Navel gazing and some progress in my work...

I was away on vacation last week in the same place I was last year. I am starting to believe this place is good for my blogging. Last time I went there, Orlygg did a very nice post on my blog to promote it and it is what really launched this blog (before that, I had less than 10 visits a day, most of which must have been bots).

This time, I've been considered by a fellow blogger as being worthy of a Liebster award. This person is "Le Caillou" (Tancrede on the oldhammer forum) who happens to run the Studio Caillou blog, a very delightful blog with tons of great models and exquisite paintjobs.

Though I don't do anything I do for glory, I have to admit it is quite nice to be awarded along some very talented (far more than me I mean) people like Dimitri, Gurutz, Nico, Blue in VT or Les Kouzes to name a few... so I take with great honour and hope to stay worthy of it.

The award comes with duties :

- Give 11 truths about yourself

- Answer the 11 questions asked

- tag 11 new bloggers

So let's see if I can come up with 11 truths about myself (I will be deliberately avoid any reference to my family) :

#1
The first miniatures I ever saw were at my cousin's when I was 8 (chaos dwarf tenderizer and a Warlord titan are the ones I remember) the infection with the hobby virus was immediate. I "looked" (couldn't read english then) at the Realm of Chaos, Wharhammer siege and armies books at age 9 (1990) and painted my firts minis in 1991.

#2
I'm super lazy in the way I always seek the most time/energy efficient results. I can spend some energy but I gotta have something in return. I'm all for energy savings at every level. This shows a lot in my painting...

#3
I cannot live without music, be it classical (especially Romantic piano works form Chopin, Litzt or Rachmaninoff), Metal, pop, electro, hip-hop, I have to have music every day.

#4
The thing in which I spend the most money is actually not models and paint but books and comics. (it can reach silly numbers really).


#5
I've discovered another passion 3 years ago which is Kendo, I've been hating sport all my life until I started it and now I truly cannot see me stop ever. Maybe it's because it's not a sport but far more...

#6
I am the most naive person I know but I'm trying to fix that...

#7
If I was granted a superpower, I would choose the ability to speak all langages or play all music instruments.

#8
I hate speed in everything but music. I cannot ski even on kid's pists because it makes me scared like mad. I cannot stand to be behind on a friend's motorcycle, I HATE rollercoasters because even the most easy ones make me want to die. I'm not trying to fix that.

#9
When I was a kid I wanted to be an engineer because they were total badasses in Jules Vernes stories, now I am an engineer just because I had better marks in maths and physics at school...

#10
Some will say I'm a maniac but I know it's just I love some things to be at a particular precise place in a particular precise way...

#11
I've been wearing the same kind of shoes (converse all stars) since I was 9...


After all these mind-blowing truths, I've been asked 11 quetsions so I will try to translate them as close as I can (I'm leaving the original questions just in case) :

1/ Qu'est-ce qui motive un grand garçon comme toi à monter, peindre et jouer avec des petits bonhommes au lieu d'avoir un hobby intelligent comme le golf ou la philatélie ?

What is the motivation for a big boy like yourself to build, paint ad play with "little men" instead of having intelligent hobbies such as Golf or Stamp collecting?

As a matter of fact I've been practicing golf a lot as a teenager but Modelling is the only hobby Iv'e kept all my life along reading comics. Modelling is the hobby that really enables me to give shape to my imagination. Reading and listening to music is what fuels my imagination, I believe I'll always need those 2 aspects in my life.

2/ Quel est ton rêve de figuriniste le plus cher (question récurrente, mais j'aime bien) ?

What is your most precious dream as a hobbyist? 

I believe this would be to create a unique model or have it made from my ideas by people I admire. Quite an achievable goal actually... Just need time and money...

3/ Qu'est-ce qui a bien pu te pousser à ouvrir un blog ?

What is the reason  which made you start a blog?

When I started blogging, I really thought there were not many bloggers about miniatures and wargames around... (what a fool I was) I thought it would be nice to have some feedback about what I do, now everything's changed for the better since I've discovered some wonderful blogs and people and  that this blog is pushing me to paint more and better.

4/ Quel est ton plat préféré ?

What's you favourite dish? 

I am a big fan of Japanese food (and culture as a matter of fact) and especially suchis and sashimis, if I had to pick a french dish, it would be "raclette" (of course there is cheese in it). Of course these 2 kinds of dishes have absolutely nothing in common but hey I just love a lot of things!

5/ Quel est le dernier livre que tu ais lu ?

What is the last book you read? 

"The gates of Hell" by Laurent Gaudé. It was absolutely brilliant. There really is everything I want to read in that book. Strong characters, great story, misteries and psychology.

