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Figured I'd drop a few more unprofessional pics of the few things I've done in the last year. I painted this wizard for my son to use in a potential game of Frosthaven that we still haven't been able to play. At any rate, I like how he turned out and my son likes his owl. I really need to get my light tent set up as the simple desk light doesn't do anything for these mins.... LOL! -K

Okay, last one for this evening. These guys are actually completions from a project I started back in 2014 called HASSLEFIGHTER 2014!!!! and mostly finished sometime this past year. I think the motivation was for "A Fist Full of Kung-Fu" which, of course, we still haven't played. At any rate, it's good to mark a shelf of shame project *mostly* complete. I played a lot of Double Dragon as a kid, and these guys bring me back there. Ah Nostalgia! Thank you for viewing! -K

So I'm branching out from typical miniatures and trying something new. My son has really been into Hotwheels lately, and it turns out that there's an entire Hotwheels Customization culture out there much like the minis we like to paint. I put two and two together and figured why not try it out? So, here's the WIP (some of it at least) of the Fairlady 2000 I'm currently working on. Besides, if it ends up horribly, Hotwheels are only .94 cents at Wally World Unfortunately, I got the bright idea to WIP after I was pretty much done painting as much as I'm going to on the first go-round. However, here's the comparison between the Yellow "stock" Datsun and the Orangy one I've painted. Also, the various components of the build that I've worked on. Finally, the installing of new axles and Red Rider wheels found on the more "premium" versions of Hotwheels. I may use the donor truck as a future "distressed" diorama if I feel froggy enough. The floorboard is also painted a metal shade as you can kind of see it in the interior if you bother to try to see it. I just finished gluing the axles and wheels in about five minutes ago, so it'll have to sit for a bit to dry. If all goes well, I'll have completed my first custom Hotwheel. I'll be able to zoom across the table in a one of a kind upgrade. WHHHEEEEEEEEE!!!! I'll post final pics after everything's dry and fitted. Thank you for checking it out! -K P.S.: Thos pics are tiny! I'll post larger ones in the Show Off when it's done. I apologize for the oversight

Hello all! It's been forever and a day since I painted or posted anything. I actually have completed a few other projects, but I've been too lazy to drag out the photo tent and take good pics. At any rate, I figured I'd throw a basically finished figure that's been sitting in the drawer of shame for... I dunno... 8mo. to a year or more! Anyhoo, I bring you Hasslefree's Joe! What's fun is that I messed around with some flourescent pigments for his Mohawk. This is him hovering dangerously above our reef tank... Joe was originally painted for use in a tabletop game I can't currently remember the name of, but now he may just end up in a shelf or may be destined for someone else's games. Hope you enjoyed it! -K

Best wishes for a happy birthday!

Okay all, I'm sure you've noticed that I've popped back up on the forum. Basically, I'm picking back up where I left off, with the exception I've also started getting into armor as well as minis. At any rate, where I left off was that I was about to start messing around with pigments. The problem is, I'm not sure which line, if any, to go with. What got me started was the Tiger 1 model I'm currently working on. I decided that I needed pigments to weather it, but got impatient and just started using what I had lying around. I sufficiently muddied the thing, and now I'm going to have to make a muddy diorama to go along with it to justify Hans and Franz' off-roading antics, but I digress... What I'm curious about is what brands do some of you use/recommend? I'm leaning towards the Secret Weapons weathering pigment set as it has quite a few pigments in it, and I can't see needing more than that. However, I'm also aware that Scale75, Tamiya, and quite a few others I hadn't heard of before also produce pigments. Shoot, I even made a rust pigment in the past to use on one of the exchanges we did on the forum, and I may just make lampblack to finish out the sooty areas that need to be on the Tiger. At any rate, I'd love to hear y'alls experience with whatever powdered pigments you've used in the past. Thanks for any input you can provide! -K

