Max Does NaMoPaiMo 2024 - Photostory! IMG INT

What's this, blog activity?! In this economy?! 🤯

I actually shot this photostory last year, but procrastinated to a ridiculous degree in doing the actual writing part, so here we are a whole year later and I'm still finishing it last minute!😂

Anyway, here's when Max reeeeeally struggled to get started with her NaMo pony...

There's a LOT of photos in this btw, and I'm still getting to grips with google photos for hosting instead of Flickr. XD

 

 

 For the last several years, February had been the time to paint ponies. NaMoPaiMo, the model horse community challenge to paint a horse start to finish during the month had been a great motivator, and Max had completed it every year since its inception.

 

Even if she often didn’t feel like painting for months at a time, she always knew that come February the inspiration would flow and the shelves would gradually fill up with freshly completed customs as she absorbed the enthusiasm and expertise of the community sharing their own work and progress.

There was no pressure to paint in the meantime, so in the months following the last event, she and Juno went out on walks…

    

…visited museums…

     

…spent far too much money at IKEA…

     

…attended a friend's wedding…

…and even managed to get away for a holiday at the seaside.

The year was rounded off by a nice quiet Christmas together spent munching on far too much cheese and chocolates with no pressure to do much of anything other than relax and beat each other at Scrabble.

By the time February rolled around Max wasn’t worried. 

She’d picked a model and a colour - bay, something nice and simple she didn’t need to think too much about. The desire to paint would come quickly as it always did when NaMo began, and besides, even if it didn’t, she’d painted plenty of bays before so it wouldn’t be too difficult to do even if she wasn't really in the mood. That was the theory anyway.

As the challenge began she admired the ambitious few who managed to complete their models within the first few days and knew she really ought to start on her chosen model. She just wasn't feeling it yet.

It was fine though, she had the whole month to work in - loads of time.

While Juno had already got stuck into her own watercolour painting at the other side of their shared craft room, Max browsed her Pinterest board of colour references, scrolled aimlessly through Instagram and did just about everything but start painting.

‘Wasn’t this supposed to start this month?’ Juno asked, a few days into February. ‘Last year you had most of it done by now, you were so focused.’

‘Yeah, I know,' Max nodded. Those were the days.

'I paint pretty quickly when I'm 'in the zone' so I don't need to start immediately, I just need to be in the right mood to paint, that's all. You're an artist too, you know what it's like. 'When inspiration strikes' and all that.'

Juno did know, the pile of half finished canvases stacked up in a corner of the room spoke volumes.

'I’ll get started soon. I’ve got plenty of time.’

Days passed, then weeks.

What was once plenty of time soon became 'not as much ' and then 'very little' and still, Max hadn't started yet. She just couldn't pinpoint why.

'Don't you have that model painting contest on this month?' Nadia asked during one of their regular weekend coffee and cake hangouts.

'Oh yeah.' Kirsty exclaimed, 'Juno said you were doing some kind of project thingy but you hadn't done it yet. What's that all about?'

 

Max groaned. 'Oh don't you two start! I'll get round to it, I'm just not in the mood quite yet.'

Nadia rolled her eyes and chuckled. 'Well you better hurry up, February's a short month and it's almost halfway gone by now!'

Max knew she was right, time was passing quickly, but her resolve was failing - she wanted to paint, but just getting started wasn't as easy as it should have been.

 

She went on yet more walks, took more photos - did everything but start her horse. Procrastinating was much easier than actually committing to the project after all. Instead she perused her shelves and tried to work out where said horse would fit...you know, when she was actually painted.

 

Could today be the day? Was the painting ready to begin?

Nope, but research still counts, right?

'Still nothing?' Juno asked, 'You've been sitting there for hours and I can feel the frustration from here.'

‘I’m just not feeling it this year’ said Max. ‘It’s like, I want to paint, but I just can’t summon up the motivation for it and I don't want to force things and then mess it up because I'm trying too hard.’

'Yeah, I get that sometimes with my art' said Juno.

'Sometimes a piece just isn't speaking to you and you have to set it aside for a while, but other times you just need to start and everything suddenly kicks into gear. It doesn't always work that way, sadly. Still, you've got time, it's on til the end of the month, right?'

