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Rhonda Bender contacted NOCF when she heard about this special raffle to support humanitarian relief for the Ukrainian refugees. She chose to paint and donate this adorable Nightingale Bard, “Kobzar Soloveiko” ~ which was sculpted by Jason Wiebe for Reaper Miniatures for the same purpose, to support aid for the refugees. The nightingale is the national bird of Ukraine.  READ ON: This is a huge and very cool raffle package!
  
In addition to the Kobzar the Nightingale Bard, Rhonda has offered one hour of personal video instruction to the winner of the raffle.
 
The winner will also receive a second unpainted version of the miniature (packaging signed by Jason Weibe himself) if they have their own fun colour scheme ideas for how to paint this, or if they’d like to paint a master study of Rhonda’s paint work. Check out two YouTube videos detailing how she approached the miniature. Click on the red links to learn how she painted the feathers and jerkin and the lining and leather parts. Rhonda had this to say about her research and vision for Kobzar the Nightingale:

"If you do an online search for the Bluethroat Nightingale, you should easily find pictures of the bird that inspired my colour choices and feather patterning for painting Kobzar. In addition to the bright blue throat, the bird also has a rust orange stripe on its chest. Since that area is covered on this anthropomorphic figure, I used that colour for his clothing. I also used elements of the blue for his satchel. The decorative flowers on his lute were sculpted and painted as sunflowers."
 
Jason Wiebe also had some background into the research for the project:
 
“When we first discussed a Ukraine relief project, the word Kobzar came immediately to mind.  Historically, a bard known for pointed opinions, and colloquially is used for various eastern European street musicians.  A bard seemed a good choice, but what kind of bard?
The European Nightingale is taken by some as a national bird of Ukraine, Soloveyka along with other common spellings.  We settled on Soloveiko for the ease and western phonetic shorthand.  A nightingale is a rather unassuming bird with a legendary song.
 
"Sunflowers are somewhat of a more recent symbol, due to their economic status in Ukraine.  Now it all came together, as if it had to be; a small but proud character, singing its song with strength and love. I am happy to present the Nightingale Bard, Kobzar Soloveiko!”
 
Rhonda, along with the wonderful folks at Reaper Miniatures, have also supplied the 30+ colours that she used. Some of them she used very little, but figured it was better to include more paints rather than less! 
 
List of Paints 
9006 Fire Orange 
9007 Marigold Yellow 
9030 Leather Brown 
9037 Pure Black 
9039 Pure White 
9061 Linen White 
9066 Blue Liner 
9070 Mahogany Brown 
9071 Chestnut Brown 
9075 Buckskin Pale 
9128 Green Ochre 
9136 Walnut Brown 
9200 Harvest Brown 
9246 Brown Sand 
9305 Tarnished Copper 
9314 Heartwood Brown 
9421 Frost Blue 
9432 Desert Sand 
9433 Mountain Sand 
9434 Wolf Grey 
9459 Ogre Skin 
9469 Fire Ball Orange 
9484 Pale Saffron 
9487 Yellow Mold 
9498 Doxy Blush 
29106 Ion Soot 
29142 Hobgoblin Blue 
89503 Sinspawn Pink 
89508 Urgathoa Red 
89514 Saranae Yellow 
89527 Andorran Blue 
89545 Gozreh Gray