Hello all! It's been forever since I've posted here or painted anything for that matter. Life has been extremely busy as of late, and I haven't had a lot of time to pursue my artistic interests... well, that and I tend to jump from hobby to hobby. At any rate, figured I'd drop this here as it's miniature, even if not a mini. I need to get back to minis, but I ended up with this 1/72 Tiger tank... So here's where we are. For some reason, I decided to start in 1/72. I'm not sure why. Maybe because it's tiny. Maybe because it's closer to "minis." Maybe I just ate some bad chicken and thought it'd be a great idea! However, I ended up with Hans and Frans.... They are really, really ugly and really, really tiny! I should probably put a mini Dwarf on the turret just to show that they are indeed in the Land of the Lost, and surely to meet their end at the charge of the Gutbuster Brigade or the like.... At any rate, it's a different change of pace from normal minis... although it's been about a year since I've painted any additional minis. My experience with Hans and Frans hasn't done anything to encourage extra exploration, but I think if I do more armor, (and it'll happen, I have a 1/35 Matilda in a box....), at least their figures will be closer to what I'm used to working with. They're just a lot smaller and with not as good casting as I'm used to with Reaper minis and others. In the meantime, it's nice to be getting back to painting. I need to come up with a diorama for these guys. I've got a few touch-ups to do here and there, but I'm pretty much done with the model at this scale. I need to order some pigments to weather this thing as that's where I was headed before I went on mini hiatus. Purchasing too many pigments I mean... It's going to take pigments to make the funky rubber treads this thing came with look anything like real tank treads. LOL! Comments, questions, and WHERE THE HECK HAVE YOU BEENS!?!!? are welcome! -K

:bday: Happy Birthday Kharsin :bday:

Last August or so I helped TophDNA with his Summer Exchange (I think) and he was painting a cowboy for someone. At any rate, I decided to paint up this Gunslinger as Roland Deschain from the Dark Tower Series. I believe we did these in one evening, although I didn't complete mine. I'd put some crackle whatchamacallit on the base and left it to dry. However, I didn't get around to painting the base until a few days back while I was waiting for something to dry somewhere. I figured I should finish him as he'd been waiting around for quite some time. Really the only thing to note on this one is that I finished it in a record amount of short time as I tend to fuss over things for wayyyy too long. It took months to just finish the base, and oh, I did add a 5 O' Clock shadow while the base was drying. *Spoiler ALERT* Oh, this is Book 2 Roland as he's missing 2 fingers off his right hand... Here you go: Again, with the funky camera, I apologize! I'll figure it out eventually... Thanks for checking it out! -K

Allright Reaperites! This is what took me so dang long to get finished and shipped out to Marsya, which was supposed to go out last fall, I believe. At any rate, the crazy whirlwind that is life delayed the project by several months, and I am happy to report that she had received it! At any rate, I knew it would have to be special as she'd requested something along the lines of fall in Krynn. I was able to track down this: Goldmoon: And this: Riverwind: These two are a couple of the main characters out of the Dragonlance novels, and I figured they would be a great pair for the nature scene that I was planning to prepare. So I purchased them, stripped the old paint that was left from God knows when (these minis are from 1989), and proceeded to paint them up! The base is a simple birch section from Michael's. The leaves and tree trunk are from Secret Weapons, the plants and such are Army Painter (I think) and everything else is sand and paint from various places. The bowstring is from my little girl's hairbrush. One thing that was driving me nuts as these were the first two minis that I started painting once I started up again, and they seemed so small! Turned out that they were smaller than what I was used to. They gave me fits for a while as I readjusted to painting. At any rate, here's the result: And a collage: So I finished my exchange! I hate that it took so long, and I'm going to do my best to never allow that to happen again! LOL! Questions and Comments are definitely appreciated! Thank you all for viewing! -K

