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Winslow arrives Sunday morning.

I work tomorrow, so today was all about getting the stall ready for him. It's exciting, but also sad. My emotions are all over the place.

NaMoPaiMo starts tomorrow. It's exciting, but also overwhelming. 

My pony is kind of prepped. My emotions are all over the place.

I have no idea how any of this is going to work out, but at least it won't be January anymore, right?

If you are interested in joining NaMoPaiMo but haven't yet done so, there's still a little bit of time. Officially, registration closes at midnight, but this has been a complicated month. If you need an extra day, we can make that happen.

And that's it for me. Tomorrow, we - the royal we, not necessarily me - paint! 

One month

It's been one month since Olive died.

One, long, hard impossibly cruel month.

I miss her so much.

I'm getting through it - going about my life like I always do - because what choice do I have?

Still, I feel like part of me died with her that night.

Fortunately, relief - in the form of a cute palomino mustang geldng - arrives Sunday. 

He's not mine, he's not permanent and he's definitely not Olive.

That's okay. He's Winslow, and for now, that's enough.

Matchpoint

We're still a few days away from the official beginning of NaMoPaiMo, but it's never too soon for a really good finishwork tutorial! In today's guest post, Brynlee Pulsipher shares her best tips for getting your colors just right. Thank you, Brynlee. This is good stuff!

Color Matching

by Brynlee Pulsipher

Alrighty, as we close in on February, the ‘how do I mix this color’ question is inevitable. I’m going to be honest, there’s color formulas out there, but if you’re going for an exact shade you’ll have to eyeball it at some point! So here’s some tips!

1. Break your reference down into easier to digest pieces. Don’t look at the whole picture, look at parts. Below I’ve circled on a reference to show you some of the different shades on the horse. Start with your lightest areas and get your entire horse that color. Then start to go darker or whatever you need to in the areas of your reference and continue.

Red is the lightest points, yellow is the next, then green, and then blue. Then your black points. This is just an image off the internet, feel free to save these! Even practice on your own and see how close you can get to identifying the different shades throughout the horse to mine!

2. Paint what you see, not what you think you see. Most social media has an eyedropper tool now. In my second set of pics I show that you can find the draw tool, and then use the eye dropper to see exactly which color you should be mixing! 

You can make yourself a whole color palette like this!

3. Use complimentary colors to dull shades. If your color is too yellow, add a touch of purple. If your horse is too orange, add blue. If your horse is too red, add green! This works great when mixing pastels, acrylics, airbrush paints, just about everything! Also, don’t darken with black until you can’t get any darker with your brown shades. Some people use purples and such, I haven’t gotten that adventurous yet (editor's note: purple is awesome!).

4. Mix your own colors. This is the best way to really understand colors. My favorite starter set of pastels is available on Amazon and comes with a ton of different color options! I’m still using mine for certain colors five years into customizing! 

5. Test your color before it goes on the horse. I keep a clean paper towel off to the side to test all my colors on. I use it for pastels, acrylics, and my airbrush occasionally! This way you can see how it looks without having other colors influence the appearance. For my pastels, I keep a paper plate that I mix all of my colors on as well.

6. Have fun! Don’t stress! There’s always a way to strip paint if everything goes horribly wrong.

Feel free to ask any questions you may have! Experienced artists feel free to chime in with any other advice you might have! I think I covered a good chunk, but I’m sure I’m forgetting something.

Reading the words

It feels like old times: There is a bag full of NaMoPaiMo prizes sitting by front door. 

But also, it feels like old times: I am frustrated.

My life is hard right now, and I am definitely lacking some of my usual patience, but it needs to be said. If someone offers to give items A, B and C away for free, people should take that for what it is and not request items X, Y and Z. Also, if the giveaway is only for registered entrants of a specific event, people who are not registered entrants of that event probably should not request items.

The winners of the pastel book, broken things and coloring books have been notified. As for the rest, it is what it is. There are are no hard feelings, I'm not holding grudges and no apologies are necessary. I am still committed to giving away the items in the NaMo box, but should I do it via free blog raffle again, please - for all of our sakes - don't just look at the pictures. Take a moment, and read the post.

And with that, let's move on to the next giveaway!

