Can't stay on track

No sooner than I sit down at the miniatures painting table for a day or two, than I'm distracted by other things.

One is the Spaces Gallery 10x10 Benefit, for which I donated a watercolor (which I hope makes some bidder/donor quite happy -- as I liked it and I'm actually a bit sad to see it go).

The other is Halloween! I always have such grand plans for costumes. One out of every ten years do I actually pursue them. The rest of the time it's just whatever I can pull together last minute.

So granted, this is still dragging out til last minute, but I've been working on it. Probably for an inappropriate amount of time.

Here's 3/4 of the way through tonight's painting. I wanted to try the top part of the costume on...



I've since added some further texture & darkness to the mask, plus gathered together the rest of the costume, added some details like the metalic color and patina to the lenses & associated structure (screw heads...)

A few friends have gone off to Fall In this weekend. I've sent a request to buy me a pack of the Perry WotR plastics plus one of the command packs. Perhaps more figures on the horizon. ;)

In truth, I've been working on some commission stuff in between mask-making & other scheming.

Lights! Cameras! (No) Action!

In pursuit of more accurate photos, I picked up some compact fluorescent "daylight" bulbs to replace my incandescent "GE Reveal" bulbs that I've been using for photographing figures, and fiddled around with the settings on my camera to accommodate the change.

I also borrowed my wife's camera, which is more than a few years newer than mine, and an upgrade from 5 megapixel to 8 megapixel. Both are "semi-automatic" type cameras that have a lot of the manual settings, but aren't nearly DSLRs. Both have decent macro functions as well.

The photo below is the best of the bunch. It was taken with my older camera. I couldn't seem to get hers to quit "over exposing" the shots. I will continue to play with both cameras. But I think the change in light bulbs is an improvement.



The figures are just miscellaneous painted figures I had on my work desk (where I also take the photos) and haven't been put away yet. I was trying to get some different colors, textures, etc. in the shot.

Squid Trooper and Hoppalong Sidekick

I finished the Squid Trooper. A lot of it was just me playing around with some colors and techniques.




Also painted a rabbit from a pack of familiars. Orange, of course.



Wrapping up a dragon (commission) some Empire stuff and some ECW. Still trying to figure out what I want to pain for myself after all that.

It's Official; plus: Actual Painted Figures

It's official, I am now a married man.


We risked in outdoor wedding in October and everything turned out great. We had a wonderful time, and the next day, we hit the road...



...to a cabin in the woods in south-western Ohio for four days. It's my favorite area for vigorous driving. We also spent a good deal of time hiking around state parks & caves, grilling outside and we even rented some ATVs one afternoon. It was definitely a city boy's adventure out of his element. And a lot of fun.


We came back and I got a little bit of time at the painting desk, though we've both caught some post-wedding plague, so I've been a bit out of it the past few days.

Below is a WIP shot of one of Wargames Factory's Shock Trooper models (or "shock squid" as I'm calling this one.) I got a sample sprue in with a recent package, and thought I'd paint a couple up just for fun.

You can also see a few sample figures from the upcoming War of Spanish Succession kit that I painted for them, at their web page. Better photos are forthcoming -- these were just a bit of a teaser photo. I've been holding out for someone to do some later 18th century kits (like AWI or SYW) but I think I may end up tempted into the WSS after all.

Painting on the Horizon & Mystery No More

My painting desk has been collecting junk and unused for a while, as I've been busy with other things. I cleared off some of the paperwork that was on top, and unearthed the sub-mess beneath. Soon I should have time to get back to painting figures.



The first orders of business are finishing some commission figures. The dragon in the background has been almost done forever, I just can't seem to get more than 15 minutes at a time to wrap it up. That's number one. I've also got to wrap up my figure for the miniatures-swap at warhammer-empire.com. I'll be cutting it close to the Nov. 1 deadline. A little change from being one of the first ones done last year. Then I've got a small batch of commission figures started (just to the rear/left of those sprues in the foreground.)

After that, I hope to do some more painting for myself. I've got quite a backlog of projects. (In no particular order.)

• Empire: Characters, State Troops, Knights, Artillery Crew, DoW
  
• Skaven: Clanrats, Plague Monks, Doomwheel, Characters, Rat Ogres & Giant Rats
• Medieval: Flemish Pike, Crossbow, Plançonnier, Artillery Crew, Medium Cav
• Renaissance: Landsknecht Pike & Shot, Gendarmes
• Romans: ...will never end... always more Romans.
• Macedonian Successors: Boatloads o' pike. Still need to get cav & light troops, but want to paint some of what I've got before buying any new figures.
• 15mm Musket era? Ever since playing Black Powder, I've had the itch to start... Again, I should probably paint down some of the waiting pile already in my possession.

I finished my "mystery sculpt," shown below. It's a bit glossy at the moment, and may stay that way. It's a cake topper for my upcoming (a week away!) wedding.

I paint/draw orange rabbits, my fiancé loves butterflies. On our invitations we had an image of a butterfly landing on a curious rabbit's nose, and she wanted something like that for the cake topper.



