Hello and welcome...

I've finally decided to bite the proverbial bullet and to set up a blog. The intention of this is to follow the trials and tribulations of my miniatures painting.

First, a bit about myself. I've been painting up metal miniatures for about 6 years now i guess. Before that i was a 1/35th scale modeller, building mostly modern and WWII stuff. I guess that i got into miniatures painting in a roundabout way. I've always had a very keen interest in history, and especially for the lesser known areas. A couple of years ago I was reading a book on Frederick the Great, and while looking around online for info about the Seven Years War, I stumbled upon the 'Kapti Fusiliers' website. Browsing through the pictures of the superbly painted 28mm units and reading with great interest the accompaning descriptions, I decided then and there that I had to get into this hobby.

My first venture into the world of miniatures painting was with a bunch of 28mm Seven Years War Prussians and British from Front Rank. When I received little box I must say i was as excited as a school kid. I dusted off the old painting box and set to work on them with the old humbrol enamels. Since then, the SYW guys have gone to ebay land and i've been through several half-finished projects - which I gather isn't that uncommon of a problem. Along the way i like to think that both my own skill and my appreciation of others painting has increased. One thing that I've gathered from my figure painting 'journey' is that it is a constant learning experience, albeit a very enjoyable one.

Recently on the Steve Dean forum there was a thread which asked to rate your best painting purchases which made me think about how i've gon about attempting to improve my painting style. I'd have to say that the two things which have helped me most are practice and observing the work of others. I know that it's cliched, but there really is no substitute for sitting down with a figure and a brush and experimenting with different techniques, or spending a bit of time looking over figures which grab your eye.
I have to say that the friendly guys over on the Steve Dean forum have also been a great help. The encouragement, to say nothing of the tips, colour recipes, and general advice i've gleaned from the SD forum, along with the ubiquitous TMP, could fill a dozen volumes. I'd just like to say thanks to everyone who has helped out - from Kev Dallimore for writing his superb painting guide (my first real intro to serious painitng), to the plethora of TMPers who provide lightning fast responses to the most obscure of uniform queries.

Anyway, on with the show.