6/ Quel est le film pour lequel tu as le plus regretté d'avoir claqué ton pognon au cinéma ?

What film did you most regret paying for? 

"La mort du chinois" , I paid 1€ for that one and even 1€ felt like a steal for such a piece of crap.  My friend and I were the only 2 met in the room at the end, all the others had left.

7/ Quelle est la première chose que tu fais en te levant le matin ?

What is the first thing you do when you wake up?

Well, like any man in good shape, first thing I do is have a hard-on but that does'nt count since I don't decide it, second thing I do is to be grumpy because I always wake up in a bad mood. The rest is even worse until I wash and get smething to eat..Th emost intesrting thing I do early in the morning is to put on the radio for some news or music.

8/ Lequel de tes rêves de jeunesse as-tu déjà réalisé ?

Which of your teenage dreams have you already fulfilled? 

Well, when I was a teenage boy I dreamt of making love with girls so I can say I have fulfilled this one...
I also wanted to have a sword and an armour to fight and since I'm practicing Kendo I guess we can kind of call this fulfilled...

That's totally not me

9/ Quel est le plus bel endroit que tu ais visité ?

What is the most beautiful place you've ever visited? 

Definitely Svalbard.

That's here in green for those of you who don't know what that is (sometimes called Spitzberg too)

 I went there with a friend to see some northern lights and what I got from this place was so much more than I plan to get back to there in 2015.

That's an asslessman freezing his self with a (hidden) smile

You have not seen the real beauty of nature until you've seen one of those in real...

10/ Qu'est-ce qui a le don de te mettre vraiment en rogne ?

What has the power to especially annoy you? 

Human stupidity and therefore my own...

11/ Comment te vois-tu dans 10 ans ?

How do you see yourself in 10 years? 

Just the same with fewer hair, little more belly, maybe some more kids and hopefully a better grade in Kendo and finished armies...



So here were my 11 answers to the 11 questions asked.

I have 2 final things to make (man, you really have to go through a lot with this award thingee)

The first is to name 11 bloggers I want to promote.
Since I follow about 10 times more blogs than this I'll try to keep the ones I find special and which I would love to see more of , of course I would have had more to promote but take a look at the bar on th eright side of here and you can find very nice links all the way :

The work of Shaitan by Ed Gladdis, proper old lead, brilliant paintjobs and a distinctive style, what more could you want?

Hungry Ghost's chaos squats of Khorne by Hungry Ghost, so much in there that I will leave you make your own mind about it. Expect to laugh hard and to see no compromise in this one.

The leadpile by Whiskey priest, a bit of everything, brilliantly executed. The blog I would like to be making.

The privateseternal by Private Weird, because we all love good stories, but when good stories are also nicely told with loevly miniatures and such humour...

The amateur Hour by Matt Darrow, always a pleasure to see Matt explore new things in his hobby and coming up with a very personnal output.

Goblin Lee's Miniature Blog by Goblin Lee, most of you know him and he is the guy we all want for friend. His collection is mind-blowing, his miniature knowledge is on par with it and his painting ability and humour make his blog a very enjoyable one every time.

Magpie and Old Lead by Axiom, again, it's the blog I'd want to do or maybe it's the hobbyist I'd want to be. A bit for everyone and every bit is of splendid quality.

Oldschool workshop by Suber, once again, a talented and very nice hobbyist coming up with excellent projects. I am impressed by the variety of his projects.

Realm of citadel by Don Hans, I know I'm using his name every post I write but I'm just too much of a fan. He is the definition of "making you hobby yours".

Slave of Paint by Slave of Paint, Just brilliant and inspired painting on awesome models, what more could you ask for?

Theottovonbismark by Theottovonbismark, a gold mine, no less, lots of excellent projects and ideas to pick from and a lot to learn there. To try it is to love it.

The last task being to ask 11 questions to the nominees, here are the questions :

1) How did you end up spending a lot of time/energy/money on such a hobby ?
2) What or Who had been your major influence(s) over the years ?
3) What part of your hobby would you want to explore further on ?
4) What does this hobby bring you, what makes you keep it?
5) What part of your personnality would you change if you were forced to?
6) What animal would you be?
7) Is your glass half empty, half full or twice too big?
8) What would the 10 years old you would say of the present you ?
9) What makes you really laugh ?
10) What is your top 5 songs or musics?
11) What are your top 5 reads?

Now since blogging about blogging and blogging about oneself is the closest thing you can find to an activity which supposedly makes teenage boys deaf (I condemn fould language so you are not reading "wanking" or other words of the sort on this blog) I will resume this post and will come back in the week with some modelling I've been doing for real.

For now, I'm just leaving you with some WIP shots of what I managed to paint while on ski vacations on a small desk with little light (you should have seen my wife facepalming).