Okay all! This is the latest experiment as I needed some time off from Space Wolves and I wanted to play around with some ice effects. I stumbled across this old tutorial by Monkey Sloth on making ice, so I figured I'd see what I could do with them as I've been messing around with Space Wolves and all of their frozen misery. I picked up this mini at ReaperCon 2015 and figured I'd try her out as it'd been quite a while since I've painted something with this much cloth on it. I have to say that I spent way more time on this figure than I would have liked, but at least it was a great exercise in cloth, frost, and all things that have helped knock more brush rust off my brushes! You'll have to forgive the blurriness of the pics as I'm still learning to use the camera on this iPhone 6s. I'm used to my old Galaxy S5 camera that took awesome pics so... yeah. I'm learning. Anyhoo, copious pics.... Some things I liked about this project. Others, not so much. A few didn't even come through in the photograph: 1. I definitely liked the amount of PRACTICE I received as I'm really just starting to take off in painting after several months of no painting whatsoever. Hopefully the next project will reflect this. 2. I liked the tutorial on the ice. It made some lovely ice, in spite of my cat taking out one of the cups of ice crystals before they were ready. 3. I did NOT like how the frozen effect on the staff came out. You can't really tell in these pics but the staff is coated in Secret Weapons Snow Effects, giving it quite the bedazzled appearance in person. This did not translate to the photographs most likely due to the close proximity of the lights, AND the fact that I should have shaded the staff BEFORE coating it... I digress... Anyway... 4. Your girl got a big dress! It's hard to appreciate how much space she takes up on that checker. In fact, this piece was basically finished until I found out that she was doing the splits on the edge of the checker. The ice effects, like water effects, shrunk considerably leaving a bowl like depression, causing her to not sit flush with the bottom at all! I had to fill in the void with sand, then shade, then I reapplied a thin layer of ice effects... which then soaked into the sand and ripped half of it up. It was then treated to a drenching in thin super glue (some of which somehow got into the corner of my mouth...) then sealed and dullcoated until most shine from the glue was relieved. At the end, she still didn't sit level, which is why she has 2 extra shards of ice shoved under her dress as you can see in the pics. It was either that or see her rear pin, and she had no desire to show that off. 5. I liked the ink effects on the checker. Look great in person! Basically, she was a difficult lady to mount on an ice themed base of my custom design. BUT, she's there and done enough! LOL! Here's a panoramic view: Thanks for looking! Questions, comments and complaints are always welcome. LOL! -K

Hey all! Just figured I'd post the current mini that I'm working on: Reaper's 60149: Winter Witch. I think I picked her up at last year's ReaperCon, and she's been sitting around waiting to be painted. I figured it'd be a good opportunity to get some practice in as well as experiment with ice bases for all of those Space Wolves I'm supposed to be painting. Anyways, enjoy! -K

Hello everyone! If you haven't noticed, I kind of dropped off the face of the forum at the end of last Summer for a number of reasons! Life has a strange way of throwing more things at you than you can juggle at once, but luckily, everything's finally slowing down enough to where I can paint minis, and spend wayyyy too much time posting my meager struggles for all of you awesome Reaperites to witness. First, a few things: 1. An Apology - I'm apologizing to everyone for not getting a previous exchange done until now. I believe it was the Fall Exchange, in which I was supposed to send Marsya an exchange. Again, life snowballed and I was unable to complete the project in any sort of reasonable amount of time. However, I am happy to report that the project is complete, and should ship out tomorrow! Marsya, again, I am so very sorry it took so long to get it out to you. Hopefully I was able to knock enough brush rust off and send you something worth of the delay! I have pics so once it arrives, I'll add them to my Miscellany of Miniatures... 2. I've missed you guys! I've been lurking on and off the board over the past few months (not posting) and I love seeing how much progress everyone has made (and by comparison, how I've made no progress! LOL!) It's good to be back! SO, to that end, here's one of the latest projects. A friend of mine plays 40K... A lot... I've never played 40K and really don't know too much about it, but I figured, what they hey! So I'm going to attempt to learn how to play 40K and decided to choose the Space Wolves as my starting army. I'm not going to post all the fancy-dancy pics until I finish the "Start Collecting Space Wolves!!!" box in its entirety, but I'll probably post WIPs and ask questions here as I really have no idea what I'm trying to attempt with 40k stuff. I have the new rulebooks and the Space Wolves Codex, so there's that. I looked at GW stuff when I first started painting, but haven't looked at it since due to price,. However, I figured one set couldn't kill me. I MUST say, however, that I much prefer METAL to that finecast or whatever it's called. Anyway, here's the first two that I managed to finish, along with an experimental base. They aren't completely done in this pic as they still needed their decals on the shoulder pads and the guy on the right needs some touch-up to the rune on his helmet... which is waiting for the paint for that layer as I work on SW #3. Left-hand guy is Captain Claws. Right-hand guy doesn't have a name. #3 will be known as "Punchy." The base is the standard round base that comes with them, coated in crackle medium (or whatever it's called. I'm too lazy to get up and check) and painted with my "Earth" mixture and shaded with various liqitex inks to get that crazy green look. The snow is a combination of Secret Weapon snow effects and Army Painter, um, "snow." Or something like that... Here's a close-up of a completed Capt. Claws, sans fancy background: Anyway, please comment, critique and ask questions! I don't think I'm going to be a very good table top 40K painter as I fuss over these things too much. I think it took me a week to just get these two done so... yeah. Enjoy! -K P.S.: It looks like I took a few WIP pics of these two. If anyone's interested, I can post those and comment as well.

