Work Desk and some Ramblings

The Work Desk

Like many others I’m interested to see how other painters  work and their work benches. I don’t know why it is but there you are! So, on request, here’s  mine. Nothing sophisticated - just a desk, lamp, brushes and paint etc.. and most importantly for me plenty of natural light.

I usually work in a very organised/ tidy way – that’s just the way I am. However, as I wanted to produce a lot of stuff quite quickly I am at present working in, for me, quite a busy set up.

'Busy busy'

I usually prefer to work in a totally uncluttered and minimalistic environment .  I work better, for longer, am more productive  and enjoy it more when my head is clear. This keeps me focussed and stops me getting overwhelmed and from being distracted by other things around me.

However, I only moved into this room (lucky me) just before Christmas and haven’t quite got it sorted yet. This is partly due to wanting to get the blog going. I’ve a lot of stuff on the go and things should  settle down soon.

'On the go'

The blog

One month on and I think I’ve got the blog off to a reasonable start (for a beginner and based on your comments etc...) The ultimate aim is to reduce, not completely clear – that would be impossible, the amount of unpainted castings I have accumulated over many years. I intend initially to do this for 12 months and will reflect back in Jan 2013 and see how I’ve got on.

One month on and I’ve :

sorted lots of boxes of figs in preparation for the year ahead
prepared and undercoated lots of figs ready to paint
completed many part painted figs
Painted and  based  a number of units from scratch etc etc...

More 'on the go'

As a result my work Desk is decidedly busy for me. As things are going well I’ll keep it this way for now. Eventually when I get overwhelmed with all the stuff on the go I’ll clear everything away and work on one unit (20 or so figs) at a time.

One reason for using a blog to fulfil my aim is that it will keep me focussed. So far it’s worked and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it – hopefully the novelty won’t wear off but you never know!!

 Some points

There has been no real noticeable difference to the piles of castings but a couple of things have happened since this blog started:

I have become far more productive – keeping the blog updated has helped this as have the supportive comments received from visitors to the blog.

I’ve enjoyed painting and haven’t felt any pressure to do so (again the comments from you have helped a great deal as has the increased number of visitors/ followers.)

There has been a noticeable amount of completed units ready for the table (or the cabinet for those that only collect.)

The dilemma

My aim, as mentioned is to spend 12 months reducing metal mountain and not buying any more figures this year. Herein lies the dilemma. I like to support traders/ manufacturers of figs etc by buying their figures. I like buying new figs, especially at shows. I get inspired by demonstration games and am easily lured into new periods – after all this is a hobby for me so why not! However, over the last ten years I’ve purchased very heavily on the figure front so I don’t think they’ll mind too much if I have time to catch up a little on my painting! Also, when/if I sell all the figures I paint this year I’ll be back spending with a vengeance in 2013. So hang on traders!! Let’s see how it goes.

Some of the figures I’ve been painting date back to the late 1980s and I’ve enjoyed painting them as much as figures I bought last October at Derby. As the main pleasure for me is painting constantly buying new stuff is not always a priority.

Yesterday I visited the York Show and came away inspired but managed to keep mmy wallet closed! Now that's a first for me.

To close

These ramblings are purely personal and I wholeheartedly encourage the rest of you to keep on spending and buying new figs. That’s the ramblings over let’s get back to the painting.

And thanks for your interest in the blog - I hope visitors get some inspiration as much as I do visiting other blogs.

To come: 'Olddorg goes old school' (hint: a few Connoisseur Figs!!)