Where's my head @?

Obviously I haven't been blogging much, nothing drastic has happened but like many it's been a little challenging of late. Not so much of a 'perfect storm' but a 'collection of unsettled weather patterns'! 😉 Lockdown has been relatively simple for me, in some respects I've rather enjoyed it. But I did have to take my annual leave, as my renewal date was coming up and I can only carry so many days over. So I had two weeks off and I painted a LOT of things, but not hobby things. These included:

• Painted en suite bathroom
• Fitted a new fence panel
• Painted all my fence panels
• Painted some of my mother-in-law’s fence panels
• Painted an outbuilding
• Painted my hobby shed

Not to mention painting the kitchen earlier in lockdown. And you can bet these are going down as TO DONES! on my Hobby Season, regardless of their non-hobby related categories! After months of sitting on my behind this amount of physical work, especially during the heatwave, was a lot for me. I was quite tired by the end of it but pleased with my achievements. The heat also killed a lot of motivation for painting figures [as I saw with a number of other people on twitter]. Throw in the fact I have to whip out my laptop to do any blogposts and right now It's just a little too much to get motivated.

I've managed to dip in a bit here and there but I'm trying to be strict and not take on a big project as I have that Land Raider to finish. If I have 5 minutes or so I've been painting another Nurgle Bloater but the Land Raider is an obstacle I must overcome. Right now I'm just feeling fatigued and although I've done some silly late nights I've also been good, getting in some pre-midnight bedtimes!

My son managed to avoid most of the A-level fiasco, got the results he needed. But very early, Worcester College Oxford formally announced they would honour all offers, regardless of results so he was safe anyway! Happy Days! There's now less than 50 of those Happy Days before we take him to uni so spending time with him, where possible, is a priority. As such the hobby may take a backseat - I'll have significantly more time when he's flown the nest...

So, right now I need to catch up with some blog posts. I've completed some things, so need to do TO DONE! posts I need to prep for my Hobby Season Review and prepare stuff for 2020/21. I'm not stressing over anything as I still keep my toe in with my twitter posts - the occasional #BrianTheSewerVent or #SwordsAsWalkingSticks

The 2020/21 Hobby Season starts soon, join me!

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity the 2020/21 hobby season will be starting soon so for those alumni who joined in last season it's time to start looking back at your  TO DO lists - at what you've TO DONE!, what might have slipped and those lovely unexpected successes that happened despite life getting in the way and loss of mojo - I speak from experience [yet again].

The original plan when I started with 'big stamps of approval' was that I wouldn't do multi-coloured stamps, just alternate between red and green but who was I kidding? As the  2019/20 season has felt like a bit of a bust and I love the Great Big GALACTIC Stamp of Approval I kind of wanted to keep it, or swap the background for a different galaxy. In the end I had another idea and asked Marc from oldschoolg4m1ng.blogspot.com which to go with and he thought a new stamp would help move things forward [we can come back to GALACTIC stamps another time]. So I give you the official 40kaddict 2020/21 Great Big GRANITE Stamp of Approval! That's right folks I've come back to earth with a nice salmon, rose, peach, whatever you want to call it piece of granite. Feel free to download and use them on your blog as and when you get stuff  'TO DONE!'

Or you can record your achievements with an 'unbranded' version.

And should you feel inclined to differentiate your efforts yet further here 's the major goal stamps

And minor goals [which I actually found a use for last season].

And I also got the Big Build...

 and Base [and obviously Prime] Stamps done too. I heartily recommend this video from Tabletop Minions to understand where I was going with the 'Big Build' concept, he's touched on and expanded exactly why I created this a few years back.

Just a reminder of what it's about, in 2011 I made my first To Do List, amusingly it now looks like this:

• AoBR Tactical Squad
• AoBR Dreadnought
• AoBR Terminators
• Scout Squad
• Ravenwing bike squad
• Dark Angel Drop Pod
• Purity Seal all of my son's Tyranids
• Gloss Varnish all of my son's Tyranids
• Tyranid Prime
• Mycetic Spore
• Paint Vent Tower
• Paint defence platforms x4
• Complete pot pourri vegetation
• Complete future containers
• Complete 40k Cathedral tower
• STC Single story ruin
• STC Hex Defence platforms
• STC Targus Assault Blockade
• STC Vent tower
• STC Athena plateau
• STC Mercury plateau
• STC 40k Cathedral tower
• 60mm Dreadnought crater

So 4 things still haven't been done and quite frankly never will ;) . The purpose was to try to focus my efforts to outline a list of things I'd love to do over a twelve month period and if I achieved any of them great, all of them, so much better. But more importantly I needed a structure to cling to when my efforts became aimless. That's not to say deviations from the list were forbidden it was more for when I went 'well what's next?'

It became an annual blog post to review what I'd done and set new tasks and throughout the year I would reveal my 'To Dones!' as completed items both on and off the list. Showcase posts are nothing new to hobby blogs but again it was a structure to help build the identity of this blog. Then in 2014 I invited readers and passers-by of the blog to join in. Well, when you have a good idea why not share it around. I got about 10 people joining in and it looked like we were quite a supportive little bunch. I think over time steam ran out a little bit but folk continue to join in each year and hopefully the same will ring true for 2020/21.

To help things out a bit I've created a Hobby Season Facebook group, it's here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/278747245819138/

So, if you're joining in just ask and I'll add you into the group, that way you can share your blog posts or any efforts to those also joining in. I hope this platform will allow more interaction for those taking part and keep us all motivated.

I guess the last question is why 28th August as the start/end date, why not January 1st?

I think back in 2011 it was at that time I thought a structure needed to be in place and it was as good a time as any to post a To Do List, afterall the footy season starts around this time too, no one complains about that, do they?