Hello All! I'm posting pics from my Summer Exchange that Generic Fighter received today. He indicated that he wanted to receive: "Looking for an Intellegent Undead type. Female Vampire or Any Gender Lich. Or anything cool. Just have fun and it will be enjoyed:)" He also indicated that he used these for various scenarios he GM'd for, indicating a 1" base. I don't think I've ever used a slotted base before, as I tend to go overboard with the diorama stuff. In lieu of a fancy base, I decided to send him 2 figures: 03150: Siobhana, Vampire Noble and 03229: Elise Anya, Vampire Hunter I simply titled them: "Hunter and Hunted" I'll let GF determine which is which! Here's some pics! Siobhanna: I decided to play around with paints and paint her up in a burgundy dress. Unfortunately, I did not take notes so I don't recall which paints I used from which set. There was no way she was coming off of that stone base so I just sealed the slot, and glued it directly to the base. The "liquid" on the base is string gel medium mixed up with various shades of red, and drops of acrylic ink added and swirled around to make it look interesting. Elise: Elise's color scheme was inspired by Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite. Of course, I took quite a bit of artistic liberty with her. I was afraid that she was going to get burgled by either my daughter or a friend of ours whom I think was somewhat serious about purchasing her. LOL! And the two of them together: That's about it! I hope Generic Fighter enjoys them and that they knock each other silly in whatever scenario he finds to use them in! Thanks for looking! -K

:bday: Happy Birthday !!!!!!!!!!!!! :bday:

Okay! So I finally had time to break out my camera equipment and take pics of the Spring Exchange, my Summer Exchange yet to go out and to be posted at a later date, and THIS Warzone Dino Guy that I painted up for my son. Turns out he's: Major Johan Emigholtz: Johan Emigholtz is something of an enigma to those who serve under him, which has served to enhance his reputation. Mounted on his saurian beast he is a dangerous close combat opponent. He is quite a young man to have achieved the rank of major in the 103rd Mounted Hussars of Duke Maximillian III. He is a driven man and despite his reputation for ruthlessness he is highly respected for his unswerving professionalism. Equipment: Explosive Tipped Lance, Machine Pistol, Machete. Special Abilities: Tactical Sense, Give Orders, Jungle Fighter, First Strike, Rally Others. Major Johan Emigholtz He's one of the figures from Jasper's Spaceship Superstar contest, and one that I knew my 4yr. old son would love! I did leave off the spear that came with him, as I figured Will may poke himself on it if he ever uses this figure for something other than looking at... which I don't foresee, but Maj. E is difficult enough to handle without an extra pokey part. The base is a 2" wood disk from Michael's, with a crackle paste surface done up in several fun colors, as it's just a fun piece for a 4yr old. I actually like the different colors and may play around with these effects in the future. I don't recall exactly how I did these as I've gotten extremely loose with notes here lately. I want to say they're done mostly with inks... Hmm... I actually had fits with the Major, as I think the dino came out pretty good. The dino was actually very smooth so he became somewhat of an exercise in texture. As far as Maj. E, I played a bit with real rust weathering that I made in house, and a few other things. At any rate, Will is extremely happy with him, and Maj. E has a home on the lowest shelf of our display cabinet so my son can see him anytime he wants to. Here are a few pics: I'm playing around with the auto collage feature on Picasa... Hmmm... At any rate, thanks for looking! I'll be posting what I painted for the Summer Exchange once Generic Fighter verifies he received the package. -K P.S.: Here's the link to the original WIP... There's not much there, but you can see how they started off. LOL!

Hey! These pics are long overdue! This is the Spring Exchange I received from Fire Elemental. It's the Wood Elf King, along with one of Edna, Crazy Cat Lady's cats! It really is an awesome piece with lots of little details that are possible to miss. My favorite part is the little kitty playing! I hate that this took so long to get up! It's mainly as it took so long for me to finish up several projects to drag the camera rig out and take photos of everything! I normally do dioramas, but the latest have been single figures.... At any rate, thank you SO MUCH to Fire Elemental for such an AWESOME exchange! The King resides on my top shelf in his rightful place with other works of awesomeness!

