First Bust Painted

A couple of years back, I took a painting class with Banshee (Spanish painter, Alfonso Giraldes). All the students who took the class got one of his resin busts to paint up. Well, I finally got around to painting mine.

Alfonso is famous in miniatures painting circles for his hashtag #fucksmoothness. His philosophy is that for something to look real, it needs to have harsh tones and a lot of unexpected colour noise in it. I'm not nearly as adventurous in my painting as he is, but I tried to take his lesson to heart and add in more harsh colour than I would normally use in this sort of exercise. Not altogether successful, but I think I'm starting to move in the right direction with this first attempt at larger scale painting.

Last night we had a packed paint/hobby night down in the basement. 8 friends showed up for building, painting and photography. Lots of fun.

Finally, a humbling moment. A friend at work asked if I could paint up a western figure for his Deadlands campaign. I said sure, I'd help him out, but then discovered it was a 3D printed figure with super-soft detail in the print job. I'll admit, this was very tough to work on. We rely so much on good sculpts to prop up our painting. When you get a very softly-detailed figure, it's nearly impossible to achieve good results. Regardless, as promised: painted and delivered. Certainly, a half-hearted attempt. Won't do that again!

'Til next time.

Painting is a 4-Letter Word Episode 5

Trying to catch up on posting audio captures of our paint night get-togethers. Episode 5 was recorded back in March. I'm building Hammerhal stuff. Ward has his AMPSA Beaver Bust out. Barry is on Blood Bowl as usual. Steve is painting a commission work. Mike has trotted out his new PHR fleet. All the while, Tom and Elliot are playing a game of Dropfleet.



'Til next time.

May's Paint Night

Ever since last Fall, a group of Edmonton hobbyists and gamers has been meeting in my basement once a month to paint, build models and play games. These sessions have been audio captured, and are up on YouTube as the Painting is a 4-Letter Word series, here.

Our meeting in May was not recorded, but I did take some photos.

Here, Ward is showing off some of his new 28mm 40K cars. Totally sweet.

He spent the night painting an infinity model. Mostly working on the blue layering.

Mike was working on his Dwarves for Blood Bowl.

Barry is always working on Blood Bowl. A Goblin this evening.

Blood Bowl was the theme at this session. Tom was working on his Orc team.

On the other hand, I was working on weathering some armoured containers for Shadow War: Armageddon.

I've fallen behind on posting new Painting is a 4-Letter Word audio recordings. Something I hope to remedy this weekend.

'Til next time.

Painting is a 4-Letter Word...Episode #4

Here is the audio capture from our February painting night. As always...explicit language warning.

'Til next time.

Two Months of Odds and Ends

So...back in the middle of January, I blew out my knee. Thus began a concerted 2-month effort to walk properly and climb stairs again. Arthroscopic surgery happened at the beginning of February and physiotherapy began shortly after...just in time to be walloped with a huge mid-winter cold. I've been laid up for some time. All of this to explain a lack of blog posting...it's been a while. Anyway, back in the saddle.

Here's a quick catch-up post.

Painting is a 4-Letter Word, episode 3 from January. Better late than never!

...and Go Knee!

I'd have to say that the best hobby time I've had over the past several months has been our monthly painting nights. We usually get five to seven local hobbyists (including a core of podcasters from Hobby Night in Canada) out for these events, and they've really been a good time.

Back at the beginning of February, I took a flight down to Vegas and attended the LVO. It was huge this year. The 40K tournament alone was well over 400 players.

And Vegas was good to me during the trip. Won a number of jackpots, including this sweet one for 2Gs...which really went a long way towards paying for some exorbitant hobby purchases!

Gaming-wise at the LVO, I was focused on Dropfleet. Played a number of games.

Including one against birthday boy, Ward Kapach.

Also attended a great painting workshop run by Aaron Lovejoy. Learned how to weather model surfaces with latex mould builder and acrylic paint.

More Dropfleet at the Tuesday Night Game Club.

 ...On multiple occasions.

And joined a Dropfleet escalation league up at Mission Fun and Games, run by our local Hawk Talon, Trevor. Our first game day saw 10 (!) players come out. Amazing.

While it's been pretty quiet for me on the painting front, I did manage to churn out some Dropfleet clusters with resin sector objectives from Hawk.

To finish up with this catch-up blog, I also ran a painting workshop up at Thunderground last Sunday. We had a good turnout, and I was able to share some fun techniques with the guys who came out.

Well, got lots of games in, despite being hobbled for the last several weeks. And Vegas was lots of fun.

'Til next time.

Painting is a 4-Letter Word...Episode 2

Here is the audio capture from our December painting night. In it, you'll get the latest opinions on the state of the hobby and gaming community from Mike Sawada, Ward Kapach, Tom Carter, Steven Lind, Barry Gergel, and myself.

Painting is a 4-Letter Word is intended to be listened to while you're working on your own hobby project and want some white noise going on in the background.

Happy New Year!

'Til next time.

Painting is a 4-Letter Word

Hello fellow painters and hobby-dudes/dudettes.

I'm announcing the launch of a new video channel series called "Painting is a 4-Letter Word". The videos that will appear in this channel are simply recordings of a monthly get-together of fellow hobby enthusiasts from the Edmonton area. While the participants paint and build tabletop models, conversation naturally drifts from anecdotes, to hobby projects, to thoughts around game companies and entertainment properties. Painting is a 4-Letter Word captures these conversations and opinions and delivers them straight to you.

Why would you care? Well, most of us paint or otherwise hobby in isolation. We have podcasts and music to keep us company...but what about the option of painting within the soundscape of a less-structured geeky conversation? A conversation among enthusiastic and opinionated friends. Well, if the thought of that is appealing...and who couldn't use some more white noise while slogging through long painting projects...well, then hopefully Painting is a 4-Letter Word will work for you.

And, yes...Explicit Language Warning!

In this inaugural episode, you'll hear myself, Tom and Ward from Hobby Night in Canada, Barry from Mekboy's Garage, and good friend, Elliot Christian. Enjoy.

'Til next time...