One Year Anniversary!

Wow, so it's been a whole year since I began this painting blog.  It's been a busy year, lots of stuff has happened including a move from one coast to the other.  But this site is really about painting so let's focus on that.  In terms of major milestones, I attended two competitions but they both went quite well.  Back in July I entered the Bay Area Open and won best in show with my hobbit piece.  That was also a Crystal Brush Qualifier, so I received a free flight to Chicago to compete in that.  Crystal Brush was about a month ago and I was lucky enough to take golds in two of the historical categories.  I also joined two of the Los Angeles area painting groups (SCAHMS and LAMS) and have met a lot of great figure and model builders.  In terms of actual painting, here is a look at the figures I've completed in the past year...

Okay, counting that dark elf at the end may be cheating a bit.  The figure is finished but I still plan on making a new base for him.  Either way I'm quite pleased with the productivity.  And, with the exception of the mounted knight, all of those projects began in the past year too.  Of course there are still some projects lying around the work bench that need to be wrapped up.  Here's a look at the projects I've started in the past year that are still being worked on...

I hope I can finish all of those in the next year, although I've got a few new projects that will take priority once I can find some serious time to paint.  The Napoleonic figure has already had a lot of work done, so I know I want to finish that soon.  I've lots of a lot of my inspiration for Gokan/Slaine... but he's so close it seems a shame not to wrap him up too.  The gladiator and Roman have a looooong way to go, but I love the sculpts and I know I will eventually come back to them.  The Civil War figure will be a gift for my dad, so I'll finish him at some point.

I want to thank everyone who has been following this blog and all the people who just pop in from time to time.  I hope that what I post and share is helpful to the other hobbyists out there.  Seeing that people are visiting this site and following it really helps motivate me to keep sharing.  To show my appreciation (and in honor of this blog being one year old) I'd like to do some sort of give away to the people who've been following this site.  I didn't really plan this out, so I'm open to ideas/suggestions.  But my general idea is to post an official give away announcement.  Then, anyone who comments on that post or is already a follower of this site, will be entered in a chance to win one of my painted figures.  If you're a follower of the site and you also comment on that post then you're entered twice!  I'll set a deadline, maybe two weeks, and then randomly pick a winner.  What do you all think?

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A bit off topic, I just wanted to give a quick reminder that pre-orders for the Child Thief figure, based on Brom's artwork, are now open.  If you're interested in the figure contact terriblekidsstuff' at gmail.  I don't believe you can order from the site, so you have to contact them directly to reserve your copy.  The last figure they did based on Brom's sold out very quickly, so act quick if you like this figure,