Finished stuff and partypainting

There are still miracles in our world!
I finished something again :)
Today I want to talk about that miniature and some philosophy again.

Let's start with the mini...

This miniature started as some competition between me and Barfrau49 at the german Bemalforum.
We both came home from our painting class with Roman aka Jarhead that took place in Berlin and wanted to try out how fast we could paint a miniature with our new learned skills.
Each one had two weeks to paint an feral ork from Games Workshop.
Well, illness and studies killed my deadline, but I tried to hurry when I actually was painting and in the end, it were 8 hours real painting time.
I learned much about oil colors with this little guy and had tons of fun.
He isn't perfect, for sure and to be honest I am not really satisfied because there could have been much more BUT we wanted a fast paintjob and he is one of the last minis I started during painting evenings with Sandy and I just can't see him anymore.
So I declared him ready.
Feel free to leave a comment, I would be happy if you'd share your thoughts.

Now the philosophy part :)

Yesterday evening turned out a big surprise.

I had planned to paint with a friend of mine, just the two of us and some nice meal before with my room mate and best friend.

Nothing special, same procedure as every year james.

Than Moritz asked to join in and even my best joined us (who doesn't paint or draw at all).

Painting evening always meant sitting there and paint, paint, paint...well it did for me.

Yesterday was different, for we talked the whole time, joked around, drank some good wine and smoked shisha and the smallest part of all was about the hobby...BUT it seemed my orc would paint himself.

I never thought of painting while hanging out with people, who aren't involved but it was great and productive.

And for sure, I didn't laugh that much for weeks.

Maybe this is something you want to try too, like One Night One Miniature there is nothing to loose and much to gain.

Invite some friends (it is good if they draw, craft or do anything creative but it isn't that important) and have fun. I think this doesn't work for everybody, for I know people who sink into their own world while they are painting or who need absolute silence.

It is exactly what I was talking about a few days ago, the philosophy of our blog, our new atelier...to bring together all kinds of people who enjoy all kinds of arts and crafts.

Exchange of minds and hints from different points of view.

Other people often point out things, a minaiture painter doesn't see because he has his way and is into what he is doing.

In the end, there were nine hours of fun and creativity and good sleep came fast.

I love to paint big and this will be big for sure...
For every one in germany, Pfennigpfeifer (think many cities have them, at least here in saxony) has this damn big canvas for just 11 Euro.

You just paint and without noticing you become some training object..

Our little group

Drawing, painting, stuff...

Have a nice weekend everyone!

WIP, improvisation and an epic evening

Goooood morning world :)

Yesterday began bad, continued worse and ended...epic.

Strange ways of life, I woke up feeling sick, very sick and had to cancel my FREE sushi all you can eat, after that my washer decided to break and  decoloring some of my favorite clothing would be funny...one can't say fuck as often as I wanted to.

After  restoring some friend, who vowed he had no hangover, which I still believe was a lie, we decided to sit around, doing nothing until this bad day would be over.

Unpacking our big shisha (or hookah it seems to be called in america) parcel , trying to assemble our new travel shishas (which are really cool, because they are built with empty bottles) and finally smoking ( after lots of tape and good will :) ) we felt ready to...PAINT again.

Well, some might think where's the big deal in that....

for me it is still a fight against myself (and my past) to paint...it became such a big part of Sandy's and my life, something we always shared and now it seems strange and kind of wrong to me, to paint without her, knowing that there won't be such times again for us.

It hurts and haunts me but hey, it is my god damn hobby and I enjoyed it years before we met.

Through painting, I found such great friends and so many little happy moments, it would be a shame to lose it.

During that special evening I remembered some words, a very good friend of mine told me last week:

She took your heart, thats fine and will happen again and again. But don't let her take your hobby, or you'll be dead and empty.

And how right she was.

After first brush strokes the magic came back and a few hours later, two projects were some steps closer to be called finished :)

First the base of some gift, the happy owner will be my good friend Moritz, who soon will join this blog.

Some chaos dwarfy thing from Scibor....

Mainly sketching out the lights and shadows with acrylic colors, started wet in wet and had a big part of yesterdays painting time with glazing here and there.

Second the Orc still getting some attention...or more fitting his socket.

More contrast with acrylic and then the most fun part of this whole evening:

My first try outs with oil color used for different tasks then weathering.

The complete middle part of the pillar changed during the process achieving a way better blending form bright to dark I think. All wood parts were redone too.

