Yesterday I had an unexpected information leaflet from our "Deutsche Post" in my letterbox. A registered letter has been delivered to me and waits for pickup at my local post office. So I went there today at 8 o'clock and was disappointed that the office opens at 9 ... I asked myself WHY they write on the leaflet "Pick it up from 8 o'clock tomorrow" but OK... So I went there again just some minutes ago and TADA there was a battered airbag from Turkey waiting for me :) And perhaps you can already guess it, it is my price from Mr. Lee's 100k views contest, the Scibor Moscal Boyar Lord.
If you compare the two pictures (the one on Mr. Lee's blog and mine) you can only guess what airmail, customs and transport did do this poor airbag. But happy me the miniature itself wasn't harmed at all.
Its the first time I have one of those Scibor miniatures in my hands and to be honest: On the first look I am rather impressed. I've read lots of how bad those stamp techniques are and stuff like this. But the miniature has clear details and nearly no molding lines. Clear details and a stout and resolute posture give this miniature the perfect look for such a stubborn Chaos Dwarf Moscal Boyar Lord. The only thing which DOES worry me are the additional parts like the axe head and the shield which are cast on an extra sprue and seem to be rather heavily attached to it. I hope I can cleanly cut them off the sprue, especially the axe head which really seems to be a problem. The miniature is delivered with a small scenic base which looks pretty good. Again I am impressed how clean the casting is. I slowly understand why these miniatures are so expensive (in Germany at least).
The Lord will be a nice addition to my still secret army :) Ok ok you can guess it: I have some Chaos Dwarves (to be honest some Abyssal Dwarves from Mantic) flying around which wait for assembly and paint. Since I think I got all those miniatures from the KS (have lost the overview) I think I finally can start to put everything together with this lovely Lord as start. I hope I can give it the love needed, especially since it is such a nice price from the contest.
Stay tuned for more sumpy, grumbly, evil madness :)
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.