My artists' acrylics were a bit old. I undercoated each with a lighter shade (yellow under the orange and cerulean under the pthalo blue) and everything was fine. But the orange and pthalo both turned out very thick & chunky, leaving a lot of texture. I tried fixing this on the second coat, but only made it worse before going out and buying two new tubes of paint. A bit too late, though, so there's still a lot of texture. I really wanted a nice smooth finish.

This will probably be my last update as a single man. But the next one should have some actual miniatures and/or gaming stuff in it. Some people talk about their hobby time ending when they get married. I'm looking forward to having time for it once again once all the wedding work is done!

Boardgames

The game that got started in miniatures games:

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/11187/advanced-dungeons-dragons-battlesystem

AD&D Batttlesytem. As I remember (this was a loooon time ago) it was essentially a clumsy adaptation of the already clumsy AD&D mechanics to large scale battles. The box came with a large number of cardboard counters for troops. Our first games were on a friend's basement floor, the borders of the battlefield and all of the terrain being marked out in masking tape on the tile surface.

Eventually we discovered miniatures and terrain building. From there, things evolved. I still occasionally talk to some of those old friends. I'm the only one who still plays with toy soldiers.

The reason I was thinking about my start in the hobby with Battlesystem is recent discussions around the internets on the visual aspect of the game. The thing I don't understand is paying boatloads of money for figures, then not painting them, or using construction paper terrain. If the visual aspect means that little, why not stick with cardboard counters. They certainly worked as well back then. If I only wanted the game, with no visual "theatrics" that's probably what I would do.




Speaking of board games, we received a wedding gift from one of my fiance's out of town friends. I've never met him, but he's my new hero. We got...

Painting At a Slightly Larger Scale

I spent three days at the annual Ingenuity Festival this past weekend. About 15+/- artists were painting "murals" on the floor. A little over half were completed ahead of time, the rest of us worked as the festival was going on.

The festival now takes place on the unused lower half of one of the bridges spanning the Cuyahoga River, connecting the two halves of the city.

Here I am just before the start of the Festival, on a sunny 90F degree Friday afternoon, at one end of the bridge.





My work space was a sheet of plywood strapped down the the open metal grating at almost dead center of the bridge, over the river. I kept waiting to lose a paint brush or a cap from a tube/jar of paint, either through the grating or over the edge (just beyond those thin wooden slats.) I managed to keep everything together.





A couple of photos from Saturday afternoon. The temperature dropped about 30F degrees, and the wind reversed direction. I was working almost directly opposite the festival "centerpiece," an artificial waterfall pouring from the top of the bridge to the river below. The high winds soaked me and my painting throughout the chilly day.





I continued painting through Sunday, though I called it quits in the early afternoon so that I could wander the festival some more and view/participate in some of the other events. In spite of having to fight with the weather and conditions, which were a major setback (acrylic paints on a wet board that people would walk all over after dark) I had a lot of fun. I also learned a great deal about painting "in the field" in less than ideal conditions. Actually, it made it a bit of an interesting challenge -- though I could have done with a bit warmer weather if I was going to be soaked all day.

As far as the rest of the Festival -- it was great. I really enjoyed all the other art, music, dance, theater, food and, of course, all the great views from (and of) the bridge.



I'm back to work on the "mystery sculpt" and almost finished.

I also have less than two weeks before my wedding, and then few days after that for some much needed R&R, away from civilization (in a cabin in the woods.)

After that, I've got a work desk full of figures to paint. First up will be some overdue commission work that I need to complete. Then a few surprises...

Myster Sculpt (yet again)

More work on the mystery sculpt...

Chalk Festival, Ingenuity & More Mystery Sculpting

More non-wargaming or miniature painting stuff... (but don't worry, more of that soon!)

Last year I posted about the Cleveland Museum of Art Chalk Festival, along with some pics of past chalk drawings. This year I ran down for a quick afternoon of drawing. My fiance (wife in a couple weeks!) was sick and had to bow out. I feel bad, as she's the one who got me into the festival in the first place and I know how much she enjoys it.

This year I sort of got stuck with a small space to work in. So it was about 1/2 the size as usual, and I finished in a very short time, had to sacrifice some of what I had planned & some of the detail. A bit disappointing, but trying not to let it bug me.



I stuck with the same cartoony theme I've done since the first time. I've got to admit, I like it when the kids recognize the rabbit & snail from the previous years. :)


While on the topic of festivals & public artsy stuff, I will be part of the Line of Sight
"mural" project at the Cleveland Ingenuity Festival this year. I (and a number of other artists) will be painting a "mural" on a big 8'x4' board throughout the festival. It's a really cool festival, and this year it has moved to the location of last year's Bridge Festival, on the lower level of the Detroit-Superior bridge, in Cleveland. A great site!


Came home and after some other things and a nap, I've been working on the "mystery sculpt" again. Here's part of it (1 of 2 pieces.)



The other part is curing under a lamp (I hope), as I want to work on it more before going to bed.

Mystery Sculpting

More work in progress on the mystery sculpting project.







No, nothing to do with toy soldiers, strictly speaking. Except that it's helping me blow through all my too-old green stuff (frustrating as it is to work with...)