always have a hand hold on the horse.  There isn't actually any black shading on him here yet, but it was where I stopped to add it. I just didn't get a picture afterwards! Do this over the whole horse. I refrain from shading over the topline, since I want to add dapples & it will be easier to see what I am doing (& have them show up) if I haven't added the dark shading over his back/neck. Once you have your whole horse painted, take a clean, big (I grabbed an inch) soft flat, & lightly stroke the paint in the hairgrowth direction to smooth any brush strokes that may have remained. Set aside & let dry. Black can unfortunately take a long time to dry. The powders do help, but if you really want to speed it up, you will need to add dryer to your pallet, which I don't use since it's tricky.  & so that is where I have stopped for now! Waiting on my paint to dry! I will continue my tutorial once I move on with him! OH! Must not forget to report on Kylo's NaMo! He has gotten the oils down! He was painting along with me the other day as I tackled a couple of bays. I think it turned out well considering he's never painted before!  Kylo & I are looking forward to the NaMoPaiMo party my friend Laura & I are hosting on Saturday!! It should be a lot of fun to get together & art with others!!
Til next time! Happy painting all!! Day 25 of NaMoPaiMo & Kim & Angel are still hard at work! Kim had a little set back on wings today, they just weren't meeting with her approval.  So they were whited out & started over.  But she's much happier with the second try! I believe that she now just has details to go on her!  Angel has had good progress too! She's done fiddling with CMing & has been air brushing the base on her Gypsy! She's never air brushed before NaMoPaiMo! Kudos to her for trying something new!  She's also been having fun running with the inspiration that NaMoPaiMo has brought on & painted a couple SMs too!  Carole's still showing us all up. ;)  Me? Oh, well, um, I, haven't done anything with Nocturno this weekend. What have I been doing? Everything else! As usual I have a whole herd that is calling. Plus an experiment that I've been dyeing to try. Today I broke new ground for myself & tried my hand at molding something for the first time ever. I made this medallion last week just for this endeavor.  Built my first ever mold box.  & mixed & poured my first ever silicone.  You have no idea how much I want to pull it apart & see if it worked or not. Morning can't come fast enough!
There are still three more days in NaMoPaiMo, we still have hope, right Nocturno? {:| Happy painting all!! One week to go in NaMoPaiMo! I have been neglecting my blog, but things are still moving, albeit slowly, for us all! My Nocturno is still working on dapples. ...My my but we had go rounds on them! He was fighting me tooth & nail about them. But eventually, after the fifth try, I got them going how I wanted! I still have more to do on the other side before I can move onto the next step. *sigh* No matter how you do them, dapples are time consuming!! Alas, I do have other horses to work on too, so he has been getting my in-between time, poor boy.   Kim, likewise, has been picking at her NaMo Pegasus, but has other horses that have taken priority on being finished. "This past week (Feb 12th) has involved me frantically painting and finishing another MM for an upcoming show next month. This will be my first show ever! And Carissa has kindly agreed to proxy for me. :) Now that I have everybody done (well, almost) I can turn my attention to Furia. I am planning on painting her similar to the light morph hawk in the picture. This reference comes from The Sibley Guide to Birds. It’s an awesome book that is illustrated by the author, David Allen Sibley. Cross your fingers that Furia cooperates!" Fingers crossed, Kim! I think she looks good so far though! Can't wait to see what ponies you send me to show too! Angel is still CMing her Shire-turned-Gypsy, but after a bit of a shaky start with sculpting, she's finally getting to the point of being pretty happy with him! She's still picking on the tail, so he may be a NaMoPaiMARCH pony. ;) I know I would prefer to be late but happy with my model, than finish in the month & forever dislike something about him, & I think that is how she is looking at it now too. :) Carole, on the other hand, is still showing us all up. ;) She's sold her NaMo PAM, who was finished earlier, & has gone onto paint two medallions for herself! I think they look lovely!! Wish us luck in this last week! We're still plodding along!
Happy painting all! Not a whole lot was accomplished in the way of NaMoPaiMo for me today. Other models were calling, so I did not do much to Nocturno, or any writing at all. I did start to add dapples in pastel, but I'm not sure if I like them. They look too small to me.  Yeah, I dunno. I'll leave it 'til tomorrow, but I might wash them off & start again. At least I'm not too far along! I also shaded his mouth, nostrils, & eyes, & a little around his head. Not much to look at yet! Carole's moving right along though! "Today I worked on the flaxen blending on her mane and tail. This was shades of cream, light tan, gold Pearl-X, white and pearl Pearl-X. Also popped the chestnuts on because that is a step I had forgotten before. ;D I also sent different pictures besides straight sides. She will be done fairly soon so I am thinking I should paint one of my 3 medallions." & Angel's working on getting her Shire CM's tail attached, etching foals, & making tassels for her Arab costume! "Tail wire... used what I had. Your right glue and soda on fingers is impossible to remove! Used razor blade; pretty sure I don't have a finger print on index finger."  Glad you still have fingers left Angel!
