Good morning/afternoon/evening everyone!
You may have noticed* I haven't updated the blog for a little while. Don't worry, there hasn't been any great crisis, I just needed some time off from it. I have to admit I have struggled with motivation to get on with writing. I was struggling to come up with content to fill the pages in my schedule, and that was beginning get me down. It was starting to feel like a chore so I needed to regroup and refocus for a bit and I knew the best thing to do was to step aside for a while. I'd only meant to take a break for a few weeks but that expanded into months. However, I knew the time would come when I would be ready to start it up again. That time is now.
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| I've been told it's a good look for me... |
I've been very lucky in that, so far, I have been relatively unaffected by the global Covid crisis. My Real World Job, as a night care support worker, has been business as usual and, as The Better Half does the same job, our daily routine has gone on pretty much as it was before this whole calamity kicked off. Apart from minor changes to our going out habits (we didn't have that much of a social life to lose, but I think I'm actually going for more walks than I ever have...) we have plodded on pretty much as we always have. Like I said, we've been very lucky. I have noticed it's started to get to me a little bit, though, not being able to go shopping, have a pint or visit my friends. Lockdown fever has skirted the edges of our lives and we're not immune to the need to return to "normal" Still, I can't complain. We're healthy (so far), work has been unaffected and we've coped with the changes. Many others have not been so lucky and I really do feel for those whose lives have been seriously affected by all this. I have friends and colleagues who have lost loved ones, suffered issues with their jobs, been left high and dry by the lockdowns or have simply had to cope with a year of terrible upheaval without the sort of support networks that some have had and my heart goes out to them.
There are those who have been able to turn this situation into a chance to improve themselves, and I take my hat off to them. In the hobby world, many have managed to turn their new-found extra free time into a chance to catch up with their painting. Seeing all these new armies and display pieces pop up has caused a mixture of almost equal parts admiration, inspiration and frustration. I've barely been able to maintain the status quo in terms of my productivity. Moving house at the ned of the summer also put a big dent in my work schedule for a couple of months.
It's not all doom and gloom, though. For the first time in years I actually have a proper room in which to do my work and, although I still don't have it organised and laid out entirely to my satisfaction, I am putting my new workspace to good use. For the first time in far, far too long I have started to get some commission painting done. It's been such a relief to finally get back to trying to make some inroads into the mountainous backlog of work that I have to get through. Jobs that have been languishing in my commission drawer for years are finally getting completed. The backlog of work has weighed particularly heavily on me, as I hate to let people down but I've been doing exactly that for far too long. I don't really hold with the idea of making new year's resolutions but I have set myself the goal that, by the end of this year, I want to have caught up with all my backlog of work. I want that drawer empty by this time next year.
Working on that backlog means that I have a number of painting articles ready to go so I'll be sharing those with you over the coming weeks. Hopefully, I've got enough articles finished (and half-finished) to mean that I can maintain a weekly schedule of posts going forward. So, you'll be seeing a new post from me every Monday night (GMT) from now on.
At least, that's the plan.
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| Wise words from a wise man... |
We'll see how things go... The blog has always been an organic thing, and I'm still figuring out what I'm doing with it. I'm aiming for a decent mix ofnarticles on my painting (both commission work and my own hobby projects) as well as reviewsnof some of the stuff I buy and use. I would love to hear your feedback so, if you have any comments or suggestions, please let me know. In the meantime, I'm also going to try and be a bit more active on the old social medias so, if you fancy it, have a look at my pages on Facebook, Twitter or Tumblr. I'm also planning on updating my galleries on various arty groups like DeviantArt, but more on that another time.
Right, that's enough witterin on from me for now. Next week I'll be looking at the new Death Guard codex and seeing how the new edition affects my developing army.
Thanks for reading!
-Stu
*At least, I hope you did...
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