Anyway, 28th August join me for the new Hobby Season :)

Belated 5th Anniversary of the birth of the Man Cave

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity I've had my man cave for 5 years now, it was originally installed on 27th July 2015 and as I've been a little busy this year with painting my kitchen, bathroom and fence panels I hadn't had time to celebrate.

Additionally, I'd been planning to repaint the shed so I thought I'd just wait a bit so I could share it's fresh new coats.

I had to sand this baby first, which was an absolute nightmare. So many people say preparation is important but I hate sanding. But I did it, washed it down and got two coats on the front and sides.

Once again I scrimped on the back, I only did one coat, it's a nightmare to get behind between the shed and the hedge and I'm constantly at risk of cramp or pulling my back again.

I'd previously filled in all the nail holes so it was much easier to paint this time round. I've a third of a tin of paint left, I may do that again next year and fill in some more gaps in all the corner strips and the bevelled timber. I'd thought about doing it this time but just wanted to get on with it. Hopefully I'll have more energy next time.

Also I painted all the metal work black. I used some matt black spray in some places - the door latches which immediately came off on the Cornish Cream paint. I also used matt black Humbrol enamel on the hinges, just to give it a nice touch.

As I continue to work from home and my wife needs her workspace on the landing back I may well have to tidy inside so I can set up my laptop and work from here. Surrounded by hobby I'll have to resist the temptation though and keep focussed! 😉

Blood Bowl - Nurgle Team griming

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity I've been #paintingwarhammer Nurgle Blood Bowl team members. So these guys are almost complete now. The only thing not done is varnish and base.

I wanted to capture the pre-tar highlights on the shoes and feet though. They'll never be seen again sadly. I'm not 100% convinced about the green guys watery cataract eye, but it's a miner thing and I think I finally got a depth of colour in the green skin that I was happy with.

The dirty pants as well came out consistent with the test model. In fact I added Burnt Umber to all the team so they have a similar starting point. There are considerably more layers of wash to really get that dirty unwashed effect but it's another step done that'll help move them each along.

And of course the dead bleached flora poking out of the [eventual] tar. These all got various coats of green, sepia, strong tone and dark tone washes. The sand and stones just a Skavenblight Dinge and Stonewall grey drybrush, with dark tone wash to help blend them into the eventual black base.

The Pestigor is at a similar stage but I'm contemplating whether to do more with the skin. I also need to have a play with the balls 😂 get them to a point I'm happy with. These just need the varnish and the gloss black 3D texture paint and I'll be a quarter of the way through the team [add the Pestigor and it's one third!]

Imperial Knights - House Corvus extra weapons

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity I've been #paintingwarhammer Imperial Knight weapons. I've had these unfinished since I completed Lady Pettorini and Ser Ellenbogen [although the black auto-cannon is from Euronymous]. With no urgency to them and somewhat trivial a project I've just not bothered to get them done.

I put a bit of effort into them though and got the missile launcher almost complete. Some of the battle damage is a bit too stark and I need to tone it down. The targeting lenses need finishing up and maybe see about tweaking the verdigris a bit. The missiles themselves are OK, I just think the big ones need something else - ring around the warhead, about half-way down or an actual coloured tip, black or Khorne red in both instances...?

So little left but somehow feels like so much yet to do. Meanwhile I've been doing a lot of DIY at home at the moments so these little projects are ideal to fill in while I'm preoccupied with real world painting projects.

Blood Bowl - Nurgle Team highlights

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity I've been continuing #paintingwarhammer Nurgle Blood Bowl team members. I had a play around with the green on this guy, gave him a lime green glaze, which has mad his skintone more interesting but I still need some highlights and mottling on it to be where I want it to be.

I also highlighted all the orange elements and his red fleshy bits. They came out really well in fact, the highlights have a translucent sheen about them that I'm pleased about.

I added a bit more shading and contrast on this guy's fleshy bits. The orange is working really well too. I'm still [stupidly] highlighting the feet, knowing full well they'll be covered in black tar when I do the bases.

I have noticed that I did more orange on these compared to my test model. The armour edges on the test was more rust brown in places. I might have to address that in later players.

And lets not forget the Pestigor. Again the red bits are fine, but the highlights on the purple skin is nowhere near as light as the test model. I can't quite deiced whether that's OK or not.

I don't think purple is traditionally considered a Nurgle colour, it fits Slaanesh or Tzeentch more, but I've no problem with using it. I just don't think it's what I had hoped to replicate from the test model. Again, it doesn't have to, I don't mind a wide variety of skintones that started from similar base colours. But experimentation is more useful if it leads to a technique or skill that I can replicate.

It's all well and good to keep having 'happy accidents' - achieving things I'm pleased with, but if I can't do it again then I'll ended up in situations where I just get frustrated because I haven't locked that technique down and added to my skillset.

Blood Bowl - Nurgle Team skintones

Afternoon #warmongers and #warhammercommunity I've been #paintingwarhammer Nurgle Blood Bowl team members. With disadvantage of having so many projects on the go that I can fall back on when I get stuck is what happens when you get stuck on the majority of them? Well you grasp onto that one project that is keeping you afloat - and that's these shambling bags of pus. This guy was supposed to be an exploration in yellow skin, but I ended up with a raw and painful looking mass of flesh instead.

I'm OK with that though. It's not what I intended but the result is pretty cool.

This Nurgle green guy is less successful. Granted the red fleshy bits and rawness is there again but the green is just boring.

Luckily this isn't putting me off, I'm seeing it more as a challenge, an opportunity to play around and get a green skintone I'm happy with.

With all the other projects so unappealing it's great to have something to look forward to.