The fun continues! Check back later for more! :) Carole has a report today too! "After more pigments I have her body pretty much where I want. I can do touch ups when spotted. I added acrylics today. Mane and tail French Vanilla and watered down white on socks. Just a base for m & t as they get more colors."  "One big problem is getting accurate pictures. I played with camera settings and they are so varied. Deleted nearly all and kept 2. You can see the differences."  Thank you Carole! She's looking beautiful, in both pictures! I dare say you are going to be the first of us to cross the finish line!
Just me today, & not much to say at that! I am happy to report that Nocturno's oils dried in 24 hours, so he got a couple coats of Testor's Dull Cote today! Unfortunately for him, I spent my free time writing a tutorial on mixing oils instead of moving forward on him!  Boy am I ever pleased with him so far though! Hopefully tomorrow he'll get some love. I still have his oil session report to type up too though. We'll see which project gets my time tomorrow!
I hope everyone is having a great NaMoPaiMo so far! Keep painting all! Three CDs of Journey to the Center of the Earth & four episodes of Doctor Who & this is where I am:  He still has layers to go in oil & pastel chalk, but this is a good start! I am cross-eyed, so I will elaborate more later. Until then, here are Carole & Kim with their reports of the day! "Here we go with around 5 layers. Working creams, black and metallics in there. Have my TOPSA show finished so she gets all my time now. ~ Carole"  "Our first weekend has come and gone already! Mine was actually quite productive, both in painting and household chores. I got multiple horses based. And the house finally cleaned after having the flu for two weeks. Yuck! I thought I would include my airbrush setup/booth. I like to base my horses using an airbrush, I feel it gives a very smooth layer. I have a Badger Anthem airbrush. I still don’t know much about airbrushing, all of it has been self-taught and lots of watching YouTube tutorials. I would be very curious to know how other people mix their paint for airbrushing. I’m still struggling with that!"  "My setup includes putting down a plastic sheet, newspaper over it, and a box that has been cut open to contain some of the spray. I also like to have paper towels handy for any drippage. It’s not the prettiest setup but it works for now. Also, make sure to wear a respirator of some kind! Pegasus Furia is based in a warm white and I started some chestnut color on the lower legs. Since she will be similar to a Ferruginous Hawk, I’m thinking her body color will be varnish roan. There are two color morphs in these hawks and I’m leaning towards the lighter color morph. We’ll see if that’s what she wants! I’ll try and find a pic of a ferruginous for the next blog. "Until next time, happy painting! ~ Kim" Happy NaMoPaiMo all! Check back later for more!  Those are the words of my friend Angel who text me this picture today! I invited her to do NaMoPaiMo with me kind of at the last minute. On Tuesday she came by to root through my body boxes for a victim & officially sign up. She found a classic Shire A that called to her & decided she wanted to make him a Gypsy; to take off his mane decorations & swap his braided tail for a Smart Chic Olena tail, also from my hoard. His new do was just started today! Once that's all finished, he'll be headed for a dark liver chestnut with flaxen m&t! It's going to be fun to have someone to paint with this year! Carole made some progress as well! "This is my first sealed layer. Used Brown Ocher (body) and a dark grey mix on eyes, hooves, etc)" Her PAM is going to be flaxen chestnut with a little white when she's finished!  As for me... Still shoes! I wasn't going to finish them until after he was painted, but I decided to go for it. His shoes are made of pounded out 12(?) gauge aluminum florists wire, groove pounded in with a screwdriver & refined with dremel, filed & sanded to a fare-thee-well, studs added with sewing pins sculpted over with epoxy, & toe/side clips & nail heads sculpted on with epoxy. Anything sculpted was filed & sanded to where it's meant to be & painted silver with Precious Metals paint. Then I painted in some dirt with a little acrylic, which made it all pop! These were the only two shoes I detailed; since his weight baring hooves are not detailed on the bottom I cheated & left the aluminum flat. ...Apologies for the fuzzy pictures! Kim does not yet have anything to report. She hopes to by tomorrow, as do I! I plan to have a serious oil session in the afternoon!