'Yeah, I've got tons of time, it'll be fine.' said Max. 'It's not a competition after all, there's no pressure really.'

'Only the pressure you put on yourself!' Juno said airily.

Max snorted. 'You know me too well, I'm my own worst enemy at times like this.'

'Yep, but that's why you've got me here to sort you out in times of crisis.'

'Something I'm forever grateful for!'

 

The final couple of weeks of February loomed and Max still hadn't started her horse.
Her social media feed was full of beautiful models, and while there were some people in the same boat as her, most of them had valid excuses for not starting which just made her feel even worse.

The more she thought about it, the more she panicked about having not done anything and the cycle of anxiety and guilt began anew. It may not have been a contest in the most literal sense, but she was definitely judging herself.

She procrastinated further by tidying and reorganising her paints, then her brushes, then suddenly the model found itself on her desk at last, surrounded by everything she needed to start painting it, along with a couple of extra blank models.

Was it fate, or destiny? Or had her subconscious simply had enough and decided the time was right? Who knew, but the pony was there and finally ready to be painted.

Max took a deep breath and reached for the resin. 

 

'OK, we're doing this. Better late than never, right?'

Her 'tidying' hadn't been very effective as the desk was still a bit of a cluttered mess, but at least she now had everything on hand she needed.

She'd primed the model when she first got it, but it still needed a little prepping, so out came the sandpaper and files to get rid of any rough areas before getting another light coat of primer. This was probably why she'd been putting it off, she realised when she discovered another dodgy seam that needed work on. The prepping part was always the most tedious aspect of the customising process, and one she tried to avoid as much as possible.

With a podcast on in the background, Max found herself relaxing into customising mode at last. It was easy to focus when she had something to listen to, even if that something turned out to be a pretty gory true crime documentary rather than the nice chill lo-fi beats that Juno favoured. Still, she wasn't going to complain, and if she found herself wielding a scalpel with rather more vigour than usual when carving seams, that was her business.

Prepped and primed, finally the painting could begin!

While others preferred airbrushing for larger models, Max wasn't a fan. It was too complicated and expensive and she much preferred the old school method of hand painting anyway. She began with a nice rich brown for the base layer, blending in other colours as she went along until a dark chocolately bay began to take form.

Because acrylics dry so fast, she made more progress in a couple of days than she had the entire month which was very satisfying. All her anxiety about not having enough time faded away, she was well on track for completion, and with some time to spare if she was lucky.

'Ooooh, she looks like she's made of actual chocolate!' Juno remarked one afternoon. 'I could just take a bite out of her!'

'Probably not advisable what with it being resin and all, but I know what you mean! Oh, now that I think about it, I could definitely go for some chocolate cake right now to be honest. Have we got anything in the house, you know, strictly for painting fuel and inspiration?'

Juno pursed her lips and considered. 'Toast and nutella?'

'That'll do!'

Not much painting happened after that, but chocolate was eaten so the day counted as a win.

Progress continued, with subtle shading and multiple coats of sealer to protect the finish as she went along. Max couldn't believe how long it had taken for her to get started - once she began painting the days just seemed to fly by!

That was the beauty of NaMoPaiMo, the inspiration just flowed once you got stuck into the process. Max was focused and motivated and every brushstroke was perfect - exactly the right combination!

Finally, the mane and tail were done, dapples added, and all that remained was to add markings, details and the final coat of sealer and she'd be finished with a couple of days to spare!

Horse and sealer in hand, Max stood up and stepped forward towards the door. Once complete, all she'd need to do was get a background up for finished photos. Maybe a woodland scene, or perhaps an arena? She was a sporthorse type after all, that would look great.

Her mind was so full of these thoughts that she didn't look where she was putting her feet and caught her toe on the edge of the rug. She tripped, arms and legs flailing as she tried helplessly to regain her balance in an awkward display of energy. She managed to stop herself from falling, but in her moment of panic, both horse and spray can went flying, landing with a sharp thud on the hardwood floor...

'Oh no...oh no oh no oh no....'