Hello all! So it's a couple days after ReaperCon, and I had a blast! For my first official after RC, I've chosen to FINALLY paint up the Mounted Dino Rider from Warzone. This was one of the prizes I really wanted to win during the Spaceship Superstar contest put on so generously by Jasper! At any rate, this one should be fast and furious as I want to move on to projects that will push the things I learned at RC. With that said, this prep job took quite a while! LOL! So... nothing super spectacular yet! I should also note that I'm adapting to a Pixel Chromebook, so please excuse any photograph shenanigans that my result! Thanks for looking, and stay tuned for more! -K

Hey All! This was tonight's "project." I am not a fast painter. I've never had to be, and tend to enjoy taking the time to accomplish something beautiful. However, there was this goblin staring at me that's been primed for several, several months now. So I decided to give myself 1.5hours to see what I could accomplish. Again this doesn't seem like anything approaching speed, but I've been giving some thought to commissions and if I'm ever going to attempt something like that, I will have to gain speed. SO! I guess I'm asking what grade you guys would consider this? Too fast? Not enough detail? Too much detail? I really have no idea as I've always just painted for fun and for beauty. This guy is obviously pretty hideous, having several flash lines and various spots I'd normally spend lots of time removing and filing. I'm not very skilled at slapping paint on, dropping the brush, and walking away... Suggestions? Please excuse the horrible lighting. I don't have my normal equipment set up. I NEED to set it up as I still need to post the excellent Spring Exchange I received as well as the Dino Guy when he's finished. -K P.S.: He does contain some of the legendary color known as: "Drow Nipple Pink" LOL!

Okay! So here's the diorama that I put together for Samurai Jack. I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to do at the start, but this piece just kind of came together spontaneously as I'd been wanting to paint Enora Leena for a while. I'd originally envisioned a desert garb for her, but when I picked up a few goblins during an out of town trip, this took place... SHE BE QUEEN!!! Leena Puddlefoot had always been curious about the true power. She’d dabbled with it as a youngster, watching every magician, wizard, sorcerer and conjurer who came through town with wide-eyed wonder. Over the years, the bright young child used her intelligence (and many a burned fingertip!) to perfect her own unique repertoire of the arcane arts. She read books, viewed shows, pestered those in the know, and took every opportunity to learn. As her skill grew, tales of her abilities traveled far and attracted the ear of a very powerful group of arcane masters. The head of the guild, one Alejandro Bumplegut, visited Leena in her home under the guise of a wandering beggar. The kindhearted Leena took pity on the guild master in disguise, offering him room and board in her meager home, then dazzled him with a colorful display of light, shadow and other arcane manifestations. Master Bumplegut saw that the young Leena had indeed grown powerful, even more so than she realized. At once, in a blaze of dizzying blue light, Master Bumplegut threw off his disguise and offered Leena a place in the guild where she could hone her craft and become a true master. The price for admission? The guild had need of a rare element known as Heavy Suruptanium, only found deep in the land of M’Kyarr, the home of the goblin lords. If she could recover a “shoe’s worth†of the element, she would be admitted to the guild with full honors. It was a dangerous task, but the lure of the guild was a grand reward. She accepted on the spot. Deep within the goblin territory, Leena used her skill to convince two brave (and silly!) goblins that she was indeed the long awaited Goblin Queen of Prophecy, and required a great, greenish throne to sit on. One long and awkward journey later, Kragg and Scrum delivered her to the source of the rare element, echoing their joyous proclamation to all who would listen: “SHE BE QUEEN! SHE BE QUEEN!†Now begins the true test of her journey: How on earth would she ever convince her new (and rambunctious!) friends to allow her to leave with “a shoe’s worth†of the element? A sly grin crossed her face as she reached into a small pocket deep within the folds of her robe. They had given a small goblin village a wide berth earlier in the day. Why stop at two underlings when you could have twenty? She could just see the look on Master Bumplegut’s face when she returned with her rag-tag band of loyal followers. Somedays, it was good to be the Queen... I attempted several firsts while putting this diorama together: 1. I experimented with a black stain. I think it came out pretty good, although I think given more time, I'd have figured out a way to put gold flakes in the recesses... Hmmmmm... 2. I painted my first fire! I was concerned that it wouldn't come out that great, but for a first attempt, I'm pretty satisfied. I didn't throw in OSL, but I do have a class coming up at ReaperCon! 3. I got to use my rust effects. I'd made rust a while back and figured the goblins would be ideal to try them out on. They worked, but I think I may have gotten carried away! A lot of the metallics I put into the work ended up brown. LOL! 4. I was pleased with the wasted metal look on the "Heavy Suruptanium." They're just chunks of cork left over from the "Mothers" diorama, gesso'd and painted with Scale 75 metallics... and rust effects... Anyhoo, here are way too many pics... Leena Close-Up: Scrum Close-Up (sorry he's a bit blurry): Kragg Close-Up: At any rate, it was a lot of fun, and I hope Samurai Jack enjoys it! Comments and questions are always appreciated and encouraged! Thanks for reading! -K