Hope everyone's having a great third day!! Check back tomorrow for more on our NaMoPaiMo journey!! NaMoPaiMo started today!! Can you feel the spark in the atmosphere? I can! Everyone is so excited & I love that! Since last I posted I have been joined by yet another friend for NaMoPaiMo, having talked my friend Angel into painting with me! She's joined a bit last minute, but has a great idea for her classic Shire A! Earlier this week Jennifer, NaMoPaiMo founding mother, asked painters & their victims to take a selfie for a start-of-the-month collage, which we all did. I can't help but share my beautiful friends here! Here are our self portraits, except Carole, who does not like pictures & wished to remain off my blog, which is perfectly fine! *Edit* Carole took a new selfie & gave permission for it to go on my blog! So we all are here now! :)
 It's been a slow start for us all on this first day of NaMoPaiMo. Carole has been judging a TOPSA photo show, but is set & ready when the time allows. Angel has been working on an Arab costume, which is looking pretty darn good I think! Kim has been stuck at work; you can bet that her weekend will be full of painting though! & I have been shoeing my chosen pony.  Detailing & fitting Nocturno's new sneakers was the majority of the work done on him today. I'd meant to do it before day one, but other things called. The shoes are still not completely finished, but they are done enough that I won't be endangering my paint work now. ...I'd like to take a moment to mention how much I love my ferrier! Carl is always more than happy to show exactly how different shoes are done! I did get Nocturno's first few coats of base laid down before quitting for the day at least. That's the first official paint of the month! Much more to come later! Check back soon for updates & how-tos!
Happy painting everyone!!! With NaMoPaiMo fast approaching the first day of February, work on prepping chosen models is in full swing! This year I will once again be sharing my blog with my friend Kim Prosek for reports on her project. I am pleased to welcome another of my friends this year as well, Carole Ingram, who will also be sharing her NaMoPaiMo progress with us! Without further ado, let me hand the screen over to Kim for her pre-NaMoPaoMo post! My NaMoPaiMo entry for 2018! Maggie Bennett’s Furia, customized into a threatening Pegasus. She is mostly prepped and primed here. I hope to paint her similar to a Ferruginous Hawk. Let the madness begin!! Isn't that Peggy awesome?? Kim did the CMing on her, of course, managing to find a bird figurine the right size for MM wings! Kudos, my friend, for wrangling wings onto such a small pony!! & now for a word from my friend Carole on her chosen victim! I just signed up (Jan. 7th), I'm going to do a PAM in chestnut. Here is where I am now (Jan. 15th) on this snow globe snowy day here. I do have an issue; balance. I was hoping the apoxie/mane would throw her weight to that side. Nope. Tried to add to hoof. No good. I hate to have to peg front hoof. Got the mare pegged (Jan. 18th) and worked more on her neck. I had a hoof edge and didn't want to mess up her frog so it turned out to be a trench. I glued it and next day used apoxie to even the hoof wall again. Just trimmed the peg to even all hooves, yay!! Have lots of time to prep so here is where she is now. I added to her ears and cheeks too. Yay! Glad she is standing steady now Carole! She is such a sweet looking mare! She should look great by the end of Feb!! As for my NaMoPaiMo horse, I have wanted to do a tutorial on how to paint the basic color bay ever since NaMoPaiMo last year. So when looking for a prospect for this year's NaMoPiaMo, that was on my mind. I found a Nocturno by Kitty Cantrell for a song, & I think he would just rock a deep & dappley bay! He is second hand, his mold having been released in 2002! (Good Lord, was that really 16 years ago?!?) He had a basic prep job, a coat of white primer, & a layer of airbrushed acrylic. He had also suffered a cracked tail which had been repaired. His great price more than made up for any of this though. My! I never realized how BIG this sculpt is!! He's quite a hunk! Even though he was packed really well in a box that was a good size for him, that tail didn't agree & completely broke in shipping (much to the dismay of his seller!). I was fine with this though; I had planned to reinforce it anyway, to prevent just such a brake from happening in the future. So I was not in for any more work than I had already planed to do. It also gives me the excuse to share with you how to reinforce breaks! Reinforcing Breaks With Wire Or Brass Rod I have used this technique many times on weak & broken legs, tails, ears, & hair tendrils. It gives the weakened piece much better support than simply gluing it back together does.  