'Please be OK, please be OK, oh nooooo!'

Max gingerly scooped up the model, praying against all the odds that she was undamaged, but it was all in vain. Both ears were gone, lost somewhere on the floorboards, and the paintwork she'd been so pleased with was scuffed and chipped in places. The legs were undamaged which was a welcome relief, but oh, her poor ears.

Overcome with anguish, Max broke down in tears.

All that work, all that time, and now this? It just wasn't fair.

 

Juno heard her crying from another room and rushed in to comfort her. She'd dealt with all manner of craft related injuries over the years so it was a relief to see Max unharmed, and not a repeat of the Dremel vs knee incident from a few years before. She was still clearly very distressed though, and Juno had a horrible feeling she knew why...

'Oh no, what happened? Are you OK?!'

Max gestured vaguely at the damaged horse between sobs.

'I...I dropped her! Her bloody ears have come off and I can't find them, and her paint's all messed up and...and...and there's only a few days left to finish everything and I'm just so angry at myself!'

Juno squeezed her shoulders affectionately and smiled sadly.

'Oh damn, that's frustrating, I'm so sorry. She was looking so good as well.'

Max wailed even harder at this and Juno decided that now was the time to give her a hug and let her cry it out. After a few minutes held against a now a tear-soaked cardigan, Max finally pulled away.

‘I’m so stupid, I knew I should have held onto her better and now she’s ruined!'

'Shhh, now, you're not stupid, these things happen. I know it's frustrating, but it's not the end of the world, you can fix it, I've seen you resculpt all sorts of things!'

'But I’ll never manage to get them fixed by the deadline! I’m crap at resculpting ears!'

'Just look at the state of this! Urghhhh, I knew I left it too late! Why couldn't I just start on time like everyone else?!’

Juno thought for a moment, choosing her words carefully. She didn't want to minimise the impact this had had on Max, but she also knew that her partner really struggled with confidence when problems like this reared their head and she needed to reassure her that the world wasn't ending without sounding patronising.

‘OK, so you don't think you can finish this one on time, could you work on something else or start a smaller one you know you can do in the meantime?’

She looked across at the cluttered workspace in front of her.

‘What about that one? That’s been unpainted for years!’

Max sniffed loudly and frowned. ‘Yeah, I know, but I’ve got specific plans for that model and it’ll take way too long. I definitely couldn’t do it in a couple of days! Besides, it won’t count as my official model, so what’s the point?’

‘The point is supposed to be about enjoying the process, right? Trying out new techniques and ending up with a painted pony by the end?’

‘…Yes.’

‘Yes, and? Wouldn’t you rather accomplish ‘something’ rather than get upset over not completing the whole thing? If you ran a marathon but didn't finish it, you'd have still run most of a marathon which is impressive as hell. Even if it takes a few days longer to fix this one, you still did most of it this month, so that’s a win as far as I’m concerned. Even if you don't get your 'official' model done, you've still achieved a lot.'

Max smiled, tears finally starting to dry.

‘Urghhh, stop being right when I’m grumbling, it’s very annoying.’

Juno chuckled. ‘I know, I love you too. Right, get yourself sorted, dry your eyes and work out what you're doing next, I'll be back in a moment.'

A few minutes later she returned with a steaming mug of hot chocolate and a cinnamon roll.

'There's nothing that can't be fixed after some pastry, chocolate and a good vent session.'

'Oh, I don't deserve you, you're the absolute best girlfriend ever.'

Juno smirked. 'I know, you have excellent taste!'

They sat and talked and laughed and ate, and gradually Max could feel her disappointment and anger start to fade. This was an unfortunate blip in an otherwise straightforward custom, but Juno was right, it was fixable. Ears weren't her speciality when it came to resculpting, but she could do with the practice, and as the original ears seemed to have vanished into the aether, she was going to need to replace them eventually.

She could just relegate this one to the WIP box, but that was just going to postpone the inevitable, and she was so close to being finished. Max knew in her heart of hearts that she'd never be able to look at this custom again if she didn't do something now, so her mind was made up.

Those ears were going to be remade, and remade today.

