Painting

Painting

11 August 2016

6 months is a long time in real life

I've neglected the cathartic process of blogging for many months. I thought I'd get better at life, but it continues to have me in a half nelson. Anyway, during some away time with work, now seems a good time to pick up the process again. I may as well start with some stuff that happened (or will come to happen):


  1. A big family wedding in Cyprus.
  2. Decided to sell the caravan. Currently on the market.
  3. Actively seeking to move a bit closer to a local village-within-the-city.
  4. Agreed to do a half marathon (but see below).
  5. The project I'm on in work has entered its final, frenzied few months.
  6. My wife dropped to 3 days work a week to great effect.
I'm pretty sure loads more happened than that. Something about Wales qualifying for Euro 2016 - and then proceeding to electrify a nation by getting to the semis - springs to mind. Got a proper grown up telly as well. I'm not into bling and possessions, but a decent telly is a great investment.

  • Paint x1 miniature per month. Guaranteed. No shenanigans. Just do it.
  • Cook a new vegan dish per week.
  • Do at least 6 decent mountain walks.
  • Learn to use my camera in proper manual mode and look like a pro.
  • Re-learn French (to be achieved in conjunction with painting).
  • Jog twice a week.

To address some of my previous goals as outlaid in my previous post (see above), i have managed to paint one miniature. I have continued to push boundaries with my cooking, but probably failed with one new dish a week. I've done probably one mountain walk. The camera has gone far better, and while i don't do much with it I'm beginning to get to grips with stuff. I need to keep on with that and also develop my composition skills. On the learning/re-learning French, I had a really productive period of listening to French lessons in the car, but i need to get back on them after a period of time away from it. And then the running.... This has actually happened. Or at least it has quite recently. I even agreed to a half marathon, and was of the opinion that i could manage it until even more quite recently I had a minor operation to remove my little swimmers. That put me out of action for a few weeks, and my employment has also now started to encroach on the precious work/life balance, taking me away for some days at a time. This only looks like worsening over the final few months of the project, with trips to the north of Wales for several days at a time likely to be interrupting any routine i was building up with my running partner who, incidentally, is quite apparently far fitter than me. We'd taken our runs up to a 6 mile distance not long before i had the snip, but i fear for how I'm going to get back to that quickly enough and hit a 10 mile target before the main event that's now less than 2 months away. Add to that a constant need to evacuate my bowels whenever i run, I'm in a bit of a dark place with it all. I'm going to get back on it next week and hope for the best.

Here's that miniature i painted:






5 comments:

  1. Best of luck for all those challenges ahead, having goals at short, middle an dlong term helps a lot.
    That dwarf is looking really good, it's great.
    The sense of achievement is definitely something that helps engage in a virtuous circle. ;)

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  2. Lovely job on that dwarf! Good stuff with the vegan isn and running too. I managed to evade the snip with a 'while you're in there' after our last kid :D
    I'm going through a dry patch with painting at the moment. No motivation at all. Have ordered a set of TMNT figures I've been lusting after for months. Expensive but perfect copies of the TV characters. We'll see if that restores my motivation!

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  3. Chers Asslessman - nice to have a few targets if only to remember that life ain't all about the working routine.

    Scott - you'll have to expand there mate. I'm trying to work out what you mean re the snip. And to be fair, a dry spell on the painting front for you is a wet spell for me. I've still got another close to finishing, one half done, and one started. Lame.

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  4. Well, it may have been a long time coming, but that dwarf is a real beauty. You've given him a palpable intensity.
    Good luck with your goals! They all sound doable, and I'm sure they'll make a big difference in your happiness levels.

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  5. Cheers Matthew. Of all my goals, i really eant to paint far more. I set obstacles though. Subconsciously i think. And i don't like bad results so maybe I'm over-critical, and that holds me back. Whatever it is, i need to kick it in the pants.

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