You will need: *A Dremel *A high speed spiral flute cutter bit (I had to look that up! I have no idea what size it is, I've had it forever.) ...Or whatever size & shape bit will work for your project *A 1/2" sanding drum ...or files & some elbow grease  *A respirator & safety goggles *Wire cutters & two pairs of pliers in a size hefty enough to cut & bend whatever gauge you are using *Wire or brass rod in a gauge suitable for your brake (I used brass rod from the hardware store, in 2.38 mm & 1.57mm.) *Locktite super glue gel control *Baking soda *Epoxy, I used Aves Fixit, which is a very dense & sturdy epoxy *Sand paper, my preferred grit being 220 *Any sculpting tools needed to resculpt lost details Regardless of where the break is, the approach is pretty much standard: With your chosen bit, mine being the cutter bit, Dremel a groove deep enough to inlay your wire across the break. I often draw a line where I want to Dremel, just to keep myself on track. For this break, with it being such a pressure prone spot, I decided to add three lengths of rod. The more wire you inlay at more locations around the break, the stronger the result. As you can see, this is dusty work, so be sure to wear dust & eye protection! Cut your wire & test it for a snug fit. I am using the bigger 3/32 (2.38mm) rod here. Then with pliers, bend it to fit the contour of where it will be inlayed. Being a nice straight tail, this wasn't too difficult. If you are doing a leg though, it can sometimes take quite a bit of tinkering to get it to flow with the bends & shape of the leg. If your break has a gap, glue the two pieces together as best you can before you add the wire. Once that is done, lay down a line of super glue in the groove you made, sprinkle a very little bit of baking soda on top, & carefully lay in your rod. Pliers come in handy here to place the rod & to force it down snuggly into the groove. You may wish to wear gloves to keep from getting glue on your fingers. Add a bit more glue around any gaps between the wire & the resin/plastic, wipe off the excess, & then pack it with baking soda. You can press it down firmly with a paper towel, but be aware that some of it may get glued to the horse (or you). Scrape off any wayward glue/baking soda before it sets well, I used a carbide scraper. After doing all three rods, the tail was much sturdier but I felt it could use a little more support. Best I could, I Dremeled a groove under the tail as well. I inlayed a length of 1/16 (1.57mm) brass rod the same way as the other three. I used the finer rod just to simplify it considering the awkward place it was needed. Sometimes the rod winds up being a bit above the level of the sculpture. That is where the sanding drum &/or files come in: grind down any wire that would show above your sculpture until it is level with the surface or even a smidge below it. Once all the brass rod was laid & ready to go, I mixed some Aves Fixit epoxy & pushed it into any crevices remaining, then resculpted the lost details. I chose Fixit since it is a very dense, hard epoxy once cured. I often use A + B epoxy which is even harder, for the more breakable areas like this. But it is more difficult to work with. Since I needed to sculpt hair here, I opted for the easier-to-use Fixit. Here is the repair after sanding the entire horse good & hitting him with some primer. The repair still needs sanded & worked a little more before I am totally happy with it, but it is now sturdy enough for me to hold him by the tail! I have used this technique for many scales, the finest being a LB scale foal, a Spark AR. She was a second, missing a wire in one of her fine little baby legs. I used, I'll guess 32 gauge, steel wire meant for the foundation of frames in a bee hive. Being steel, even as fine as it is, it is sturdy enough to use as reinforcement (works great for tail tendril armatures too!). I have also repaired the leg of a Lrg SM AR, Sherbert Lemmon, with a steel paperclip! So as long as you can Dremel a groove & find strong enough wire, this technique can be used on many scales & for many weak pieces! Stay tuned through the end of this month & all of February for many more reports on & tutorials for NaMoPaiMo! Cheers all! Just a quick sneak peak at a future sales piece; A 'Tiny' by Sarah Rose to a silver bay minimum sabino. He is based on the Gypsy Vanner Stallion Silver Bullet.  Hey all! So I am going to make an honest attempt at keeping up this blog. I've kinda' gotten a little more into it since NaMoPaiMo, but I do know I will get busy & distracted at some point. I'm going to make an effort though! So today I am just going to show off this little girl. A CM Love CAF to a Grevy's Zebra. ...I have got to be insane. I am still learning the ropes to my new camera, the color isn't quite right, but you can absolutely see that the, what? Eighth? Of her that I have started painting is basically all hair-by-hair. &, yes, that is sculpted baby fuzz you are seeing. :) These guys, Grevy's, are really pretty! They have the finest, most memorizing stripes of all the Zebra breeds, & those cute little 'mickey mouse' ears. Babies have this variation of color through their stripes that goes from tan to brown to black to brown again, & that ruff continuing their mane down their back to their tail. The future of this kid isn't decided yet, but she will most likely be a sales piece (I am seriously fighting the urge to keep her!). Other than the fact that she will most likely be for sale whenever she's finished, nothing else is figured out yet. There is someone interested in her, though I had thought of putting her up for offers. We shall see. Until then, enjoy the WIP pics! Bonus picture: The first Garter Snake of the year! :)  |
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