I have taken things a little easier through July as was starting to feel the effects of oncoming burn out, it happens every so often when painting for so many hours per week. I think this is where the Yaldbury layout build has been a great therapy, a fresh challenge which has required learning new skills. I have also reduced my social media and general online time so may need to catch up a few messages etc.
However, I will still continue to paint model soldiers for as long as I'm able although the pace may well slow down going forward.
Just arrived from Leo in the US, the rest of the Warlord Games Carthaginian Army box for me to paint! The initial batch of Spanish and Italian & infantry made it back to Arizona in just 5 working days (* see shipping/customs rant below!)
Also. more Warlord Games ACW's for regular customer Noel in Ireland, this time 3 Zouave regiments (fancy pants
), New York, Pennsylvania and Louisiana. I do enjoy painting the Epic's. 
That charge is quite a sting, it would probably be more cost effective for you to buy the product here in the UK!
ReplyDeleteI understand the painting burnout thing since I find painting onerous and always a task. You are so prolific that you must be even more exposed to it. The problem with these things for the pro painter is that they are already committed to a project when burnout occurs and then the ‘seeing it through’ just becomes seemingly harder. It may become a necessity to lower your overall exposure to customer painting and build into the calendar having something like a two week break every eight weeks or so.
Hello Norm, and as always I appreciate your feedback :) I estimate that the total cost of shipping the box set order to here in the UK (where of course they are manufactured!) was not far off the cost of the set itself. To be fair though Leo had intended to paint it himself but decided he was never going to have time to do so and he has had some figures from me in the past so asked me to paint it for him. He of course covered those additional import charges. The thing with the Epics is that I have by now painted so many and found such an established method to turn out decent results in reasonable time frame that it makes for me to do them.
DeleteGenerally speaking I know that I have hit the stage where it's time to reduce the overall painting time going forward as I simply can't sustain the old pace any longer :) I'll still be painting for my regulars but at a slower rate, Needs must to be honest, the old eyes are not as sharp as they were a few years ago and I find prolonged sessions quite tiring. That said I still get a great sense of satisfaction from painting a nice unit of model soldiers. You can tell I have been giving things a lot of thought recently Norm :)
Yaldbury has been and continues to be a source of great hobby pleasure and I am astonished at the level of creativity within the hobby, so I'd like to continue to build my skillset. If you have a spare ten minutes have a look at the video link below, ' Layout in a Wine Box' great modelling skills and actually a very useful tip for making clump foliage on the cheap, it's pure joy.
https://youtu.be/2BmwseOCxYs?si=u8xPITQG2R0_t_Hc
All the best,
Lee.
Nice looking figures, Lee. Looking forward to see the rest of the Carthaginians painted up.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks Ray, the Carthaginians should be completed by November :)
DeleteCheers,
Lee.