November 8, 2022

Sunday Stroll - more than a decade in the making...

Sunday Stroll has lived up to his name, taking his sweet time. The name was supposed to imply, as a Thoroughbred from Sunday Silence lineage, that running is as easy as a Sunday stroll. LOL

Valor Resin (Carol Williams) with Replay Resin Head/Neck (Brigitte Eberl)
customized by Danielle Feldman

I shared an in progress picture of him more than 10 years ago, and I have no idea how long before that I worked to get him to that point. When I signed up for Heather Bullach's painting a dapple grey in oils class fall of 2021, she recommended we use a traditional scale model. I have had this guy's color in mind since the beginning, so I figured it was time. After some minor tweaking to the mane and tail, I got him prepped almost in time to start with a painted base layer. 

Streaky is pretty normal for a first layer, but this is way too light


Layer 2 I got a little bolder. 

I was a little nervous to apply newly learned skills to a model where I have a specific image in mind. Maybe that's why I was the slowest one in the class to make progress. 

Painting when I have the energy to focus and enough time to not feel rushed is key for me. I usually regret the results of painting when those don't align for me, so I took the pressure off myself to have set expectations about keeping up with the class.

Layer 2 - Take 2 - Not enough dapple contrast with prior attempt

Layer 3 - starting to detail the body

But Heather does an amazing job of taking the mystery out of oils so that I kind of knew where I was headed with each next step (thank you, Heather!). 

Then the class ended last fall, and he has been waiting on my shelf for almost a year... I'm guessing that last oil layer is probably dry by now, ha ha. Sunday Stroll continues to live up to his name. Maybe I'll finish painting him in the next decade?