We are the champions, part two

Continuing on with our NaMoPaiMo Champions of the Day updates: The day seventeen title went to Pam Ford with her giant resin, the Ghost. Pam completed him early and then moved onto the second phase of her project: the tack.

Once a tack maker, always a tack maker.

As much as I love this horse, it's the tack that really seals the deal for me. Good job, Pam!

The quiet ones, Leah Peretz and Lisa Smalley, were day eighteen co-Champions. No surprise, they continued to be quiet after finishing their projects. Here's a fun picture of Lisa's horse wearing one of her tack sets.

Day nineteen Champion, Mel Boynes, also went quiet after completion. No judgement. I totally respect that, and  still totally love this pony.

Here's the most exciting update of them all: Approximately two days after completing her NaMoPaiMo horse, day twenty Champion, Katie Chamblin, went into labor and delivered a nine pound three ounce baby boy via C Section.

Welcome to the world, AJ, and thank you for letting your mama finish that horse.

Day twenty one Champion, Kallianne Ardese, knew she wasn't going to finish her model, and she didn't. 

Her grace and wisdom were a comfort to others who found themselves in a simliar situation.

Thank you, Kallianne. I hope you let us know when you finish that horse!

Our day twenty two Champion, Holly Mason, painted a really nice micro and talked about the importance of community.

Truly, this event is all about community. Thank you, Holly, for the reminder.

The day twenty three title went to Zoja Makovec. 

In the early years of this event, Zoja was one of our first finishers. This year, she worked right until the very end and WOW! was this ever worth it. Great job, Zoja. It's been such a joy watching your artistic growth.

One of the most impressive first time painters not just this year but in the history of this event is day twenty four/five Champion, Hanna Wikborg. She writes: I did it! I have completed my first NaMoPaiMo, but also first ever painted modelhorse! I found out about NaMoPaiMo right when I had printed my first model and just started my journey in this hobby. The timing was insane! I had to get all the paints, brushes, airbrush, air compressor, safety equipment, craft my own spray booth, create a workspace (with the very limited space I have)... you name it. Literally starting from zero. 

I have experience painting 2d and 3d modeling digitally but everything from printing the horse to airbrushing and everything inbetween was totally new to me. I had my goal set and nothing could stop me! But deep down I felt that this was pretty unrealistic and delusional, but today I completed it! My birthday is tomorrow so I really made an effort for it to be done today so I could relax and celebrate my birthday tomorrow on the deadline. 

This event has been invaluable to me! To see everybody's progress has inspired me, the kind comments and likes have motivated me, all the tips/tutorials has helped tremendously and that deadline was the kick in the but I needed to get things going for real! 

Now I am so happy and proud of all of us that has been participating, but also a little sad it's already over tomorrow. I know this group will still be here rest of the year but I'm already looking forward to next year's NaMoPaiMo. 

I know it's true, but it's hard for me to believe this is anyone's first attempt at, well, everything. It's so good. Keep going, Hanna. You are amazing!

Day twenty six Champion, Candace Anderson, worked so hard all month just to get her horse ready for paint. He didn't quite make it into the Winners' Circle, which is disappointing but okay. I don't know if he's done now, but regardless, I am secretly hoping he'll be making the trip to BreyerWest with Candace next week.

Like NaMoPaiMo staff member, Shauna McDaniel, our day twenty seven Champion, Karen Lloyd, finished her model with some down to the wire Leap Day heroics. She writes: Done enough! I put down my paintbrush after finishing painting magenta snapdragons in honor of my angel bunny Solstice, and saw it was exactly 11:22pm Hawaii time, which I’ve often thought an auspicious number. For hours I had been listening to a playlist on my iPhone that has various artists, and it just so happened the last song that came on was U2’s “Love is Bigger Than Anything in its Way” - the song which makes me think of her. 

I’ll try to get a better photo in daylight to upload for the official entry, but I’m so happy where my Breyer Ashley foal is at now. Gardens are the kind of thing that grow and change over time, but I managed to at least paint all of the varieties that were the most special to me from my 2023 garden: bacopa, salvia in honor of my grandma, snapdragons in honor of Solstice, begonia, and the geranium I grew from a cutting. She represents several of my passions that sustain me through the toughest times in life - my condo’s little deck garden, my artwork, and the model horse hobby. Thank you so much to all of you who encouraged me this month. You helped me to keep going, truly! 

Here's the daylight photo. Congratulations, Karen. She is just wonderful.

Finally - and perhaps, fittingly - we come to the end of the list with our day twenty nine, Kim Brandner, who was not able to finish. Her official model was plagued with bad resin, and although she did eventually get that fixed, there just wasn't enough time. She handled the setbacks with professionalism and grace and still managed to get a whole bunch of other things done. A good life lesson.

And knowing Kim, I have no doubt this model will be finished and it will be awesome.

I didn't officially name a day twenty nine Champion, but that honor goes to the NaMoPaiMo staff: Margaret Balch, Melanie Miller, Shauna McDaniel, Kristen Cermele, Corina Roberts, Anne Veeneman–van der Weel, Missy Shaw, Sarah Townsend and Lynne Penner. 

Thank you so much, friends. I couldn't do any of this without you.