T minus ten

Today is the twenty first day of January, which means NaMoPaiMo is ten days away. Model horse hobbyists the world over are buying supplies,

photo by Elaine Boardway

and prepping,

photo by Heather Davis

priming...

photo by Pam Ford

and well, customizing their models.

photo by Shae Hatter

You know this is a painting challenge, right?

photo by Emme Grace

Why are you doing this to yourselves?!?

photo by Karin Hullatti

A lot of us haven't quite decided what we're painting yet, so we're prepping, priming and customizing multiples.

photo by Lisa Smalley

It helps to label them so we don't get confused 😂

photo by Heather Burchfield

NaMoPaiMo staff member, Corina Roberts writes: I haven't registered yet. I think I am going to follow Lynn Cassels-Caldwell's bay roan tutorial (JAH 2023), but on a foal, so, slightly different. Motor and Terora are for sure not plan B and plan C. I'm waiting for my art mojo to come back from wherever it went before I make a final decision. Usually I do something big for NaMo, and then Grace and Skye do something too. This year, the girls haven't even discussed what they might like to paint. Ten days. A lot could happen in ten days. We shall see.

Canadian hobbyist Meg Valenteyn is also torn. She explains: Plan A is unnamed personal project - I never keep my own work and I’ve made a few I really loved so I’m finally keeping one. This will be a blue roan Fireheart with a loud overo pattern. The overo pattern has a hidden map of North America to celebrate that me and my best friend are from opposite corners but met over model horses. She's in Florida and I’m in Canada just north of Vancouver BC. Plan B is a portrait project for a coworker. She’s from the UK and had to lease out her horse to a friend when she came to Canada. She misses him a bunch so I want to paint her a portrait of him so she has a little him while she’s in Canada. 

Among those with a plan, there are a significant number who - like me - are signed up for Heather Bullach's painting a black horse with oil paints workshop. This includes Alicja Gąsior,

Elaine Lindelef,

Lisa Sharpe,

and Anne Giles.

I hate to admit it, but my own black horse is still on the customizing table. Ha, ha. Pot, kettle, black.

I am so excited about every one of this year's models: the big,

photo by Trudi Clarke

the small...

photo by Kim Szudlarek

the unfinished.

meme by Heather Puleo

Ten more days. I can not wait.