Travis's NaMoPaiMo

     NaMoPaiMo is going on all through February, but for Travis, NaMoPaiMo is finished. He told me he wanted to paint with me, he hurried me along when I didn't get him his paint fast enough and then he quickly got to work. 

      There was some deep concentration from him and he very speedily covered his horse with brown paint. Then that was it. He didn't want to paint anymore. I asked if he wanted to put eyes on his horse and he said no. I said your poor horse can't see, can you give him some eyes? He said yes, and his horse got eyes. I asked if he wanted white on his horses face and he said no, then he said yes. And brown horse got one of the most unique facial markings I have ever seen. 

Since Travis said he was done I sprayed his horse with matte finish so the work would last.

We had an outdoor photo shoot and made sure to get a photo of each side of brown horse. 

    We also get a slightly better look at brown horse's star. 

      This year was the first time that Travis joined us to paint a horse in February. It was also the first time I asked him if he wanted to paint. He chose his horse, quickly decided on his color and he did an excellent job making his horse brown. For Travis, NaMoPaiMo is done and he is ready to move on and do something other than paint. Most of the rest of us still have a long way to go, myself included. And while Travis is done with painting, he will always have brown horse, who he painted himself. 

Bonus post! Miniature Paints

     I should be working on doll stuff. Actual doll stuff, not just doll sized things. I am not though. What I am doing is making miniatures for my Little Elecktra so she has more props for her #teamminispaintingminis photos for NaMoPaiMo. Because I am nuts. These are not high quality paints or fancy in any way. They were quick and easy, which is what I needed them to be. 
     What I did first was print out some paint labels. I used these simple ones I found on Pinterest.  Next I copied and cropped in Publisher until I had just colors I actually wanted. I cut them out and trimmed each piece so it was just a bit of a square around the label. 

     Next I took a silver paint marker, trimmed most of the pointy end off a toothpick and painted just the end silver. White would potentially have worked better, but I have a silver paint marker on hand. I guess black would also work. You have options. 

     I left a bit of the narrower end of the toothpick, but took off most of the point. 

     I cut down the toothpick ends to about a centimeter(ish), added glue to the cut out label and rolled the toothpick end into it, leaving space at one end of the label.

    Then I squashed down the end of the tube and I had a fairly quick tube of paint, suitable for your doll NaMoPaiMo setups. As with the paint brushes, there are LOTS of ways to make these higher quality, including glossing the labels and so on. I was not looking for high quality, I was looking for quick because I really need to be working on actual dolls. 

    Travis got sent home from school today with a fever. When I checked a bit ago he seemed to be fever-free, but he's staying home from school tomorrow anyway. And so am I. Which will give me a bit more time to work on dolls. And sleep, I do love sleeping. Hopefully I can get some of my real work done now that I got the paint project out of my head! Though while searching for how to make tiny paints I did see another way to make miniature paint brushes...

Progress

       Part of the reason I started blogging more was a wish to up my page views. Just part of the reason. I wanted to blog more often and I thought about aiming for once a week. I had no posts in January last year. This year I managed a post every day in January. Last February I had 8 posts, I started with once a week and then it ended up more often. This year I am hoping for every day. My goal for 2020 is a post every day. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can. I hope I am not too boring, I hope I am not too boring, I hope I am not too boring...

       The other morning I happened to open up the reader view of the latest blog and the view count was at 147,600 exactly. Wow. That is pretty amazing to me. Last year when I made the choice to blog more often I am pretty sure I didn't even have 50,000 page views. Once I started blogging more, the page views started to go up and up. It makes me so happy. And I am working towards another giveaway. I was kind of thinking when I hit half a million. But that is still really far away. So I am thinking of 1/4 of a million views. That is still far away, but much closer. If I keep going at the same rate it will probably be about a year, maybe a bit more. 

     We're in day 2 of NaMoPaiMo. hopefully everyone is still properly motivated. If not, go post in the Facebook group! That is a great place for questions, motivation and lots and lots of eye candy! I am sure we will see our first finished horse soon. Someone is always super speedy and finishes faster than we think possible. I am not that person, lol.
     Doll work is happening, painting is happening, boring blogs may be happening. Live sale plans are happening, thoughts of Spring are happening and working towards 1/4 of a million page views is also happening. I can do this.

