We are the champions, part one

NaMoPaiMo Champion of the Day is a fun, bragging rights only title awarded to members of the NaMoPaiMo community who embody awesomeness during the month of February. Since a lot of this year's Champions earned this honor while still painting, I thought it would be fun to check in with them again to see how their projects turned out.

Our day one Champion was Heather Bullach, who taught a huge class of online learners how to paint a black horse with oils. Her personal NaMoPaiMo project was to paint not one but eight venti scale Whirlwind resins. 

She got close. On February 29, she posted: I did it! One Whirlwind down, just seven to go. I will in fact have one more done by tonight…possibly two more. That leaves five or six that didn’t make the deadline. While they are not finished by the end of the month, I made serious headway on the project as a whole! Sometimes half the battle for me is just making decisions on colors and starting. So I am super happy with what I was able to do in a month. I count it a win and a perfect set up to finish everything in just a few more weeks!

Professional artist and longtime NaMoPaiMo mentor, Stephanie Blaylock, was our day two Champion. Stephanie's official model was the long haired version of the Breyer Astrid. 

There was never a doubt about this one. She was painted in plenty of time, Stephanie shared lots of progress photos and the finished model is gorgeous.

The day three Champion was the first person to finish her model. We didn't hear from Laura Piec again after that, but that's okay. Her model was done, so she really didn't need to say anything else!

He sure did turn out nice, though!

Hanna Wangsgaard was the day four champion. After her official model had to be scrapped, she rolled into Plan B, a customized Levi resin. She worked hard on him all month, shared lots of updates and asked some of the month's best questions.

Here's how her model turned out. Although he wasn't officially part of the event, I broke my own rules and included his picture in the final collage.

On to day five Champion, Teddy Bates! Teddy worked so hard and was so happy when they finished, they couldn't wait to take proper pictures before posting.

I love the enthusiasm, and I adore this pony.

Sarahbeth Barlas was the day six Champion. She was another artist whose hard work and strong emotions left a lasting impression.

And look how great her model turnout out!

The day seven Champion was Madison McComas. Her model was finished during the first week and is now earning his keep under saddle and in the barn.

I love this so much!

Day eight's Champion, Hannah Shumpert, was all about powering through with the help of a little Dr Pepper and Fireball. It must have worked. Her model turned out great.

Day nine belonged to the tack makers. Sara Bowman and Carrie Sloan Meyer are more comfortable with leather than paint, and this year, both of them ran into trouble early. It could have been the end of the road, but instead #TeamStripper was born. 

It was so nice to see them cheering each other on, and I was delighted when they both made it into the Winners' Circle. 

Yay, tack makers!

Kristie Strange was the day ten Champion. She finished her model early, but kept on painting. 

Eventually, she circled back to her official model and used some of what she'd learned to make better. I love that!

The day eleven champion was Levi Kroll. His amazing Croiken is done and gone, but like Kristie, he kept on painting. I love that, too.

The day twelve title went to one of the hobby's greatest encouragers, Sue Rowe. I am happy to report that her model made it to the finish line. She writes: I did it! Introducing Sunshine’s TR Schoolboy. Tara was kind enough to prep this lad - so all I had to do was paint. He is done in oils and PearlEx metallic dry pigments. Tiny brushes led to a few areas of hair by hair doings. This could easily have sucked up much more time. I so appreciate the amazing efforts by others! Schoolboy’s barn name is “Cool.” He was patient and kind. And because he is an Appaloosa… more coat changes might be in his future. The whispers from all those teensy brushes… Thanks, Jennifer, and everybody for daring another year - or your first - at this most wonderful of February Challenges.

It's not all success stories. Fully forty five percent of this year's participants did not finish their models. This includes the day thirteen Champion, Meredith Sanders. After a promising start, her horse experienced an unfortunate chemical reaction and then broke. It happens, it's fine. I know Meredith will be back.

Fortunately, our day fourteen Champion, Jes Michaels, had a more successful journey. She worked hard all month, asked good questions and trusted the process, even when it was scary. The results were spectacular. Look how nice this guy turned out! Bonus, Jes is local to me so I look forward to seeing him in person.

Our day fifteen Champion was professional artist, Myla Pearce, who showed us how to make a mid-course repair and keep going. Sadly, we haven't heard from Myla since. Hope she's okay.

The day sixteen Champion, Carly Kudalis, also went silent after finishing her portrait model, but given the circumstances surrounding that, it's perfectly understandable.

There are still twelve more deserving champions to check in with, but this is long enough. Look for part two later today.