NaMoPaiMo After Dark

So I actually am making some progress on my NaMoPaiMo (National Model Painting Month) horse/unicorn, although it's a little hard to see it.

The unicorn is basically white, so after basecoating I painted on several layers of white until I was satisfied with the smoothness of the coat.  Then I started to "mess up" the white by adding a very diluted purple shading.  This did not actually mess up the unicorn, and actually went on pretty easily, probably because I'd diluted it so much.  There were a few places where I'd shaded a bit over-enthusiastically that I had to tone down with white again, but basically that step went really, really well and I was starting to look forward to finishing my NaMoPaiMo project after all.

A blank slate

However, life got in the way. as it always does, and the result was that I didn't find time to work on my unicorn again until late last night.  I did manage to get a good bit of work done then, but you're going to have to take my word for it since I can't show it to you.  Turns out that when you work on your project after dark it's next to impossible (for me, at least) to get a good picture of it as your camera flash may, like mine, be working so hard to hold back the night that the details of any painting you may have done are lost in its glare.  

With purple shading (you're going to have to trust me on this)

Lesson #1 for me:  Save the picture-taking for daytime when the ambient light is better.  This will also encourage me to finish the unicorn well before the actual midnight deadline as I'll never be able to prove I painted it if I have to take its picture in the dark.

The next step I had planned to take was to lay in the blue details in the horn, mane and tail.  However, when I looked last night I could not find the blue paint I thought I had.  I know I had it last year as I mixed it with black to paint my horse's mane and tail.  I don't remember whether or not I finished it, though, and where I might have put if I still had any left.

This may necessitate a change in plans.  Today is going to be another "life gets in the way" day, but tomorrow I'm going to do one last search for my blue and if I can't find it I'll have to start modifying my design.  I'm already considering grey or silver (which I do happen to have) as an alternative to blue.

Lesson #2 for me:  In addition to prepping the model, use the month before NaMoPaiMo to make certain you actually have all the supplies you think you'll need.

I've learned other lessons this NaMoPaiMo from others on the Facebook page, and have received a few reassuring tips myself.  But while sharing is an essential and fun component of the NaMoPaiMo experience, I think you actually learn the most by trying to overcome the unexpected and mundane difficulties you personally face along the way to the deadline.  

Just imagine -- professional artists must go through the same thing from time to time, and still they soldier on.  One hobby artist (I'm sorry, I forget who at the moment) recently said that the only way to get better at painting is to paint every day.  I'm not sure if I'm up for painting every day, but I think I'll be more prepared for NaMoPaiMo next time around.

Although I may have to buy some more blue paint ...