The calm before the excitement.

 Hello and welcome to Inso's World again.

Since the last post, things have been a little slow on all fronts. The consistently miserable weather has had quite a negative effect on my mood and motivation so I am hoping that things will get fully back up to speed soon.

With that out of the way, April is very much a month for getting ready for a few big events...

First, the charity shop where I work, has been closed for refurbishment but is set to reopen in a couple of weeks and that will mean a thorough clean of the premises, a restock of the shelves and a time for learning the new layout and equipment. As a result, I am going to have to pop in and have a good look around before taking the helm on the 25th April... and I am looking forward to the start of the next chapter.

Next, we have the Flora Day preparations and celebrations. It'll start with the band practice parade on the first of May (07:00hrs and 19:00hrs), then there will be all of the town preparations on the seventh of May (the town is transformed with hanging flowers, garlands and banners) with the usual "Flora-Eve" celebrations and finally, on the eighth of May, it will be Flora Day (my favourite day of the year). I have mentioned it before but Flora Day is a massive Helstonian tradition where the town is filled with dance, music and festivities. There are four main dances and an additional pagan dance called the Hal-An-Tow. I start the day with a pint of ale and a pasty (followed by a bacon roll) at around 06:45hrs and stay out for the day; sharing great times with friends, family and newcomers. I can't wait.

THEN... My daughter is getting married in the same week as Flora Day! AS a result, I have a lot of family coming to visit and some will be staying for Flora Day as well... not to mention the planned celebration for my daughter's wedding! 

So there is a LOT for me to look forward to in the coming weeks... and an awful lot of getting things to get ready too.

What about the hobby?

Well... I have done NO sculpting. Not a jot since the last post. I tried but could not muster the briefest period of motivation... so it all stopped... and I decided to give painting a go for a change. 

So what have I painted?

I have been lucky enough to receive a few bits and bobs from Chris at Macrocosm Miniatures and as a result, I was able to paint up a Priest:

Click the Pic!

I also decided to paint the concept Beastman I sculpted because I didn't really think he would be a good choice to get cast up... so I painted the green:

Click the Pic!

With no sculpting motivation and a lack of inspiration for a way forward with the Beastman project, I continued to paint and have been working on my Proxy Catachan platoon:

Click the Pix!

So far, I have two Infantry Squads, two Command Squads and a bunch of characters painted (the top pic is everything and the other three "close-ups" of the Platoon). I also have another Infantry Squad that is ready for highlights and a Heavy Weapon Squad that has a rough base-coat; waiting for the neat base-coat to be applied. That will finish this platoon and enable me to start the AK Troopers platoon; which will be a proxy for the Death Korps of Krieg (DKoK).

The DKoK platoon will be two large units of 20 Infantry in each, led by a grizzled Commissar and most probably, the Priest from the Catachan platoon. That means that I will need to convert some of the AK Troopers to fit specific roles and will need to sculpt a suitably gnarly Commissar, most likely with a massive power claw and a bionic eye... 

All I need is some motivation and enthusiasm!

Sadly, no Salute for me this year. Last year was a bit of a mixed bag, spoiled by my anxiety... great to meet people and see some of the great things but my inability to cope with the crowds cut things abruptly short and I let a few people down so when I go again, I will definitely need a chaperone for the day. This coming Saturday, I will send out psychic emanations to all my friends who are attending the show and hope that they have a cracking time... I will be scouring the web for pix and videos so I can get my fix in a safer manner.

Best of luck to everyone at Salute. It's a cracking event.

Right, that's it for this post so lets hope the weather improves, the world calms down a bit and we can get back to enjoying things again.

See you from the top of the world!