Climbing the Lead Mountain

            

Lead Mountain,Colorado

 

Sometimes, like most people in this hobby, I lose my mojo. Sometimes it happens when I am between projects, but more often, it happens when I have so much to do, I can’t decide which project to prioritize. At such times I tend to spend too long pondering options and then when I actually start putting paint to brush, I end up rushing and making mistakes or I struggle to maintain focus and lose momentum.

  We have all been there. Looking up at the peak of the insurmountable Lead Mountain, reviewing the vast cities of yet unmade terrain, the multiple battalions of grey figures, yet to be brought to life, all of it weighing you down like an evil Feng Shui.

Last time this happened I was knocking out a 15mm Spanish Napoleonic army, a horde of undead for Frostgrave, some Rangers for Shadowdeep, a light box, some general purpose trees…There wasn’t enough time in the day and I wasn’t enjoying any of it. Just thinking about it was tiring. My thought process grew increasingly fuzzy and disjointed. I could foresee no end to it, just a slowly rising lead and plastic Tsunami of unsorted , half finished projects.

And then one day, I did not want to do any of it. It all seemed so laborious, somehow pointless, everything seemed a chore. I had forgotten how to enjoy the hobby. It was no longer absorbing, immersive, enjoyable fun, it was worse than going to work!

Then I found a piece I had written to myself sometime before “Lead Mountain” which helped. Yes, I have been here before and I know this funk will pass.

Lead Mountain

I guess this is a problem we all encounter from time to time. The more you think about it the bigger the problem gets. I have had nights where I can’t get to sleep for the ranks of unpainted soldiers that that line up in my mind parade in their incomplete, unpainted perfection and I find myself working out what order I am going to paint them in and which colours to do first and never lift a paint brush. So, what to do? How to break the circle? Where has my mojo gone and how can I get it back?

I have found that there are several different ways to deal with this.

Firstly, accept the fact that you will never climb your mountain of lead, you will never reach the summit, it’s not possible. You may occasionally reach a crest where you can view the top but the mountain will, of course,  grow exponentially taller. Obviously, you are going to buy that troll, that special ops unit, those cavalry that you really don’t have the time to paint, and you will buy them even if even if you can’t actually afford them.

There’s even a rule, a formula M=PDE x (Yoh/yorl)

Where M (Mountain of lead) equals PDE (potential disposable earnings) multiplied by Yoh = (years of hobbying) divided by yorl (years of remaining life)

Accept it, it’s a fact. Freewill is matter for affairs of the heart and religious beliefs, it does not get a look in where this hobby is concerned.

So ...take a good hard look at the “pile of shame” on your desk/side board/bookshelf. Then, clear them away. Stop those rows of little beady eyes from staring at you. This is Feng Shui. Clear your work area, tidy up, sort, file and box. Then do something completely different. Read a book, it doesn’t have to be hobby related, go for a bike ride, watch a film, go fishing, bake some bread. Reassure yourself that the world will not change because you have not painted some figures!

Your Mountain will still be there when you return to it, even it’s not for a decade. Last year, I  painted some minfig Nappies, found in a shoe box in the attic , that I bought in 1980! Not so much Lead mountaineering as lead mining!

When you come back to it, try something different.

If the block is painting figures, then build a terrain piece or try painting a bust.

Try a globe!

 Find a tutorial and try a new style, Object Source Lighting or Non-Metallic Metals for example. Improve how you do your hobby. 

 

 Expensive brushes are worth the extra outlay and can give you a lift if you are not used to them, a wet pallet will change everything you do, if you haven’t tried it before. Buy a glaze medium and develop that particular technique. If it’s new to you, it will raise your painting to a new level

 

My first attempt at OSL

If you are batch painting then reward yourself with a striking command figure, a standard bearer, a small set-piece or vignette. Or from a different perspective, if you are, stuck on some delicate detail on a prized rare figure, slop out the khaki and a bucket of Agrax and batch paint some zombies. Or carve up a bit of EPS and make something silly.

 

 

Bag End! 

 

 A terrain piece involves other skills than simply painting and can be a great way to find your focus

Something silly!

 

 

Most importantly, and this the hardest thing to do, try not to let it become an issue. The fact is, you are an addict. Face it, it’s true. You could lock all your hobby stuff away in a spare room, or the attic and be assured, it will find you again. Weeks, months, years later, it will find you. This is what you do, this is what we all do, we paint because we are, we do those figures because they are there.

They will always be there and they will always find you.

Always.

Forever.

 

 

 

 

Shields of Rohan

 I last had that "foot of the  mountain" experience a few months ago. I was not enjoying what I was painting and it felt like a real chore. I tried some different figures but I really wasnt feeling it. I thought I might knock up a building but couldnt decide on what to build. 

Then I saw an article about the nature of Tolkien's writing, how it at times takes on the style of a medieval chronicler. I found another article that led on from it with examples. Next I had the "Return of the King" open and read again the wonderful words and felt the emotion I always feel at the passing of Theoden. 

Inspired, I sat and and painted some Rohirrim shields, a short, do-able project, an instant gratification.I painted them one a time, searching the net for different images and as usual, after looking at several dozen, not using any of them and creating something original. That may have been almost a year ago. Last week I finished the figures that will wear them and the making and painting of them shall form my next blog.