So... I've finally gotten started on the ReaperCon theme entry for 2015. This is where we are and well... It's a mess. LOL! I've got quite a bit of work to do, not including painting. This project is largely experimental and we'll have to see where it goes.... Hmmm....

Alright! Here he is! It's mini #2 for this year... Yup, #2! If I get any faster, I'll blow my chance at last place in the number of minis completed for the year! This piece was assembled for a friend of mine who doesn't have a game piece for when we play Munchkin or whatever. He does now, and I think he came out pretty well for a table top piece. I'm pretty satisfied, although I apparently had some issues with outgassing. I'm guessing the thin super glue that was used to mount the debris on the bottom wasn't quite dry when I put him in the display case. As a result, I had a slight cloudy area where he was sitting, and the coin has taken on a frosty looking patina. I suppose it works, but from now on, everyone's staying OUTSIDE of the display case overnight, just in case. Okay! Here's what I tried to work on with this piece: 1. Freehand - I attempted a plaidish pattern on his bedroll. It gave me fits. I do believe that I will have fits with freehand the rest of the year as it's one of the main things I plan on working on. I also attempted a bit on his lower tabard (?), but I ended shading it down to make it look worn as I couldn't quite get it right. At any rate, I'm working towards getting better in this area. 2. The Coin Base - I'm trying to expand my basing experience. I really enjoy basing and got this idea from Massive Voodoo and decided to try it. Unfortunately the coin got the weird patina, which I think works, but I would've preferred to have it "prettier." Also, coins are hard to drill through.... at least this one was! Willen was kind enough to do some research on the origin of the coin, which can be read in the WIP of this piece. 3. The Trap - Will Harsk notice the spikes before it's too late? Will he make his saving throw? Who knows! At any rate, the trap was a happy accident. The bricks I used were strangely shaped bricks from Secret Weapon that I've had for a while. They looked great around the coin as they're curved, but don't work well at all for making a solid form radiating out from the coin. I played with different configurations, until I found a pattern I liked with squarish spaces between them. It looked like a perfect pressure plate booby trap opportunity, so I drilled (used an awl really) holes in the spaces and stuck toothpick points through them. Instant spike trap! The rest of the thing is made up of a wooden checker, matte board, a cork to glue the board to, and milliput to make up the earthen base. Of course there's flock (which is still shedding, according to the pics) and Army Painter plants for fun! The underside of the platform is potting soil or whatever it was the kids brought home in those plant projects that never seem to sprout... Anyhoo, here's Harsk, in all his rangering glory: He was fun to paint, and I hop Toph enjoys him! Please leave C&C and let me know what you think. I may drag him along to ReaperCon if Toph will let me. Now I can finally move on to the Spring Exchange and a new diorama for ReaperCon. Hope to see y'all there! -K P.S.: NO, I did not purposefully ruin the plant projects. They'd been sitting around for a year or so before I even used some of the soil. LOL!