Miniature Paint Brushes

         Making miniatures is interesting. Often times you can make things by looking at the world in a different way than you normally would. Or differently than normal people would, I have heard it both ways. Since there was some peer pressure to get me to get a doll out and have her "paint" along with us for NaMoPaiMo (#TeamMinisPaintingMinis) I decided I needed some tiny paint brushes, since I did not previously own any. I figured someone would want to know how I made these incredibly simple brushes. So I took photos. Being close up photos of miniatures, not all of them came out well, so there are only two and then a photo of them in use.
      The first thing I did was cut down toothpicks to various lengths. I thought about pulling out some wire to make some fine detail brushes, but that didn't happen today. The next step was to color the brush handles. I used a Sharpie, because it was quick and easy. I didn't want to spend a lot of time making some props that would likely not get used all that often. These could also be painted, you could start with colored toothpicks, there are numerous options, including leaving them plain wood. But I chose coloring mine with Sharpie. I would recommend sealing them with a bit of finish, nail polish, anything really. I didn't do this and I ended up with Sharpie smeared all over my fingers at the end of things.

     The next thing I did was pull out my bag of doll hair. This might be what stops a lot of people from being able to make these simple little paint brushes. Pretty much everyone has toothpicks. Not everyone has doll hair hanging around. If you had even a Breyer doll hanging around you could likely snip off some hair to use as bristles. I used viscose doll hair. I took out a small bit and cut one end very straight. Then I added a bit of glue to the cut end (the photo didn't come out) and laid it out on my finger and then rolled the end of the brush through it, applying a bit of pressure to get the hairs to stick to the brush. After that I cut a very narrow strip of aluminum foil, added some glue to the shiny side, laid it across my finger and rolled the brush handle through it in the same way I had applied the hair. This created the ferrule. I snipped the foil and made sure it was nice and tight, trimmed the hair so it looked more or less like a paintbrush (though none of them looked like high quality artist's brushes) and I was all set to set up Little Elecktra in some painting scenes.

      I got out my paper plate making materials, made a plate, added some paints, and I set Little Elecktra up to work on her Bangles. It was fun and amused me. I have a feeling I am going to be spending too much time playing with dolls during NaMoPaiMo.

     I know this was not really a tutorial on how to make miniature brushes, but hopefully it was enough to help you if you decide to make some. If I left something out or something doesn't make sense, feel free to ask me questions. I hope your dolls have as much fun painting as the rest of us!

NaMoPaiMo Peer Pressure

     This year there are a lot of dolls "painting" in NaMoPaiMo. I mentioned that I loved that so many of the dolls I was seeing were dolls that I made. Then the peer pressure started. Jennifer asked where my doll was. I responded that the dolls were in the closet but I was feeling some peer pressure. It may sound simple to get stuff out of the closet, but it's not. Ethan has his T-shirt press in front of the closet and he likes to move that himself. Jennifer told me I should free the dolls! And then...

      I looked through my dolls and really, Little Elecktra was the way to go. Not only is she only the doll I have that does not have a permanent hat (and is wearing regular clothes) but she is Elecktra. So that is more fun. Then came the tough part. Elecktra had to decide what to paint. So she pulled out the awesome doll chair that I recently got (made by Priam Costumes) and a whole bunch of prepped minis and started thinking. 

       She moved the horses around, picked each one up and thought about it and waited for one to speak to her. Choosing really is hard!

     Eventually Little Elecktra settled on this Maggie Bennett Bangles. Bangles said she wanted to be a golden chestnut. I think that is a good plan. 

      She got to work on the base coat. Little Elecktra doesn't know any more than I do how to actually paint a golden chestnut. Though when I painted Hugh last year I felt like his golden palomino color could have been a golden chestnut if he had a darker mane and tail. So that was where Little Elecktra started. In the same place I would start a palomino. 

      While I was struggling to be patient waiting for the base coat on Ballycor to dry, Little Elecktra made a lot of progress on Bangles. 

      For her first time I think she is doing a really great job! She decided a wet-on-wet blend would work the best. So far so good. 