Today we will have another painting session and I am planning to finish that orc. We'll see how much this plan is worth :)

Aaaaand here our new travel shisha kit, improved with tape, because its absolutely unusable without. 

Guess where Moritz hides in this picture...

Have a nice day everyone !

Good Morning...

Today will be a great one, i knew it when I woke.
Seems a shadow vanished over night, hard do describe it better.

I'll start with painters breakfast, some new thing I wanted to try for a long time.
During the upcoming months, my days will start with breakfast on my balcony and an hour of painting to start my days.

And here are my new toys that want to be used today:

I'll finish the acrylic work on some projects that are nearly finished to try out oil colors on them.

Have a nice day everyone

A visit at monastery Klosterbuch

Another trip with my Nikon.

I take her everywhere I go again and I really don't understand why I ever stopped this.

There are tons of photos left to sort and edit and that's what I'll do again now :)

Have a nice day, everyone!

Spring and the taste of change...

I am visiting my parents these days, something I do not very often.
Little town, none of my old friends left, and absolutely nothing to do, for the whole city seems dead to me...
still wondering when the first zombi will appear :)
It feels good to talk about things laying in the past, with different points of view today, ending old quarrels and restoring some feeling of family.

But, if there is nothing else here at Hartha, there is a lot of time to think, draw conclusions and remember who I am. The last weeks brought major changes to my life, some things that will effect my works in the near future, some that will change this blog and the idea behind it itself, and some just important to me.

I will pause my studies until October, for I need time to restore my strength, visit some doctors, find new love for architecture and get away from that big mess called university.
After 5 terms without notable breaks I just feel burnt out and thats no good feeling.
So there will be good time to paint, write, take pictures and all that other stuff I used to did.
 I will also have the time needed to update the blog, work at its design and such things.
Aaaand there will be much travelling and visiting of friends and strangers alike.
Start will be a short trip to paris in March, May will bring up a painting class with Derwish in Hamburg, afterwards I will stay a few days at a friends house.

Also the people around me changed, somehow.
My familiy decided to stand together after years of fighting and I'am sure glad I had my part in it.
Old friends turned out gone forever, others found there way back and problems, never thought solveable, are no more.
And last of this, my relationship with Sandy broke, leaving questions and disbelieve.
So it seems, the people around me show a very different spectrum than a few weeks ago.
 And so do I.

Everything feels new somehow, the sun shining again after months of rain and ice, first flowers I didn't notice last year, small things, that make me smile again.

I am curious for the future and feel more alive than I can remember.

Last big change will be at this blog itself:
I am planning on finishing the design during the next weeks, but there are other things then style.
I am happy to welcome a new member (who will introduce himself after his last exam), someone I shared the last 5 terms with.
We bled together when there was no sleep, he helped me out when there was no food or money, we did projects at university together and became very close friends.
I sure wouldn't be the person I am, if not for him.
Together we decided to do something new, a big project to grow with and it will be our own studio.
Sharing our workspace, our time and our knowledge there should be tons of creativity.
So the (T)Raumschmiede will get a very real place to live and our blog will be an insight to this realm of madness...
Our doors will be opened for friends, strangers met at some bar and freaks who stumble into our lifes, that want to share their arts.
With easels, workbench, all kinds of colors, papers and rubbish there will always be the possibility to learn something new, try outs at new materials and mediums...and we will share pictures and tutorials based on that meetings...
So there is big stuff around the corner and I can't wait to get started.
With the chapter of my old life closed, the new one calls and wants to be written.

Welcome to our city...

Photography got me again, yesterday was the sunniest day since months and so I went out to take pictures of some sights.
Here are some impressions on Dresden :)
We also wanted to thank all of you who read our blog, it is really enjoyable to know that hundreds of persons read our site and articles!

Left to right : The residence castle, The Hofkirche Dresden (the saxon cathedral)  and the Semper Oper

Dresden Neumarkt

Spring around the corner

Yesterday I walked home from sport and noticed, that a big park near me was full of half melted ponds.
I read some tutorials about photography anyway and so I thought get home, get your cam and take some pictures.
Walking through that park was really enjoyable, little birds singing at every place, first little flowers coming out and so much life everywhere.
I am really in love with life when that moments decide to happen to me, or I understand once more my decisions let them happen.
Who doesn't leave the trail, won't explore the world they say, and damn this is right!

I made my first tryouts with hdr software and was shocked, how different the same picture can look but it is really interesting to play around and get into it.