2019 has been an interesting year! I finally managed to move out of the family home in June - a full 13 months after my separation from my wife. Got myself a nice little place round the corner. It's not quite feeling 100% like home yet, but I'm almost there. I've managed to sort my mental health out too. Again, I'm not 'cured' but I'm about 400% better than I was in 2018, so I guess that's great progress. That also meant I managed to do some hobby stuff in 2019 as my poor mental state had pretty much curtailed any and all that in 2018 and to be honest for much of the preceding .two years.
I've posted more in December 2019 than in the entire of 2018. I've also done more posts in total in 2019 than in the last two years. I've managed to fully paint 26 Elves and to part-paint or fully paint 42 Orcs and 3 trolls. Quite some going especially since that lot has pretty much been done since October!! More in three months than in the last several years!
I have another 21 Orcs and 24 Elves in the painting queue, intending to complete those by March 2020 ready for my Davale Miniatures Bloody Elves Kickstarter to arrive. When that lot (about another 30 Elves) is done that will give me two good Middle Earth forces, although I do need cavalry for both. Warg riders are being assembled as we speak and I'm mulling over options for Elves.
Mike (Trouble at t' Mill) and I are also planning to pick up our Dux Brit campaign again this year so watch out for that.
I'll leave you with this. Tonight, my son, who is 11, decided he wanted us to do some drawing. He has a cousin (16 years old) who is a demon artist and who really inspired him when they met recently and as I'll do anything to get my lad off tech, I agreed. He sat down to copy Azog from the Hobbit films and Chewbacca from Star Wars while I sat down to draw out my vision of what a First Age Silmarillion Noldor Elf would actually look like. I kinda based it on what I read in The Silmarillion, the Victor Ambrus pictures from the old Tolkien Bestiary by David Day, a bit from the LoTR movies (I do like the Elf armour/clothing in those and The Hobbit films - not at all 'right', but good anyway) and a bit from what I know of Dark Ages armour. I hadn't drawn properly in years, especially not a humanoid figure that wasn't a caricature, but actually, it turned out pretty well. If only I could afford to commission a really great sculptor to do a small range like this...
Anyway, I'll leave you with the drawing and wish you all a very happy, healthy and hobby-filled 2020
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