This is a hard one and is open to everyone, not just NaMoPaiMo entrants. While I was cleaning my studio, I came across two horseless tails. The first person who can identify who they belong to (hint: both the tail-less horses have appeared on my blog at some point in last sixteen years) will receive a prize from my personal stash. This will probably be a Santana medallion, but I reserve the right to change my mind, depending on who wins.

Good luck and thank you for reading all the words!

Stephanie's studio

I'm not the only one who's spent some time cleaning their studio this month. In today's guest post, Stephanie Blaylock gives us a photo tour of her freshly cleaned art and collection space. I am not a minimalist, and I love everything about Stephanie's cozy and inspiring room. I hope someday my own space will look half this nice. Thanks, Stephanie!

NaMoPaiMo Cleanup! 

by Stephanie Blaylock

It's become an annual tradition for me to clean my studio and sort supplies before NaMoPaiMo. 

I have an upstairs studio room but my painting area is quite small. It’s also my collection room and tack room. So there’s a lot of stuff. If you are a minimalist look away! You can see how small my actual painting space is. Lower bookcase is filled with color reference and riding instruction books.

This is the painting nook with my vintage enamel top table which is easy to wipe down. My laptop is also there for zoom paint classes.

My little cabinets store treasures and artwork from friends over the years. My table light is my most important supply! I also have reference guides that I use most often. Lesli Kathman’s books are there.

Pastel brushes on the left and painting brushes on the right.

Here are my prep supplies and new brushes. Every time they go on sale I pick up a few. I go through a lot of brushes.

Palette of acrylics, PearlEx, colored pencils, supplies I use most often.

The other side of the room houses my collection.

And more collection.

I haven’t decided on my 2025 NaMoPaiMo horse yet, but maybe this is a step in the right direction.

NaMoPaiMo cleanaway

For the first five years of its existence, NaMoPaiMo had prizes. These were mostly donated by members of the community and ranged from stickers and bookmarks to unpainted traditional scale resins, with pretty much anything and everything in between. 

some of the 2020 prizes

Winners were chosen both for merit and at random from the pool of registered entrants who completed their models. One year, I shipped out over three hundred packages in March. It was wild.

2020 prizes taking over my living room

I have no regrets, but also, I will never do that again.

2020 prizes in the hands of the US Postal Service

I have spent the last couple weeks cleaning my studio. 

Much to my dismay, I uncovered a box of unsent NaMoPaiMo prizes.

I know I said I would never ever do NaMoPaiMo prizes again, but these things do not belong to me. I know I'm probably going to regret this, but for better or worse, the redistribution process has begun.

So far, there have been three winners. Alexander Kennedy was awarded a prize for being the first non-staff member to register for this year's event. Donna Fredley and Jack Stroud were chosen by a random number generator.

I like the random number generator, but some prizes need to be more targeted. For example, I really want this book to go to a new painter who wants to try pastels in February. 

Similarly, I've got a pile of parts and broken things that might be enticing to an ambitious young customizer with more time than money. 

Finally, there's this pile of coloring books. Clearly, they're not for everyone, but I know someone out there will enjoy them.

If you are a registered NaMoPaiMo entrant who would like to own any of these things, let me know in the comment section of this post. In the likely event that multiple people express an interest, I'll use a random number generator to choose the winners tomorrow evening.

Hard January

NaMoPaiMo has been a great distraction, but this month has been hard.

In addition to the ongoing national horror show in Washington, I am dealing with tough situations in both California and Colorado.

Our house survived the Eaton fire, but is not currently habitable. 

Eaton Canyon looks like this.

My beloved hometown is mostly gone.

And my Mom... I don't know how it's possible, but we've been put on notice that her current situation - which had seemed so stable in November - is anything but. I honestly don't know what we're going to do next. It feels hopeless.

Mom and Sally in Eaton Canyon, 1992

On the homefront, I am still paying board on an empty stall.

It's been very cold, and all week, I've been listening to my work friends and barn buddies complain about the misery of caring for horses in frigid temperatures. I get it, but also, I so wish I was the one with blue lips and frozen fingers.

I miss Olive so much it hurts.

The search for the next forever horse is ongoing, but there is short term relief on the horizon. I thought he would arrive this weekend, but nothing is that easy. There have been complications, and it will probably be another week at least.

Can it just be February already? This has been a really hard month, and I am ready for it to be over.