NaMoPaiMo 2024 - Complete

My model inspiration for this year's NaMoPaiMo event comes with a story. Back in October, I was browsing through my social media accounts when I stumbled upon a parent looking for a small memorial gift for her son who had to say goodbye to his beloved mare recently. 

After leaving a comment on her post that I painted model horses, the lady immediately reached out asking for my prices and work examples. I told her I was happy to gift it to her son completely free, she was overwhelmed. 

I had the model prepped and ready to go for months but the past few months were tough. My husband has been dealing with a ton of work stress and late nights since January and it was inevitably spilling over to me. My creative juices took a huge hit as a result. But art has always been my happy place and resolved to push through with finishing this project and managed to get it done for NaMoPaiMo as well. 

Rest in peace, Dolly. You were so very loved by your little boy. 

NaMoPaiMo 2023 = Complete!

NaMoPaiMo or National Model Painting Month is an annual event that takes place each February with the goal for customizers to start and finish a model horse within the month. This year the rules were expanded to allow for completion of a model that was started before the event and also welcomed international participation. 

I honestly thought I wouldn't be able to participate, let alone finish a model, for this year's event but I somehow managed to get it done! 

Breyer Stablemate Arabian Stallion "Twist" repaint. This is one of my favorite molds that I conga.

After finding out mid-2022 that we were expecting, I was forced to take a break from customizing when the nausea got really bad. By some miraculous timing, I finally started feeling much better towards the end of January enough to slowly get back into it. I had a few client projects sitting on my desk untouched and got to work the beginning of February. 

After much prep, painting, and detailing I managed to get not one but three models done before the end of the month for NaMoPaiMo. I'm really pleased to have accomplished this especially after such a long time away. 

My project queue is full of fun things coming up and I'm hoping to use the time during my leave later this year to make headway during baby downtime. This is very optimistic thinking obviously but here's to hoping! 

A New Artistic Venture

Expressing myself artistically has always been a huge part of who I am. It was my first self-taught hobby and played a huge part in my journey of finding myself during a time when I struggled to see value in who I was. 

I started small, on a college student budget, doing pieces for myself and friends. My real commission work breakthrough happened at my first art convention almost a decade ago when a friend offered to let me use a corner of her vendor table. I was unprepared to sell anything, but I put down a couple sketches I had done while traveling and hoped someone liked what they saw. I went home that weekend with nearly $1k in profit, just from doing what I loved. 

I kept on drawing after that. With each convention and commission, I used my earnings to restock art supplies that I needed to continue in the hobby - good materials were not cheap but doing commissions helped every bit of the way and from the ground up, I built a tight-knit community around my artwork and thrived, finally having found a place to express myself and my work. 

In recent years though as life picked up speed, I eventually found myself without motivation to pick up my tablet pen or pencil to draw for anyone, let alone myself. It was as if a part of me had went dark and chose to stay that way. Maybe it was the result of the pandemic or working through my emotional/mental trauma of my childbirth experience. I'm not sure honestly, but I knew something was wrong but I was apathetic to change it. 

Then about a month ago, I was contacted by a friend and repeat client who asked if I could take on an art commission for him. It was dusting off the cobwebs and flexing long unused muscles. I realized I missed being creative and I really missed challenging myself to learn a new skill. 

After giving it thought, I decided to take the leap into a new hobby and try my hand at model horse customization. In my mind, it was the natural combination of the two things I enjoy most in my spare time. Figuring out a new hobby has been quite the adventure so far. I've been learning about different model scales, live showing, photo showing, resin material types, painting techniques, painting supplies, and my favorite part- Collecting models to work with. 

My current project ponies in various states of prep and sculpting.
It looks like a mess now but this "diamond in the rough" stage is probably my favorite part of the whole customization process.

With my newly acquired model bodies, I did a few small projects to practice customization  techniques and I guess they proved that I was doing well enough to start taking on commissions. I'm currently working on my first custom order and I'm very humbled that what started out as a pipedream just a month ago is now reality. 

At its heart, I've always wanted this blog to have a shared focus of my two favorite things- riding and art. Customization seems to have neatly fit the bill. I'm still riding, enjoying trail time with Quest, and taking on catch rides when I can, but I'm pretty excited to explore and find my way back to this other side of myself.

Little guy has been watching me work on project ponies for a couple days now.
One afternoon, he asked for a brush and picked up a model bunny to “paint” <3