Today I checked my stats of the blog and just blinked my eyes because I had some increased of views in the last two days. Normally I fell back to just a small dripple (no wonder because I don't post as much as last month) but on the weekend I was added to another bloglist: The Blogs of War. Don't know who runs this blog but thanks for adding me :)
That brings me to another point: I really was a winner in Mr. Lees 100k view contest. And since I placed second I was lucky to get the miniature I wanted, the Scibor moscal hero. I hope I can find the time to give this miniature some love and paint it the best I can.
And the next thing: As you may have read I procrastinate and rather drive my new bike than painting BUT this has a major impact on my (caution Buzzword alarm) work-life-balance. Since my wife and I cycle together we spend much more time with another. Pretty cool. And watching some of the MTB stuff (especially the following video) I feel like I can fight dragons or climbing mountains.
Today I want to show you my new painting station which I can use if I paint in front of the TV. Since my wife has to sit alone in our living room when I paint or tinker and we only have these evening times together, she bought me thisthingy which she thought would be cool for painting at our TV desk. Normally this is a laptop cushion with a pencil- and cup holder. And a small LED lamp. The lamp is powered by batteries so no need for some nasty cables. The surface is somewhat rubberized so the stuff on it won't slide around.
So what will I gonna do with this thing? Slot for pencils = slot for brushes, slot for cups = slot for water pot and rubberized surface to keep my painting pots and wet palette on place. Check! I did some testing with arm position and the like and it seems pretty decent either lying on the table or resting on my legs. The LED's give a rather cold light, no clue how near or far away from daylight this may be... But for some basecoloring or stuff it is more than enough. The light also is so focused that I can paint while my wife is watching TV and we could spend some time together. And maybe it can motivate me for some more hobby time :)
Not a real Monday Morning Music after all but some kind of mixture between relaxing music and unbelievable 3D painting. I hope I do post the original video because this artist should get all respect possible. If someone only told me what he is doing, without seeing this video I wouldn't have believed him.
The art of Riusuke Fukahori is simply amazing. Just watch the video and stand amazed at the finished pieces. (especially the oil pieces).
Hope I will get better soon so that I can post a bit more stuff.
Perhaps you already wondered why there are so few new posts on the blog at the moment. To be honest I am taking a step back from the blogosphere do some gaming and most important taking the chance to enjoy the last rays of sun and mild temperatures for a reborn hobby. But first things first:
I think I have some kind of hobby burnout. Most of the time I fight alone with my hobby stuff, have fun with it, but mostly painting or crafting alone isn't really motivating. At least my wife supports me and lets me piling up my stuff and so but at the moment I see all those plastic miniatures (or started terrain stuff) and am disheartened be the amount of stuff I have flying around. Lots of ideas but no creative power to execute all those ideas. Somehow this is really sad but if your work also kicks in (I have to substitute our Scrummaster on top my development work) the only thing you can do is to sort your time and ask yourself what to do with it.
Just a really short post while writing an article: Mr. Lee from Mr. Lee's Painting Emporium has a small competition running for his over 100k views now. If you missed this blog you really should jump over and have a look. Mr. Lee was one of those few who commented pretty early on my blog and helped to keep me motivated. Therefore I do this "advertising" which I haven't done earlier.
This weeks MMM is a bit late due to some proxy problems I had (I really like our GEMA who blocked this video although it was posted by the rights owner). This time I show you Naughty Boy - Lalala. First time I heard in the radio I was like: "Hm nice song, especially the singing kid". Next time I saw this video on Viva and went: "Yeah nice video, has something magical. Great text..." But today it struck me: This video is an adaption of a bolivian legend.
The legend goes roughly like that: A deaf boy who has the ability to sense the bad in the world is abused by his dad and one day runs away from home. His dad doesn't even bother to search for him and so he wanders around finding a homeless dog who accompanies him on his journey. One day, he finds an old man who is being abused by villagers while being taunted and ridiculed. By screaming, the boy conjures an earthquake and resolves the situation (in some versions the man dies and he revives him). Together they journey on and meet a disfigured man who was abused and made fun of because his malformed face. The man reveals that he is a shaman who was cursed by a demon (El Tio) because he didn't worship him. El Tio "The uncle" is considered as the lord of the underworld, to whom mortal people offer gifts to him in order to be protected by him or to ease his anger. The shaman said anybody who could hear the demon would fall under his control. Together they go to the place where the demon should reside and arrive at a mine where the demon is supposed to be. At the entry the whispering of unknown words in a unknown language is heard and all the companions of the boy cover of fear. Only the deaf boy could not be cursed by the demon, and enters the cave to face the demon alone. While his friends leave, they can hear him start screaming and therefore overvoice the daemon and stop him from cursing the world.
Pretty nice story, no?
Have a nice start into your week!
So long,
Paradox0n
P.S.: Sad sidefact: The mines in bolivia where the last sequences of the video were shot still have kids labour until today.
While I am thinking of how I will write my review of the Painting Buddha DVDs I am also thing about some blog changes. First I think of changing the layout a bit into one bigger column left and two columns right. That would also give me the opportunity to place the blogger networks on the most right column and would give me entry to the BoL network. Hopefully this could bring some more traffic on my blog.
Another thing I think of are future posts... I am still fiddling with my video setup with no satisfying results at the moment so nothing new on this front.
So yeah pretty much on the conceptial part.
While I am on it. I do some advertisement for the Painting Buddha DVDs. Although I haven't written my review yet, I can say that this is a pretty good set.
So long,
Paradox0n
P.S.: No I am not sponsored by the president, I just like what he and the other guys are doing. :)
