Well, I forgot to post a proper NaMoPaiMo post this February. Oh well, I suppose better late than never!
My namo horse this year is a Lonesome Glory. I lovingly refer to him as "Puzzle".
Puzzle was pretty beat up and had obviously been a child's play pony at one time or another, because he had several added markings in a thick, chalky white paint. Nothing a few hours of prep work and a bath or two wouldn't solve!
My plan for Puzzle was to paint him in hand brushed acrylics and pastels, using predominantly techniques that were new or at the very least, not my go-to methods. (Spoiler alert, this plan was abandoned.) I decided on a unique bay blanket appaloosa for my color. (Pattern references below.)
I started out the month strong, getting two layers in the first day. I experimented with some random color tones that I saw suggested amongst other hobbyists, and I liked what I was seeing. There is no such thing as a pretty hand brushed base coat lol, but he was smooth to the touch, and the pigments were playing nicely with each other.
In my defense, nothing was going to plan, and I was especially stressed because the deadline was looming menacingly on the horizon. I tried a new pastel technique, and it FAILED. Miserably. Leaving Puzzle a grainy, smudgy mess.
It took about a week to bring him back to a semi-passable state, and as much as I wanted to keep fixing him, I had to press on if I wanted to get to my appy markings. It was at this point that I abandoned all of my grand ideas of using all new techniques. ðŸ«
I spent a few very late nights finishing his shading and ever so slowly building up his white layers.
We finished on February 28th, just hours before the deadline.
He's not my favorite pony I've ever painted but he's done, and that's what namo is about. I had fun, even if Puzzle made me want to pull my hair out sometimes. 😂 This community is awesome. Something about hundreds of people all having art breakdowns at the same time makes it all worthwhile. ✨
