So where have I been and what have I been up to?

Following The UK Golden Demon in 2022 I dived straight into my next project a unit of Voidscarred Corsairs. I was on a roll coming up with an overall approach to the unit and devising a colour palette. I set to, customising the first of them, which was a thoroughly enjoyable experience, but when it came to start painting everything changed. 

I simply could not bear the idea of picking up a brush and painting a mini! I’ve had times when I’ve gone off painting before but never anything like this. It was a disturbing experience. In part I think it was a delayed reaction to my Nurgle tank and I was experiencing an extreme case of hobby burn out. But I felt there was also a more deep-rooted problem. Over the last five years there’s been a series of major crises in my immediate family. Just as one thing seemed to be over and life looked like getting back to normal we would be engulfed by some new nightmare. 

You can only soldier on for so long without something giving. I’d experienced a bad episode of anxiety and depression back in my mid-forties, so fortunately I recognised the early signs. My hobby seemed to be triggering my mood swings and I decided to take a break from it. So, long story short, I took time out, stepped away from social media and built a lot of Lego! 

It’s not the first time I’ve taken a break from painting, and I was confident it wouldn’t take 23 years this time! Sure enough the desire to paint gradually returned and my Corsairs were ready and waiting when it did. I’ve actually been quietly painting away for my own pleasure since August 2023. It’s been a return to hobby basics painting simply because I love to paint with no additional pressures from posting or competitions.

So it’s time to come back out from under my rock and share my hobby. I started in March this year when I was persuaded by my mate Lee Hebblethwaite to go to the Hammerhead painting competition in Newark. I nearly didn’t enter a model but was persuaded to put my Kastelan Robot in. This model crashed and burned badly at Golden Demon, so I had nothing to lose; it really couldn’t do any worse. It didn’t as it won Gold in its category and then took Best in Show! 

 

 

This was a lovely moment of redemption for my Kastelan and it gave a very welcome boost to my confidence. It was so good to meet up with my painting buddies at Hammerhead that it didn’t take too much to persuade me to come to FMS in July. I’ve been hearing nothing but good things about FMS for the last two years but the clincher was an invitation to put a selection of my work on display in the ‘out of contest’ section of the show.

So last weekend saw me heading off to Ely with nineteen models representing forty years of painting. I also had one other model that represented the most recent phase of my painting journey because I’d finished the first of my Corsairs, the Felarch. 

As promised FMS is a fantastic event with the nicest location I’ve ever been to for a painting competition. Best of all were the people and spending time with friends old and new!

The competition featured models that represent the whole spectrum of our hobby and the standard was impressively high throughout. My own experience was a little different from past competitions as no one had seen my Felarch and I felt this gave my mini a kind of anonymity which I rather liked. It’s something I shall have to think about for the future. 

The second day brought the revelation that I’d won a medal, which was a great relief! Having enjoyed so many past successes is a matter of pride but it does come with a certain (self-imposed) pressure to maintain that standard. I’d tried a few new things with my Felarch and, after a painting break, I wasn’t overly confident that I’d done as well with him as I could. I find it quite hard to assess my own work, especially when it’s newly finished.

So I was over the moon to be awarded a Gold medal. But that was then followed by Best in Show which I really didn’t see coming! As comebacks go this could not have been a better experience. 

 

 

So now that I am back online and painting: what next? The Voidscarred Corsairs Unit is my current project and at my present rate of painting its likely to take at least a couple more years! It’s my intention to paint each model to my best single figure standard, and that has certainly paid off so far. I will be posting on social media and updating this blog but only as and when I have suitable content. I intend to keep my unfinished work more under wraps than I’ve done in the past. Once a model is finished and has ‘gone public’ I will publish my WIP retrospectively.

The coming year is likely to be a sad one as my family continues to navigate it’s way through difficult times. But I have my passion and enjoyment of painting back and that’s something I’m very thankful for. As the great Winston Churchill said, “Painting is a companion with whom one may walk a great part of life's journey”.