Kotinga Layer 4

 

Thanks to Braymere's blog covering Jenn Constantine's advising to use reds and pinks as foundations for palominos, -- plus my own eyes telling me Kotinga was not equal to my references, too green! -- everything changed with Layer 4.  There was time after all on Monday, even if very late.

I knew he needed some infusion of browns and reds.  What I hadn't thought of was that my previous NaMo horses had left packets of mixed red-brown pastel powders with heavy doses of copper PearlEx.  At a bound my imagination soared:  Not an undercoat but merely another coat would stave off the green.  It seemed daring, but if we muffed it I'd just put more goldy-orange on,...     This next photo shows my methods:  the pastels themselves with the X-Acto knife to carve off powder, then the bowl for the finished mix.  Yes, it's labor-intensive, but it allows a high degree of control over color and amount.

Starting Layer 4

(The photos just don't do him justice!)  My gar have you ever been afraid of your own success?!!  I did not know I could do this --!!  At a bound everything changes -- the copper is just as metallic as the gold, and the reddish-pink of it does the job perfectly.  Use Q tips to 'erase' and bring back the gold-yellow highlights of the muscles...

Kotinga Layer 4, near side

 These photos are before spraying.  Honestly I was NOT expecting this glorious gold!!  NOW he matches the reference--!  Palomino as I dreampt it!  It becomes obvious my next goals are to deepen and smoothe this color -- minimize streaks -- while enhancing the lighter areas of the muscles.  Also, gray:  knees, hocks, muzzle, under the tail.  Alas for that pink between his cheeks, y'should've known palominos have gray skin there.  Shall we do that area with alcohol,  plus my big color brush doesn't fit under his tail,...  Note the brush shown sitting on the bowl (below) is the dusting brush and not the color-applying one.

Kotinga Layer 4  off side

 I wanted to see how the edges of the masked areas were doing.  Unable to resist I peeled the tapes from one eye.  The tape is there to protect the original finish Stone eye, far better than anything I could come up with.  Another happy surprise:  things seem to be okay.

Kotinga Layer 4 off face

 Oh yes, short posts are possible after all.

Nex morning:  A post-spraying inspection of Layer 4 reveals the same glorious color but changes in texture, a widespread minute speckling and graininess.  We shall see what I can do.

After all this, we still have a surprise up our sleeve:  Ambolena's clear glass gold.  Ambolena Gilded Lily.