It's a start; 10/100

 If a journey of thousand miles begins with a single step; then the painting of a hundred miniatures begins with a single brush stroke.  Time to start painting.

It's Painting Night

(and the feelings right, it's painting night, oh what a night)

It's a January Saturday night, and the wife is out of town at work, which means that right after the kids go to bed I can do a long paint session to start on my project of painting 100 dark ages miniatures; because I won't have to waste time pretending to listen to her talk while thinking about something else.  

(Don't worry, she doesn't read the blog).

(IF you are reading this Sweets, it's just a joke.  Of COURSE I am paying attention to every word you say)

Here is how the night goes:

8:30 and the last kid is tucked in.  Spend 10 minutes just enjoying the quiet that is 3 children NOT talking.  Maybe look at a wargame blog.  Have a cup of coffee, otherwise I'll be asleep by 930.  

8:40 - time for some quick chores just because it bothers me when their not done.  Wash the dishes (because I don't like dirty dishes in the sink overnight), Sweep up the Zillion crumbs on the floor that the kids left (otherwise we get ants in the morning).  Put out the garbage can fire in the kitchen..  that kind of stuff.

9:10 - Time to get serious now.  

To mark the occasion of painting miniatures for the first time after a year, I broke out a new Winsor Series 7 brush that the wife gets me every Christmas.  I also had to re-activate the wet palette by soaking the paper in hot water and re-wetting the sponge, because it was all desert dry.

I also dug out my magnifier, because I can't paint anything without them, because looking at things up close goes all fuzzy.

My wife thinks I look good in these.  We do a sexy roleplay where I am the dirty dentist and she is the single mom with a tooth ache and no dental insurance....

Moving on....

I teased Keith over on the Bydand blog about posting pics of his family versus himself,
so he posted a selfie just to satisfy me.  I figured I owed him one in return.
Though this is not the first time this GORGEOUS face o' mine has graced the posts of this blog.

Getting to the painting desk

JF of the Palouse blog did a post about his game room / hobby space set up
and stated that I should share mine.  This is my permanent painting / hobby area.
Literally in the corner of the house that is farthest away from anywhere people might wander.

It goes through tides of being messy (like in the middle of a project like Right Now) and being clean(er).

Interruptions

910 - start painting

930 - Son #2 is up (3 years old), needs the bathroom, drinks some water, and a new tuck in.

940 - back to painting

1002 - Son #3 is crying (1 year old).  I give him a bit as maybe he's just adjusting and will go back to sleep.

1010 - nope,  Still crying.  dirty diaper and he is hungry.  He usually sleeps through the night but occasionally wakes up every now and then. I give him a bottle, put him back in his crib, and then I realize that was the last clean bottle so now I have to wash them all for tomorrow...

1030 - Check on Daughter #1 (8 years old), at least she is still sleeping...

1035 - BACK to painting

1045 - Wife calls to say goodnight.  Not a problem because I talk to her on speaker phone so I still have my hands free.  Until she asks me to look for something that she thinks she left behind in the bedroom upstairs...

1110 - Step outside for a cigarette; because what the wife don't know won't hurt her (she really doesn't read the blog).  While outside I notice that the house is about to be attacked by Dark Seekers / zombie vampires.  Let out a long sigh, go back in and activate the perimeter defenses and take them out all Will Smith style from I Am Legend.

That was a good movie wasn't it?
And he looks just like me.

1130 - Daughter #1 is up saying she heard a noise and "is it morning yet?"  

AND YOU GET THE IDEA....

But Still, Progress is Made

I finished the first 10 of my 100 miniatures project.  Only took me all month.  Behold!

The only real trick to painting Dark Age warriors is to make the leg wraps
NOT look like leg warmers.

All good Saxon Thegns have Mustaches.

Everyone likes a good standard bearer.
Too bad all I have is this one.
I'm sure he has a mustache under that chainmail face thingy..

No need to show close ups of all 10.  They all kinda look the same and my painting is not that good.  

Everyone onto the movement tray (or as I say, the Big Battle Base).
I already had the base done, so that doesn't count for nothing.

And Here We Depart

10 miniatures completed out of the 100 planned.  It's a start.  Gonna be a long project and hopefully nothing will distract me.  That's not foreshadowing at ALL.  

Thanks for reading.  Double thanks for writing a comment.  Till next time.