Just in case you hadn’t noticed last year’s inaugural run of NaMoPaiMo (National Model Painting Month), it’s almost time for the madness to start again! 😀

The basic rules are simple:

1. Participants must sign up before midnight on January 31.
2. Participants must paint one three dimensional model equine. There are no scale or medium requirements, but medallions and models of other animals are not permissible.
3. Models may be customized, prepped and primed before the start of NaMoPaiMo. However, the entirety of the finishwork must be completed between 12:01 AM February 1 and 11:59 PM February 28.
4. To complete the challenge, one photo of the finished model must be uploaded to the official “I Did It” album on the NaMoPaiMo Facebook group or emailed to NaMoPaiMo@gmail.com.

It’s not too late to join on in (the cutoff is Jan 31st) so grab a horse, join the Facebook Group, and sign up here! (There are some more details on the page about prizes and whatnot, so make sure you read before diving in.)

Taking a Leap of Faith

I’ve painted Breyer Mini Whinnies before and I’ve even painted pewter minis by Maggie before… but the new black plastic micros have me flailing about. For some reason they seem much more fragile to me than the pewter when it comes to stripping off a bad paint job and starting over. But this is NaMoPaiMo and it’s time to be brave! 😉

I’ve been subscribed to Maggie’s Monthly Micros for two years now and I haven’t painted a single one of the awesome little guys (and gals). I decided my NaMoPaiMo horse needed to be one of them, so after careful consideration I picked Jewel, the June 2016 horse.

Since the one color I am very comfortable with on Stablemates is a nice deep dark bay (along the lines of Escape Velocity) and Jewel is a Gypsy Vanner-equse model, I figure a nice medium tobiano would be a safe bet.

She’s a little larger that the pewter micros, but painting this small is still going to be quite a challenge! As always, I’ll have a Work-in-Progress gallery up on my Facebook page, but I’ll try and keep the blog updated as well.

I can’t wait to see all the awesome horses everyone else will be working on in February! 😀