Christmas Past

Well another successful Christmas. We managed to get my folks at my house here this year for Christmas eve gift exchange and perpetual Hors D'oeurves bar. Then today we went to my Father-in-Law's house for more of the same. We still have a New Years day event with the Mother-in-Law. This holiday season included dog sitting for my nieces Christmas present- an Chihuahua puppy! What a hoot. I'm off work through New Years day and have high hopes of getting some bench-time.

Workbench update; I'm nearing completion of the groundwork for the diorama. Just a few details to add and I can begin painting in earnest. I imagine it'll be painting from now until AMFS with a short diversion toward groundwork for the ECW cavalry guy. Speaking of the cavalryman, he is mostly assembled and almost ready to finish. Hopefully this week will see his completion.

Chrismas is right 'round the corner

I finally got busy at the bench. What you see is how far I've gotten on the groundwork project for Timelines. I have also gotten a bit further on detailing and painting the shed. I decided to redo that a bit.

Lots has happened since my last real update. We had a terrific snow here a while back and my son went on a Boy Scout camping trip. They stayed in a cabin and most of the kids brought sleds. I gather that they had a terrific time. I had a long week last week I outlined earlier. 48 hours OT in five days left me a little spent. Motivation and energy is returning slowly. There have been the usual round of holiday partys and other activities. I have a week off over the holidays and I'm looking forward to it. My brother and his family will back this way by then and I look forward to seeing them. My good friend Brian and I have vowed to hit the mountain biking trail if weather permits over the Christmas break. If I remember to, I'll get some photos of that. Until next time, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Interruptions

Well, life gets in the way sometimes, doesn't it? I have not been able to get much done the last week or so. I had a temporary change in duty at work this week that will extend through Monday. Working noon to midnight leaves very little private time. To add to the frustration, the furnace has been acting up and requires a certain amount of carressing to become operational. I may get in to the nuts and bolts of it after the whole thing is history. I missed our office Christmas party too. Hopefully things will be baack to normal by mid-week.

Workbench update; no pictures to share, but I did get a bit of work done on the ECW figure. I repainted the eyes. I felt like they need a different look. I also added a bit of blood seeping from the cut on the cheek and some also on the lace collar. I found it difficult to create a realistic look. I think I succeded in the end. It did take a couple of tries though. Pictures to follow soon. I made some minor adjustments to the 1st SSF diorama. The figures seemed too far forward and I moved them back slightly. I still intend to have all of this done for the AMFS show in February. I'll have to push some.

A new month

Well, we are under a blanket of snow and ice here in SW Missouri. It's been a good couple of days to hole up at home. A late night call took me back in to work last night and had me up way past my bed time. Luckily I was off today and able to sleep in and cathc an afternoon nap. I've learned to love all the seasons for what they are. Even the bitter cold of winter has its charm.

Bench update; More painting on the ECW Rounhead. I had a Bob Ross "happy accident" with this guy. I wanted to accentuate the highlights on the sash. I added some more white to my highlights and as I was hitting the tops of all the folds. I started in the middle, and in the progress noticed that was all that was needed. In fact it was a case where less is more. The extreme highlight in key places was just the thing to create some shine and dimension.

The diorama is progressing nicely. It is the subject of tutorial/group project on Timelines forum. Groundwork Tutorial I hope everyone gets a little something out of it.