Long story short, my "work area" for my graphic design work had to expand and did so at the expense of my painting area. When I would work on my Mac, I was constantly knocking minis on the floor while trying to find color card proofs or when I was swapping out thumb drives. It culminated when I ended up knocking a painting contest entry on the floor and messing up many hours worth of work (granted, I was really hating the paint job). I boxed everything up and set it off to the side.
A month and a half later, I noticed I was having a lot of trouble sleeping and even relaxing. I was beyond Grumpy Bear, I was pissed off Grizzly Bear. That kind of happens when you stop doing the one thing that helps you unwind after a busy day...which for me is painting minis. So with the help of a $20 Ikea desk, a very helpful paint rack suggestion from Tom Schadle (who is the frikkin' man when it comes to painting....but I'll cover that on another post), and a quick bout of "getting rid of crap that had piled up over a year and a half"...my new (yet smaller) painting area was born.
Before I had ceased painting back in May, I had been concentrating my efforts on rehabbing my skills using simpler "troop" models...specifically ones from the 1998-2002 era. My first effort was the Tethru Master of Words which I've posted some shots of (glamor shot versions soon). This time out, I decided on a model from one of my favorite fantasy games, Chronopia. However, I opted for a model that wasn't part of a faction I collected...and it was this fellow.
This is a Standard Bearer for Orc Assault Troops...from the Blackblood faction. I actually didn't know i had him until I did the "getting rid of stuff" thing I mentioned earlier.
As of tonight, he is about 90% painted....I've had a busy couple of weeks with work. But as I painted him, I noticed something... I was able to relax again. I had forgotten how well I could just lose myself in painting minis. I've actually gotten a decent night's sleep over the past couple of weeks...and I think I'm a little less grumpy (I think so, but I'm sure my wife doesn't think so).
I am planning to wrap the model up Friday night...I only have a couple of things to do work wise on Friday, so I should be able to get some more painting time in.
So, stop by the blog over the weekend and hopefully you'll see a painted model.
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