Okay! So I have a WIP up for the Gnomish Bee Rider figure, but I still haven't taken the pics for that one. I'm probably going to take my time on the project.... anyway.... What we have here is a Dwarf I'm painting up for a friend as a game piece to use in whatever it is we're all playing at the time. For this, I've chosen Harsk, Iconic Male Dwarf Ranger! Here is Shiny Harsk: Here is Primed Harsk with a distinct mold line I didn't pick up on until AFTER I painted his hair... Here's where he arrived after the first round of painting: And finally, here's where he got tonight until I got the munchies and am now waiting for chicken wings... He is destined for a checker base. It's been a while since I've done a basic gaming piece, so it's nice to get back to it. I probably spend way too much time focusing on detail, but I guess it's what I like to do, so that makes it okay. It does not, however, lend itself to churning out the massive numbers of painted minis that many of you awesome people do! That may not be a bad thing as my display cabinet is starting to get... stuffy... Hopefully I'll finish Harsk up soon then get on with the Spring Exchange, the contest, and prep for REAPERCON!!! Thanks for reading! -K

Here's what took me all month to finish, which is slow even for me! Of course, I dealt with a sinus infection and all sort of other nastiness during January, along with it being a pretty dark and bleak month. At any rate, I was slow. I attempted to do some freehand which I REALLY need to work on. Hopefully I can find a class or two at Reapercon to help with this I did something different than my regular basing, trying out one of the bases from Micro Art Studio. I think I was just feeling lazy after all the major basing I did back in December. I didn't have to build it, but man, there was a lot of detail in there to paint! Unfortunately, it looks like she dried with a bit of "woah" to her angle. She was upright on that log last night, but it's not drastic enough to mess with, and her pin is very, very tentative. I'm worried that something would break should I mess with her much. The original plan was to also experiment with OSL and sculpting. I was going to make a little tree guy emerging from the ground, but ran out of time. I may go back and add one in later... maybe... For now I'm moving on as this took so much time for me to finish this month. Anyhoo, with ReaperCon approaching, I should kick out more over the coming months. January was just... slow.... very slow... LOL! Comments and questions are always welcomed! Thanks for taking a look. -K