     I have spent a lot of time looking at the photos of dolls painting minis, or dolls taking selfies with their minis, the antics of Jose and so on. This is a lot of fun. I need to be thinking about painting my Ballycor. But what I really want to do is continue to cave to peer pressure and play with dolls.

NaMoPaiMo Day 1

        Yesterday was day 1 of NaMoPaiMo 2020. I spent the day looking at the Facebook group and seeing progress, comments about having to start over, questions about issues that had arisen and just general fun. I love NaMoPaiMo. I had my horse prepped ahead of time but realized yesterday morning I had no reference photos. So I found some, got them printed and got out my base coat paint ready. 

      I have been waiting to get started on Ballycor. It was exciting to finally be allowed to start. But I needed to wait a bit more. I had to put more color in my hair, it was super faded and it needed to happen first. 

     It took a really long time to get all the colors in the way I wanted them and then I waited so it could really soak in (I used color depositing conditioner). It was worth the time I took, I got it done and I am happy. I seem to "paint" my hair for NaMoPaiMo every year, lol!

     Since Travis decided to paint with me this year I was excited about that too. It was funny, I was setting everything up and Travis was asking for his paint! I was not moving fast enough for him. 

     I really loved how much he was concentrating on painting his horse!

     Travis wanted to paint his horse brown. And it is very brown. There is not a lot of anything else going on with it. But it is the way he wants it to be. 

     After several hours and moving Ballycor from the porch to the kitchen, the first coat of paint finally dried. I should have done much thinner coats. I ended up with some drips, which is not good. But the drips are still better than brush strokes. For the second coat on her I even remembered to put on a glove. After I painted the first coat and half of my hand, I figured the glove was a good idea. 

      NaMoPaiMo day 1 was really interesting. I look forward to it every year. This year Travis is painting with me, I have Little Elecktra "painting" a micro mini, and I am working on a traditional scale horse, which is larger than anything I have painted in a really long time. Plus I plan on using this mare in performance when I am done. I have goals! Now to get to work. 

It’s Happening

       I am managing to use the same eyeshadow palette every day and make different looks from it. Not totally different since all of the blues and greens end up looking sort of blue. Which is frustrating to me. But I am using just one palette and having fun seeing what I can do with it. It's good to make sure to use all of the stuff I have. Making different looks, practicing blending, all of it, it's happening. 

     The doll work continues. I managed to get the boots on both the casual western rider and the western pleasure doll.

     I also got the belts on both the dolls. I meant to get more done but I didn't. I am still impressed with myself for actually finally working on making some dolls. It's happening. 

     I have participated in NaMoPaiMo for the past 2 years. I am participating again this year. It has never occured to me, before this year, to ask Travis if he wants to paint a horse. So I asked him, he said yes and I let him choose which horse he wanted from the 3 prepped stablemates I had hanging around. He chose this walking thoroughbred. I asked him what color he wanted to paint it and he said brown. Brown is a good horse color. So I got him registered, we took the selfie and now Travis will paint a horse with me. That's happening!

     Today is officially the first day of NaMoPaiMo. Being a leap year, we have an extra day to work this year. Which for me might be good. I have not painted a traditional scale horse in more years than I can remember. And it wasn't good the last time I did it. I know I can do a decent job on a micro, but can I do a good job on a traditional? Will it be harder or easier? Will I even have enough time to paint that much horse? That is a lot of real estate to cover! What did I get myself into? I have a lot of questions that only time can answer. 
     Something that comes up a lot in the NaMoPaiMo group is that it is not a contest. We are not competing against each other to see who can paint "the best" horse. There is no judging and no judgment. The goal is to paint horses. Together. Sometimes that means going to painting parties with friends. It can mean sharing your progress, cheering others on, or sharing tips with others in the group. Anyone who finishes a horse is officially a "winner", though they may not win a prize. I have a lot of horse to paint and it makes me a little bit nervous. I am not currently 100% sure I can finish it, or that I will like it when it's done. I don't know if I will remember all the things I learned last year about painting a palomino horse, but I can always go back and look at posts I made and ask more questions. One thing I know for sure is this year I am going to paint with Travis. I feel like I am a winner already.