2011 musings, and some painted miniatures

First up we have the finished Slayer Lord from last week's post:

I painted a test figure this evening for a High Elf commission. The color scheme is a sea-foam green and deep blue (GW Scaly Green and Regal Blue, each highlighted with white).

Well, 2011 is nearly over. Time has really flown by. It seems like just yesterday I started painting miniatures. In fact, it was about this time, 10 years ago, that I took up this hobby. I remember stumbling upon it at a local game store where I bought my Magic: the Gathering cards. I never thought something like this would ever end up making such a difference in my life. Reflecting back on everything that I have gained from these little metal toy soldiers really shocks me. It has made me a better painter. I learned a wealth of information about commissions and promoting myself as an artist. I have sustained a living doing something that I love. I have met countless incredible people in the gaming community. I could go on and on... but the bottom line is that all of this was possible with this hobby that I discovered by chance.

Anyway, I digress. I've been reflecting on everything that I have done in the past 350-odd days, and I decided to make a list of some of the accomplishments. In 2011 I:

-Graduated from college, with a 3.97 gpa (if I recall correctly I got one A- and one B+).
-I worked my ass off while going to college (15-18 credit hours per semester), painting miniatures to pay the bills, and I have remained debt-free.
-In April I drove to Sedona and painted landscapes for 3 days. I got some good paintings out of the trip and a load of great photos (my computer crashed and I lost them, however). I absolutely love landscape painting, and this trip among some other things really helped guide my oil paintings in the right direction.
-In June, I drove to Wisconsin for a wood kiln firing/interview for a pottery apprenticeship, and it was one of the most enjoyable things I have ever done. Between this trip and great ceramics professors at ASU I developed a really strong passion for pottery. I honestly can't make up my mind on what I want to go to grad school for... painting or ceramics.
-I decided that I am going to go to grad school. I don't have very much money but I won't let the cost of tuition hinder me. I'll just have to work a little harder and get some loans. The deadlines are in January, I believe, so I need to get on top of the application process right away.
-I made a website for my oil painting. (www.msterbenz.com) and I have taken that a lot more seriously.
-I became part of a brand new studio/gallery in Tempe, and I have started selling my oil paintings.
-Most of all, I have come to realize what my dreams are. Fine art (both oil painting and ceramics) is were I am headed. I want to teach college, and I need to go to grad school for that.

And as for miniatures, there was a thread on the CMON forums for keeping track of the year's painted figures. I think it's a great idea and I'm glad I posted in the thread. Here's the long list, copied from the forum:


6 Warmachine Cygnar Rangers
1 Cygnar tiny jack.
7 Warmachine Cygnar something or others. Gun mages? Not sure.
1 Space Wolves dreadnought.
1 Space Wolf Scout (test model for army)
1 FW Bloodthirster (Jan 23)

(UPDATE 7/17/11)
1 warmachine cygnar large jack
5 misc warmachine figs (don't know the names)
165 Skaven clanrats
15 gutter runners
2 warp lightning cannons
5 warlock engineers
1 grey seer
4 Skaven weapon teams
1 BA death company dread
1 BA librarian dread
5 BA terminators
1 sanguinary priest
5 ultramarines
10 night goblins
5 grey knight terminators
10 grey knight purifiers

(UPDATE 7/20/11)
1 forge world lord of change

(UPDATE 7/22/11)
1 Crowe
1 Draigo
1 GK Razorback
1 GK Dreadnought

(UPDATE 7/27/2011)
1 GK Dreadknight

(UPDATE 8/12/2011)

90 Skaven Clanrats
10 Giant Rats
2 Packmasters
2 Warpfire Throwers

(UPDATE 8/15/2011)
10 Blood Angels Death Company (with both sets of backpacks, magnetized)

(UPDATE 8/16/2011)
1 Grey Knight with Psycannon (Test figure for my personal army)

(UPDATE 10/12/2011)
5 LOTR army of the dead
1 Infinity Wolf guy
6 Misc Infinity figures
15 Dwarf Slayers
23 Dwarf Ironbreakers
1 Dwarf Ranger
1 Dwarf Hammerer

(UPDATE 10/28/2011)
6 Chaos Dwarfs (Greebo)
6 Hobgoblins
2 Bull Centaurs
3 Blood Bowl Tokens
1 Warmachine/Hordes Skorne Titan Bronzeback

(UPDATE 12/15/2011)
6 Warmachine/Hordes Skorne Cataphract Cetrati
1 more Warmachine/Hordes Skorne Titan
7 Misc. Skorne troops
20 Dwarf Longbeards
1 Blood Angels Sanguinor

(UPDATE 12/22/2011)
1 Dwarf Slayer Lord
1 High Elf Phoenix Guard test figure

According to my calculator that's 481 figures. All of those, besides the Skaven, were level 3 and competition quality paintjobs. I've still got another week left too. Maybe I'll get that unit of Dwarf Rangers done.


Hope everyone had a great 2011. See you next year,

-Matt