What I seem to do best....

In my "other life" and when I get a chance, I paint little people and things for people who collect or play games with their miniature people and things. There are grown men and women out there who play historical miniatures wargames and Dungeons and Dragons type role playing games. After Elizabeth arrived I have not been able to paint the volume that I used to. I would crank out thousands of these things a year. It will never make me rich but it is paying the heating bill this winter. Occassionally I find something to paint and keep. I painted this for the wife this week along with a bunch of other stuff for a customer.


It is cute. The actual miniature was sculpted by Tom Meier and is based on a picture done by Keith Parkinson which I have on a wall in the house.
To get a perspective on this. Here is a picture showing the actual size of this thing.


I used to be in retail management, then insurance sales and management and even worked with an auction company for a little over a year but this was what I did best. I have painted these things since I was 14 but only started painting for other people in 1994. The good thing is that being able to do this helps when it comes to paint and decorate the house. I can visualize things and know what to experiment with to get the end result that I want. I'm certainly no artist, or at least I have no art education but using washes, inks and varnishes comes easy to me. Working on the house is just doing the same thing on a larger scale. I really should buy some new brushes though. Painting the house with these "000" artist brushes takes forever!