Okay! I finally finished that Kaya the Reaper project I've been working on forever. I think she came out pretty good. Working in ministry, I've always been impressed and shocked at the challenges of single parents, especially single mothers. The drive and determination that these women have to live life, often against their choice, is always an inspiration. I conceived this diorama a few months back, during the time I was painting Kaya the Reaper. I was curious as to what would drive this woman to pick up a spear and charge into battle. The answer came in the form of this Year of the Giants diorama and a Frost Wyrm I'd picked up to paint for my son. Kaya's story is one of tragedy and unforeseen circumstances. The loss of her husband and older son has forced Kaya to make a hard decision: either slay the monster ravaging her people, or lose herself and her son in the process. The spin on this story, of course, is Nidhogg herself, who is now a new mother. Both are acting in the best interest of their children. Kaya needs to slay the beast to protect her son as well as the rest of the village. Nidhogg required food for nourishment of the developing young inside of her. Now the two meet in the wilderness, to kill or be killed. The death of Nidhogg will bring food and safety to the village, while the death of Kaya will end her dynasty. I added the two ropes at the last minute as a reflection of broken childhood: a broken swing. The decisions we make as adults affect our children, and can either enhance or detract from their lives. Young Bran may or may not grow up in a world without a father and an older brother, and during a time of strain on a village ravaged by a beastly mother. So..... Mothers: The Beast of the North has teeth that are unseen, yet cut to the bone. She has eyes that never sleep, ever seeking to slip your soul from its mooring into eternal slumber. She has claws that rip babes from their mother’s arms, fathers from the arms of their brides, and tear through the fragile bonds that bind the elderly to this plane. The North is a harsh mistress, and the creatures that survive there has been shaped by her cruel nature. Such was the fate of Kendric, Elder Tribesman of Eagle’s Eyrie, husband of Kaya, father of Bran and Hrothgar, beloved of many. In the year of the two moons, his life was stamped out by one of these cruel creations of the Beast: Nidhogg the Vile, Wyrm of the North. It was the night when Nidhogg came, Seeking souls and meat to fill her venter. The dark mistress hungered for innocent flesh, Young and pure to quench her bloodthirst. Though large, crafty she was, Sliding silently though the frost-kissed glade. Through town and tent she glided, Until old Nidhogg found young Hrothgar’s bed. The blood of kings this night she needed, And that of the young and pure. Two chomps and a swallow were all it took To silence young Hrothgar’s cry. In wide-eyed silence stood young Bran, His turn next to die. But lo! In came brave Kendric, Blazing axe held high. Chomp, chomp went the Wyrm’s fierce maw, Rage blazing in Nidhogg’s eye. Kendric knew the time was short, His last young son to save. The Vile lunged, the two she desired to claim, Brave Kendric met the charge head on, The Wyrm’s head he sought to mame. As time and tale doth quite repeat, Young Bran he managed to save. But lo! Great Kendric the dawn did not greet, By Nidhogg the Vile he was slain. Great fire from her form did flare, Igniting wood, and flesh, and bone. Fear, and tears, and blood did flow, Revenge did Kaya vow. The Wyrm herself a mother now, In matronly care does rest. Kaya the Ravager plots in fury, To slay the Wyrm or die. The cost to the village was great. Nidhogg the Vile, Wyrm of the North visited many that night, causing pain and destruction wherever she went. Many lives were lost, and the very existence of the tribe was in peril. Widowed and with no one to care for young Bran, Kaya the Ravager, baby Bran in tow, set forth into the wilderness. She has vowed to either take the head of Nidhogg and bring life to the village, or end the dynasty with her death and that of young Bran. I think I probably put TMI in the contest post... I tend to get carried away with writing, but I can put my thoughts up about the project here, so.... 1. I like the way this turned out. It turned out somewhere along the lines of what I had in my head. Overall, as normal, I'm satisfied. 2. I don't like snow effects. I think it works this time as the diorama is apparently in mid thaw, so the cracks don't bother me as much. I need to explore other options than the texture paste I've been using. The flakes on the Wyrm and scenery are Army Painter snow... um... snow. It's fastened with Vallejo Matte Medium. 3. That ugly baby is, I think, a Stonehaven Miniatures gnome baby, which fell in scale with Kaya. He was lying around from a gnome children's collection. The carrier itself is my attempt at sculpting with greenstuff, and I think I did a fair job of making a rugged carrier to hold little Bran. His left eye is a bit funky as there's some crazy flash or sculpting going on there. Either way, he's scenery mostly, so I didn't worry about it too much. 4. I still love Kaya! I think she's still my favorite mini to date, she's tough as nails, and can get it done! 5. The cliff is, of course, cork. I love cork. We're friends... With that said, I wish I would've had time to carry the sculpt to the side of the plinth. It looks kind of funny how it just cuts off rather than blends back into the plinth. It's just a personal preference, but oh well. By the time I started looking at it critically, there was already milliput, wires for the tree, and a bunch of other stuff on there. 6. The Wyrm gave me fits painting. I think there's a WIP of what it almost became... LOL! Yep... I like the way she turned out after starting over on her. Those "eggs" are actually mini marbles that I had to order online. They're actually a cream color, and held in place with something called Liquitex String Medium. I added Liqitex inks into the string medium by dipping the end of a brush in a drop of ink and dragging it through the medium. I then took forceps, picked up a marble, and drug it through the medium and line of ink, placing it onto the Wyrm. The medium held the eggs and ink well without becoming a blended mess! This idea came from nature as mother centipedes will coil around their eggs to protect them. 7. The basing material is potting soil from various pots around the house. The "trees" are some scenic sticks I purchased at Hobby Lobby. I felt very silly for buying sticks, but I didn't have time to go out, harvest sticks, and dry them out. Time is money, money is time and all of that... 8. The tree, of course, is wire coated in milliput then sculpted to look something like a tree. I had maple leaves to add to this tree, but it's winter's end, so there wouldn't be anything on there. I used birch pod things as blown leaf litter. 9. I added some realistic water in various places to simulate run off, but it doesn't come through in these pics as the places are small and honestly, I had a hard time taking pics of this diorama. That tree adds a good 25% to the overall length of the scene, so I have to keep the light and camera off at a distance to capture it all. I may take a few close-ups with my light bent in crazy ways to see if I can capture it better. 10. The swing ropes are baking twine, weathered with dips in various colors of ink and a wash of MSP Walnut Brown. I weathered them with my fingernails... They're quite stiff after the weathering process. LOL! 11. The tiny plants are Army Painter Tundra Tufts, or something like that. The reeds are the hair things that came in a kit. Ah well, that's about all I can think of right now. Please, please! Leave questions and comments! I'd love to hear opinions and such. For now, I think I'm going to take a few days off then probably tackle all of those minis from Super Dungeon Explorer. It's been a fierce month of miniaturization between this one and the Dr. Who diorama... HAPPY NEW YEAR! -K