In the paint: Olive

You may have noticed, there's a new Olive in the Garden...

This one was painted by me. 

I started her a couple days before we got the official news at work. At this point she was on her way to being the best - albeit the smallest and flattest - chestnut I'd ever painted.

Then, disaster struck.

Yep, I ended up with one of those glittery cans of Dullcote. Even worse, it took me two separate sprays to figure out why my medallion was getting more and more glittery.

After a quick consultation with Corina, I was able to work through the worst of the issue. In the process of that, Olive ended up a little darker and little less red. I liked her better before, but this is fine. I didn't paint her brand. She's so small, I'm not sure I can do it justice. Plus, I'm not emotionally prepared for another disaster.

The background depicts a crisp, Colorado spring day with both snow and flowers. I had so much fun with this, I painted the sides, too!

All of the Olives!

Of all the collections within my collection, this is one of my favorites. I really hope I'll have a couple more new additions to share sooner rather than later.

Just like that

Ten years and one month ago, I drove up to Evergreen to spend a day with Jennifer Scott.

We played with the horses,

toured the studio...

and made a Rajah resin.

It was a really fun day.

I went home with two party favors, the Rajah we'd poured and a half-finished custom Stone weanling custom.

I discovered her on the abandoned projects shelf in Jenn's casting room. I pulled her out, admired her and told Jenn, "She's really cute. You should finish her."

Then Jenn - who famously does not enjoy customizing plastic models - said, "No, you should finish her."

Well, okay then.

In theory, this should have been easy. The only part that really need work was the neck, but let me tell you, necks are hard. Jenn had blocked in the muscles on the left side, but the right was a blank slate. I had to finish her side and then match it. Not easy, at least not for me. I've picking away at it for year, but this past January - finally! - I decided it was as good as it was going to get.

I put her aside during NaMoPaiMo and my trip to California. When I got home, it was back to work. The first order of business was giving her a mane. It's been a while since I sculpted hair, so I used an appropriately old but still awesome tutorial by Charlotte Donahue for guidance.

At this point, I was pretty sure I'd be scraping the whole thing off and starting over.

Trust the process, I told myself...

and eventually, it came together.

Not perfect, but definitely cute!

I added armpit wrinkles because Angelo told me I had to. Then I blobbed on some modeling paste chestnuts a la Kristen Cermele.

And just like that - and ten long years later - baby is done.

Well, I'm sure there's some nit-picky prep stuff to attend to, plus - I suppose - paint.

 But those are issues for another decade day.

For now, I'm happy to call this one finished. On to the next!

Painting Olive

I have spent the entire month painting my baby Olive portrait. I've switched mediums multiple times, lightened, darkened, reddened, unreddened, doing everything I can to dial in that color. On Sunday, I decided it was probably as good as it was going to get.

Finally! I could move to the part of painting I like best - the details. I started with the eyes.

After that, she was ready for markings. 

This involved looking at a lot of reference pictures.

Not gonna lie, I got a little weepy.

I held it together while I painted the blaze.

Trying so hard to get it just right.

I thought I was in the clear emotionally until I painted her right front foot. For whatever reason, this little hoofie sent me.

That's enough for one day, I guess. The end is in sight. One last time, Olive and I are going to get through this together.

Back to back

This week, I have a Sunday-Monday weekend. The plan for today was to ride in the morning and paint in the afternoon. 

Unfortunately, Kaffi had other ideas.

It took a lot of time - and a vet - to sort him out. Afterwards, I was almost too weary to paint.

Almost.

This is Raaja with a second coat of oils and the first with Pearl-ex method. Although it's not visible in these pictures, I swear there is at least a little bit of shading.

As is often the case, once I started painting, I didn't want to stop. After I'd done as much as I could with Raaja, I picked up one of the half painted models on my project shelf and pushed him a little closer to the finish line.

This both was and was not the day I was planning. Here's looking forward to a smoother tomorrow!

Embracing my perfectionism

I started NaMoPaiMo 2021 with three prepped models and big ambitions.

Here's that same herd - plus one - twenty eight days later.

My official model, a customized Bally Cor resin, was complete.

The micro was started and quickly abandoned.

Traditional scale Auron ended up somewhere in between.

Chestnut is a hard color for me. There was a lot of back and forth trying to dial in the right shade.

By the end of the month, his body was mostly done, and I'd painted his eye.

I've been working on him on and off ever since. 

The next pictures I have of him are dated October 2022.

Then, February 2023.

By this point, I'd added his markings.

Except - as things turned out - they weren't his final markings.

Somewhere along the way, he gained another sock.

I've spent some time this week, and now he's mostly done.

Mostly.

I keep thinking I'm there, but then, I find new areas that need attention.

I know this sounds like the same kind of non-functional perfectionism that keeps models in the prepping stage forever, but actually, it feels quite different. This is the part of painting I enjoy. Since I don't have a deadline, I'll continue picking away at Auron until he tells me I'm done, whenever - if-ever! - that may be.