Some time ago, I wrote a post [on painting motivation](http://www.nirya.be/snv/ttm/archives/000002.html). Over the last months, as can be seen in the frequency of posts to my [Flickr account](http://www.flickr.com/people/robartes), my painting output has dropped quite a bit, however.
One reason for this is quite simple, and as reasons go also very excusable: most of my hobby time was taken up by building terrain for our Crisis Arnhem game (more articles on that to follow). Other reasons are however less obvious. As those of you who've gamed over at my place know, I now have a dedicated wargame room in the house, where I've set up my painting desk (and if you did not know, than you do now).
Despite what [I said earlier](http://www.nirya.be/snv/ttm/archives/000006.html), I have been painting (or not, as the case turned out to be) at that painting desk, and I think that was a contributor to my decline in painting output. Even though practically speaking, having a seperate painting desk with all supplies and paints within reach is _da bomb_, there's a disadvantage to it as well for me. I find that there's both a significant barrier to going up to the wargame room as well as an urge to stop painting sooner.
I suspect that the reason behind this is that, even though I like painting miniatures, it is not stimulating enough to be doing exclusively for an extended period of time. I'm a bit of an _infovore_, a sponge for information (I used to read encyclopedia for fun when I was younger -- and [still do](http://en.wikipedia.org), in fact), which is exceedingly handy (and equally frustrating to family members) in a game of Trivial Pursuit, but also means that doing things which provide little input in the way of information (e.g. painting) can get a bit, not to put too fine a point upon it, _boring_.
The solution is, of course simple. I revived my [painting station](http://www.nirya.be/snv/ttm/archives/000006.html), and now mostly paint downstairs, in the living room, with the TV on and my wife usually sitting at the same table correcting student's papers and stuff (she teaches chemistry). This way, I get some input while I'm painting, which should help. The result should be quite obvious from the new images that have started appearing in the sidebar.
To finish with, here's what on my painting desk at the moment:
* Foundry's General Custer mounted
* Foundry US Cavalry mounted standard bearer. I'm planning on painting this one up with Custer's personal banner and then sell the two of them on Ebay.
* Lots of Celts of various modes of propagation and methods of aggression
What's on everyone else's painting desks?
Hi Bart, as you know I also have a dedicated painting / games room. My solution to the boredom problem is the BBC, and particularly the 'listen again' feature on the web site, where you can listen to any programmes broadcast over the previous week. So Thursday, when I was painting some 28mm Saxons, I listened to 'Book of the week', which was a reading of the biography of infamous Queen Isabella, 'wife' to Edward II. The fact that BBC has two excellent radio stations devoted to news, documentary and drama means this is a good solution.
ReplyDeleteAfter the Arnhem game, I suffered some painting exhaustion, but am now reviving. On the table are half a dozen 28mm Saxons (thegns with armour), half finished plus three battalions of Baccus 6mm Marlburians, which have their black undercoat done. These I shall attack tomorrow, so to speak.
First on my to do list is finally finishing my 28mm Foundry ACW figs (40 to go) so I can start doing my GB Romans. Unfortunately I also have to plaster the living room ceiling as well as paint the entire room. After that I'll be chopping down trees..etc etc etc...
ReplyDeleteOn a positive note, cunstructing a painting station did improve my painting output from nothing, zip, zero to once in a rare while.
My painting table is in fact a part of my gaming table that's standing in a corner of the living room. I could paint elsewhere but I also experience the same "obstructions" Bart mentions.
ReplyDeleteOn the painting desk: Baccus 6mm amazones (all primed, some painted and glued on stands) and 8 Cold Navy spaceships (primed, drilled, pinned and based).
About 50 primed 15mm peltasts await me at my painting desk, escorted by a dozen Greek light horse. I find that listening to books on CD while I paint makes me spend longer stretches painting.
ReplyDeleteI also recently revived my painting station, which has lain dormant for 3 months now.
ReplyDeleteI find I tend to paint in bursts of frenetic activity, interspersed by months of non-painting (while I pursue my other hobbies). Motivation for painting usually comes from a deadline (like a game I�m obliged to field an army for) rather than the intrinsic joy of painting.
_Robartes butting in_ - this comment got zapped in an overzealous spam fighting episode. Sorry about that, wajh. I'm reposting it from cache in your name.