Vacant blog is sad blog.

The origin of this despair has been abundant productivity. Not the painting kind of productivity, but producing a software product productivity. Hopefully I will get the go ahead from the copyright holder to post said product, but until then, peaceful silence for all...

But painting! In the highly occupied month of April, I only completed two models. I believe that is the worst month in the past year, maybe since I started painting. However, I think there was a hidden benefit to having put down the brush for 4 weeks.

Perspective.

Specifically the rejuvenation of my perspective on painting.

Slipknot and Killer Croc from Knight Models's Suicide Starter Box. I did a bunch of experimenting with these models, and none of those experiments turned out great...

The reality is that my painting queue is 624 long. 624. And I truly do want to paint about 90% of it. That is a lifetime of painting unless something changes... Or about three years at 15 models a month.

So something changed.

I had two Batman models from the previous order to complete, and decided that I would power through them. The result was actually quite excellent:

Completing the Quick Response Force. Really pleased with how they turned out in a short amount of time.

In my post-mortem for the two, I reached nirvana, or at least a state of greater understanding, and wrote down a series of guiding statements in the form of the Manifesto for Agile Software Development:

As a painter, I favor:

Contrast over blending
Dark lining over washing
Faces over outfit
Getting it done over getting it right

As with the earlier Manifesto, the stuff on the right is important and should/can be done. However, the stuff on the left is more important and is where more emphasis should be placed.

These statements form my style. They give me the freedom to work on contrast instead of making sure my blends are prefectly smooth. They also let me put more time into the face than the clothes, guns, swords, or backpacks.

Style is good. For now, this is mine.