The Drop Off

I dropped off the map again for over a week. When I say I've committed to posting every Monday and Thursday, I mean it. If I'm not keeping up with my posts, it means I'm not keeping up with a big part of my personal happiness. I become, what I call, "pangry" just like "hangry" = hungry + angry. "Pangry" is a state when I'm unable or unwilling to paint and I'm, frankly, insufferable-- and I pride myself on being a very nice person. Currently, I have a lot of change going on in my life and last night I broke down and escaped to my painting table. 

I'm still searching for personal peace & balance. I've started a new early morning workout program 3-4 times per week with more personal accountability. Now that my metabolism is starting to function properly, I wake up starving and cranky. So the Other Half (we'll call him O.H. from now on) sent me a link to an "angry, motivational workout song" by Rob Bailey with explicit lyrics like "I kill 'cause I'm hungry" and "Gonna carry this s--- on my f---ing back". When paired with this random picture of a baby bunny wearing a backpack, it makes me smile every time. 

Other than that, I've been traveling for work and to visit family in Dallas, Houston, Austin and Little Rock. While my new job will be less travel for me in the long run, it hasn't shown signs of slowing down just yet. 

I also snapped this picture during one of my road travels-- my new favorite accidental billboard combination:

Now back to painting! 

Last night I was all over the place once I sat down at my painting table. My painting approach was chaotic and unfocused-- very fitting considering how I was feeling at the time. However, I chose to embrace the fact that I was unwilling to make decisions on what to paint, how to paint it, and in which order. I painted thin  layers of skin color on Euterpe, the eyes of my barbarian woman Janna, the skin and purple cloak on the handless Elori miniature I love (I don't know when or how her scythe hand broke off but I'm painting her anyway), and very simple base coats of bright red on a Reptus Skullbreaker. Now that I hopefully have that out of my system, I'd like to finish one of these miniatures in the next week. It's too soon to say which one it will be. I'd like to bet on it being Janna, but you just never know!

My First Hero Crate

My sister bought me a three month subscription to Hero Crate for Christmas. Surprisingly, I'd never heard of it before. Basically, Hero Crate is a monthly bundle of themed stuff centered around a mystery geeky icon– and you don't know what the theme will be until your crate arrives! Each box has an "Epic Shirt" and mystery items, which could be anything from buttons, stickers, mugs, action figures, comic books, etc. I love it! Here are a few examples of previous Hero Crates. While I'm not a fan of every themed hero (I think I'm the only one who doesn't like The Hulk), I love collecting stuff and hey, who doesn't love an awesome T-shirt, right? The January box is Hellboy-themed and came with a shirt, two comics, and a pack of 3 action figures:

Star Wars Legos

The fact that I like to collect geeky things is common knowledge in my family. While they're supportive of my hobbies, I know they think I'm downright weird sometimes. The geekiest thing anyone in my family owns is my dad's Collector's Edition boxed set of the original Star Wars Trilogy in VHS. Yep, VHS– which dates it back to the 80s. That being said, my sister finding Hero Crate is pretty awesome– especially since my sister and I are fairly opposite. She usually steps out the door with perfect hair and makeup with stylishly manicured nails wearing something from Nordstrom. I step out in cut off sweatpants and a Dr. Who shirt I bought on Teefury.com. In fact, the other week we were in a Lego store. Heads are turning in my sister's direction and she looks uncomfortable but is politely patient. I pick out a Star Wars X-Wing and a Tie Fighter kit and ask, "Which one should I get?" and she shrugs and says, "Um, I dunno. They're both cool I guess". So I bought both. I think this is a common problem with me– when faced with a decision, especially when choosing between miniatures, I'm like the little girl in the "Why Not Both?" meme. That would explain where all my money goes. 

Speaking of monetary investments, it's about time I started one of the Darksword Kickstarter miniatures. While I'll be finishing my experiment with gold NMM, I'd like to choose one to paint. I'll narrow it down in the next two days and do a #SurveySaturday on my @Mocha_Minis account in the morning before I start painting. Sometimes, I just need more opinions– especially when I've been staring at my choices for far too long! Ah, decisions, decisions.

Restart Day

In January, I lost my momentum. I've been sick on-and-off since the last week of December and I'm finally feeling better. At first, I was ill with a really bad virus that had me coughing and choking for two weeks and then suffered through a sinus infection. The last three weeks have been cold and rainy and I've been traveling weekly in my new job that's based in another city– temporary but still taxing. I painted only once or twice during that time and I admit, I've fallen behind on prompt blog posts. I became a bit depressed and I just wasn't excited about anything I was painting. I left my desk messy and uninviting. I've spent the last few weekends curled up on the couch & binge-watched 3-4 complete series of anime. And today, the sun came out– both literally & figuratively. Today is my Restart Day.

What's a Restart Day? It's basically my time to shed my negative thinking and focus on my own happiness. These days start with me sipping a cup of hot coffee outside in the morning sunshine while I enjoy the peace & quiet. I like to set my intentions for the day so I don't get distracted or fall victim to laziness. Today, I've committed to cleaning my desk and making it once again an inviting place where I want to spend time. I just signed up for Spotify so I'll have no shortage of good music to listen to. I lit a clean-smelling aromatherapy candle (one of my favorite painting rituals) and I'm going to start a new miniature today. One thing I've noticed is that when I'm not excited about painting, it means I need to try something new. Eventually, I'll come back around and finish the miniature that I temporarily put aside– though sometimes it takes longer (like Ursula who sat on the "Shelf of Shame" for two years before having her metal armor painted). 

I expect I'll soon have some "after" pictures to show– both of my clean desk and my new miniature project!

Before

After