From the workbench of the esteemed Horati0nosebl0wer

I feel rejuvenated. I went to the monthly meeting of a local painting group and I found myself at home among painting nerds. The joy of slapping small people (and other assorted creatures) with paint came back to me as I watched others do the same. I think the lack of physical community was really the dearest thing I’ve been missing for the longest time. This group will give me the extra push to paint better as well as most of them regularly go to Reapercon and some have placed in competition (a couple actually have painted for the company I think).

My general brush control seems to be on par with my fellows who were there and I don’t believe that my technical skills of dexterity were any different. The idea of some of the freehand still seems daunting. The general assortment of gadgets wasn’t any different in minimal variety of figure holders/brushes/travel cases for stuff. I did see that there was a gentleman who was using a pair of small daylight LED panels used for photography which were on tripods. I believe I have a few things now for my Giftmas list in future (I already caved yesterday and got a vortex paint mixer).

Beyond all this I found myself with a realization of what I consider my next step forward (really a step I think I forgot/glossed over) to progress from where I am. I will be utilizing my wet palette much more for my high end painting. I’ve also seen Kimera paint in person today and I believe I possess a hobby hard-on right now. I’ll potentially drop all my current paints to that end for what I want to press toward competition. I will be brutally honest with my self assessment in the thought that my layering has been shit for a while. I can and will do better with it. This fact should be evident with upcoming photos as I implement this consideration. I’m curious to dabble in the use of inks through my airbrush again but more often. I’ve only done it a couple of times but without concerted effort to test the medium and my tool.

All in all this has been a good day as I also sealed the figures I’m shipping to one of my nephews this Christmas. I’m not pushing the envelope with effort. Last year I gave one of his brothers other stuff I painted so I themed this batch for the little guy’s love of dinosaurs. I also made sure to cover it with a little extra varnish in order to protect to paint. I don’t know if it’ll help, as I remember my own toys, but it should last a bit better than the regular spray. Now its time to get on to the next bit of stuff.