What was left of the original ears was cracked and broken, and useless to sculpt over, so Max got the Dremel out and sanded them right back to the surface of the skull.

Safety first, always!

Resin dust is no joke - wear safety goggles and filter mask every time!

Next, she drilled holes to embed wire, which would act as an anchor for the new ears and as a structure to be sculpted on top of.

Once fully embedded and cured with epoxy glue, it was time for the tricky part, actually sculpting the ears themselves. Every time she got one perfect, the other didn't want to match, or she'd accidentally smoosh one out of position. She should probably have done a simple layer first, let that cure and then do all the details in a second layer afterwards, but that kind of sensible thinking just wasn't happening. 

 

 

'Did I ever tell you how much I hate sculpting ears?' Max grumbled as she stabbed at the clay in frustration for the nth time that afternoon.

'In the last half hour, at least thrice.' said Juno, 'but I'm sure you've got more to say.'

'Yeah, you're right, I really hate sculpting ears.'

A few hours later Max surveyed her work while Juno peered curiously over her shoulder.

'I'm sure they're too big, but at least they kind of look like ears.'

'They look good to me, not out of proportion or anything! I knew you could do it.'

'Meh, they'll do. I just want to get back into painting, I can feel the urge to shade coming back full force which is a nice surprise given the fact I was ready to give up entirely earlier. Thank you again for that by the way, I definitely needed that pep talk.'

The epoxy was left to cure overnight, and for the first time since the accident, Max felt like she'd accomplished something. The next day she got the paints back out and resumed work.

Carefully, she began to fix the damaged areas, and as she did, decided that the original colour was too dark and would look so much better with lighter shading. With every dapple and subtle bit of pangare she added, the model that she initially just wanted to get over and done with started to become something she was actually proud of.

'I think she definitely needs some markings. I was going to keep her plain bay originally, but she needs a bit of chrome here and there I think. Maybe a little blaze and a couple of socks...'

'Oh yeah, this looks way better!'

On the other side of the room, Juno smiled to herself. She hadn't seen Max in such a good mood for a few days and it was a joy to witness. She'd got herself so wrapped up in the idea of missing the deadline and 'failing' that she'd forgotten how much she actually enjoyed the process of painting; arguably what the whole challenge was about.

Finally the time for the last layer of sealer approached, and Max was taking no chances this time. She held the horse with both hands, and Juno followed her outside with the spray can. No falls or issues this time, the spray went on smoothly, and while waiting for it to dry, Max found her attention fall on one of her many unpainted minis.

'I don't 'need' to paint this one, but I'm in the mood now, so let's just see what happens...'

'So, I take it you made the deadline?' Juno asked a few hours later, noticing a new model in her hands.

'Just! It was a close run thing though, if you hadn't pushed me-'

'-encouraged you'

'Yeah, that. If you hadn't given me that talk I'd probably still be moping and moaning about not getting anything done. But now, I have this, and this one too!'

'I can't believe after all the stress of the big one, I got this little guy done in an afternoon.' Max chuckled. 'All that panic and freaking out and here I am with two finished models at the end of it.'

'You just needed to be kind to yourself and not stress so much over the negative 'what ifs'. said Juno. 'Easier said than done, I know, but you managed it. Hobbies are meant to be fun and at the end of the day, that's what happened, you fell in love with painting all over again.'

Max still reckoned the ears were too big, but in the grand scheme of things it didn't really matter.

She was a winner either way.

The End

----------------------------------------------------------

Fun fact, the model's ears breaking wasn't planned, and I did genuinely knock the horse out of Max's hands onto the table accidentally when taking photos of her and had my own mini breakdown about getting the ears fixed in time! 😂

Originally the story was just going to be about the usual painting process but this actually made it more interesting! (and like Max I also hate resculpting ears, so doing it in micro scale was 'fun'!) If you'd like to see more photos of their craft room, I've got an album on Flickr which can be found -HERE- and as ever, you can see more regularly posted pictures of dolls, models and general photography on my instagram.

As of writing this it's the 24th of February 2025 and Max has only just started this year's pony, so hopefully this one won't be quite so problematic! 🙈😂