NaMoPaiMo - The Ugly Stage Can Be the Excuse Stage

I have ten days to paint if I want to complete Sultanna by February 29, the ending deadline for NaMoPaiMo. And I do want to finish her by then. But I think that I may be procrastinating.

 I finally took the plunge and began shading her body color.

I mixed two parts Yellow Oxide to one part Titan Buff and got a nice subtle color that was a smidge darker than the coat color, and did an initial shading.

The light in my horse room, no matter how I shine it or the lamps that I bring in, is not what I'd like, but you can see the shading in the above photo. I like that it looks subtle and barely there. (I still need to do the lighter highlighting.)

 My detail brushes arrived and are ready for her eyes, hooves, and white markings.

I made a goof when buying a set of fan brushes for the mane and tail. These are way too big for a Stablemate! (I had a good laugh over that.)

For my twelfth painting session, I painted another layer of Titan Buff on Sultanna's mane, tail, socks, and hooves, covering some of the coat color that had gotten where it I didn't want it.

The mane is now the color I was working for; next I want to add some shading to it for a more realistic look. I'll stop by Hobby Lobby or Michaels today after I meet a friend for lunch and see if I can get a TINY fan brush for that step. (I am still smiling about those big brushes!)

But despite all the progress, I have been putting off the more difficult steps, the detail work that will bring Sultanna to life. The reason?  That detail work will also show me where I am as an artist. I am a beginner, no doubt about that, but can I really paint a model? Can I make it look lifelike, at least a little bit? I am not expecting perfection of myself, but I do want Sultanna to look nice.

And therein lies my hesitation. The ugly stage is also the excuse stage - "Well, it's still a work in progress so yes, we are in the ugly stage!" But getting beyond the ugly stage is when you find out if you can achieve what you'd hoped - a realistic looking model.

I have ten days to push myself out of the ugly/excuse stage and move forward. Wish me luck.

NaMoPaiMo - the Ugly Stage

Poor Sultanna is definitely in what hobby artists call "the ugly stage" and I did a great job of getting her into that stage during my last painting session!

I had two yellow colors, Yellow Oxide and Yellow Medium that I was considering.

Not knowing how they would look by themselves, I pulled out Practice Pony and put some of each on her neck. They weren't the colors I was trying for.

Then I mixed a drop of each together and blended them well.

 That was more the color I was going for so I did another test brushing on Practice Pony.

It looked like what I wanted, but I completely missed that the brush strokes showed in her paint, an indication that I had forgotten to thin my color down with water.

 I began applying the color to Sultanna and it was a disaster,

Not only was the paint too thick, but it wasn't blended as well as I had thought. Dark and light spots appeared. How was I going to fix those?

Adding to my frustration was that I got paint on my only pair of jeans. Since I am still losing weight, I am reluctant to buy many clothes as my weight continues to go down. (I plan to spend a day shopping when I hit goal - just twenty more pounds to get there!)

The Shout got a little of the paint out, but I will try rubbing alcohol next and see if that works. I also have some paint pens that I use for making quiet books. As a last ditch resort, I will try to match the color with one of them and color over the paint.

 As I said, I did an excellent job of getting Sultana into the ugly stage. Now I need to figure out how to get her out of it!