Tag: Paint Day

As I’d expected, storage has become a problem.

Mr Griffin is printing paint holders to make the paints visible and manageable and due to the sudden influx of paints we’ve added some additional shelving. Doesn’t really take care of the Vallejo textures since they’re in 200ml tubs but we’ll have to figure out what to do with those in the near future.

Another possibly more pressing issue is dust. We don’t seem to be able to keep the miniatures dust free in any effective way. There’s a reasonable amount of construction nearby and the dust just seems to get everywhere.

Current shopping list:
Citadel Contrast: Black Templar
Citadel Layer: Fulgurite Copper
Citadel Base: Rakarth Flesh
Citadel Technical: Lahmian Medium
Citadel Technical: Stormshield

The weather is still unpleasant, the Little Griffins are working on their miniatures and generally creating havoc. Mr Griffin is adjusting the design of some paint holders to try to limit the number of Citadel paint pots that are meeting their end on the living room floor. The kids are as careful as kids can be but it would seem that creativity and chaos are still too closely intertwined.

Bunnings have some big carpet squares, perhaps this can save my sanity and carpet in one simple purchase.

Our interest in the intricacies of miniature painting has waned so we’ve moved onto so alternative painting fun!

Turns out sand will ruin my brushes. Now that I think about it, that should have been obvious.

Shopping cart so far:
Citadel Mouldline Remover (maybe easier to manage for little hands?)
Citadel Shade: Casandora Yellow
Citadel Shade: Fuegan Orange
Citadel Base: Celestra Grey
Citadel Base: Thousand Sons Blue
Citadel Layer: Fire Dragon Bright
Citadel Layer: Stormhost Silver
Gundam 1/144 FG Gundam
Vallejo 26213 Diorama Effects Grey Pumice 200ml
Vallejo 73818 Weathering Effects Brown Engine Soot 40 ml
Vallejo 76505 Model Wash Light Rust 35 ml Acrylic Paint

*sigh*

Today it’s been made clear to me that the bases are meant to be painted as well and for some reason this has made me infinitely sad. I could hazard a guess that the sadness is due to my lack of dedication and my feeling that I was actually close to being finished.

In fairness, all the other Griffins are thoroughly enjoying our new family hobby. I can’t imagine that I’ll be worse at basing that I am at painting, but honestly, anywhere there’s room for improvement there’s room to miss completely and be worse.

I did some reading and found some interesting how-to’s and articles about using things typically found in the home to make textures for bases and it seems that I can start with glue and sand. Hopefully, my inner arts and crafts guru will come out and I can redeem myself after my not so successful painting expedition.

We’ve been playing some Settlers of Catan and the Mini Griffs have really enjoyed that. The time taken to play the game is a slight problem for us, though, so I’m looking for some alternatives that don’t take quite as long to play.

Painting sounds like a mindfulness exercise, like colouring for adults, but I’m finding it to be a source of constant frustration at the moment. I understand the theory, but it doesn’t seem to translate into any recognisable result.

I can draw well enough, and sculpting in 3d? No issues. But paint? No, sir. Not me.

I think it’s time for me to admit that I might just be bad at this and let it go.

Shopping cart so far:
Citadel Base: XV-88
Citadel Layer: Evil Sunz Scarlet
Citadel Base: Iron Warriors

Miss Griffin now has some easy to build Stormcast Eternals. She’s settled on an (almost) less out there colour scheme for them and they’re well on their way to being built.

Unfortunately, we don’t have any other Age of Sigmar miniatures to play with but I’m sure that will change over time. At this point, she’s enjoying pairing her Gryph-hounds with the assortment of dolls and dollhouse furniture that she has. I’m not sure Gryph-hounds in suburbia was ever part of GW’s plan but it really seems to work.

Master Griffin is still working away at his Space Wolves but after playing a few games with them he’s discovered that he doesn’t really enjoy close quarters combat. He’s thinking of starting again as Imperial Fists or designing his own but essentially wants to use all of his points on only the biggest long-range attack options.

Yesterday, we went with playing Dragonwood and assembled some creative commons low-poly models that Mr Griffin had 3d printed. FDM printing certainly doesn’t have the fine detail of resin but it’s keeping us amused and it doesn’t break the bank. Having something with less detail seems to be a good option for days when they’re having more trouble staying on one project.

Home school and waning motivation is proving to be a challenge. Board games have been a blessing, though. Dragonwood is great fun; easy to learn and play quickly, the games don’t go for hours and even with the age gap between Miss and Master Griffin they both remain interested.

On our last paint shopping trip (online) we also picked up Quarto which has been really fun. On the surface it seems quite simple to play but strategically it can be quite challenging.

Hopefully, we’ll get to more painting in the next week.

Weather’s a bit cold for my liking at the moment. Not cold/wet enough to warrant keeping the little ones inside day but certainly windy and chilly enough that I’d rather not venture out myself.

Our first set of Gryph-hounds have been declared complete and they are, by anyone’s estimation, pretty good lookin’ fellows. Miss Griffin is very happy with her first efforts painting and particularly given her age and previous level of interest in painting, I have to say I’m definitely impressed.

Master Griffin is learning to be ok with learning – and he’s doing a better job at that than me! Perfectionism and a competitive nature are definitely familial traits (on both sides, mind you!) and we’re all coming to terms with just how easy it isn’t, to paint well. Mr Griffin disagrees, but with several years head start I’m not sure it’s a fair comparison.

We’ve been back on the Frontline Hobbies website perusing the colours as Mr Griffin tells us that we need to be using different paints and our paints differently. Master Griffin tells me that we need an spray gun instead. Perhaps a can of black spray paint would do?

I think the summary is that we’re not very good but using the right tool for the right job would be a good start.

Ordering more paints and then it’s lunch time!

Citadel Base: Night Lords Blue
Citadel Layer: Hoeth Blue
Citadel Shade: Drakenhof Nightshade