Leveling Up.

As this blurry phone pic might show, I gots bling. But this time its national bling.

I entered Totem Hunter in the Privateer Press P3 Grandmaster paint competition and was awarded a silver token for my efforts. As the name implies it's the award level between Gold and Bronze. The competition this year was changed to a "European" format in which each piece is rated on it's own merit. So in a category containing 30 entries there may be 4 golds, 7 silvers, 15 bronzes, and 4 non-medal winners. The overall best is chosen from the gold medalists and the Best of Show is chosen from that lot of all the categories.

So what this shiney bit of metal means for me is that I'm on the right track. I'm neither the best nor the worst, but among the (judging from the other entrants) very talented painters competing in the competition with the potential to reach that next level. I walk away with some pride knowing that my efforts have not been in vain and that I have something to look forward to in the future.

Speaking of phenomenally talented painters, I'd like to take a few moments to give a huge shout-out and thanks to my amazing teachers this year.

I've already introduced you to Marike Reimer and Zach Lanier (who is now up to 16 Golden Demons). What I haven't shared with you is that I was competing against BOTH of them in the Grandmasters lol. Zach was next to me when we were picking up our entries on Sunday and apparently he did better than I but still didn't bring home Best of Show. I don't yet know who did but I'm eager to find out when the results are posted in No Quarter Magazine in a couple months.

My other teachers were no less amazing. On Saturday I had the honor of meeting Mathieu Fontaine who did some amazing things with an air brush, making my desire to own one that much harder to silence. And finally I met the legendary Joe Orteza, the man who sculpted the Adepticon skull as well as some other projects you'd drool over. Joe doesn't have a dedicated page other than Facebook but if you google him you'll see some truly jaw-dropping stuff. His contribution to the Primarch Project from Chicago GD 2007 alone is worth a few hours study. In 2 hours he taught me to do some things with green stuff I never thought I'd manage (like a length of chain. Turns out it's really pretty easy!)

In summary, the highpoint of this year's GenCon was of course spending some much-needed away time with the wife. Also high on the list is being told by Ron Kruzie, Studio Director for Privateer Press, that he had never really liked the Totem Hunter model until he saw mine. I'll carry that warm and fuzzy feeling for a while, and I'll try not to be a jerk about it.

Intimidated by a Slip of a Girl.

This is Marike Reimer. You can find her website here, and I urge you to check her out (her work, guys!)

She will be one of my teachers at this years GenCon Indy. For the second year in a row I am forgoing playing anything (I know, it's a game con) in favor of shelling out moderate amounts of cash in an effort to improve my painting skills. With the help of Marike and Zach Lanier (who I took a course with last year and who had at that time earned 14 Golden Demons, with 11 being Gold or Silver. I actually got to hold his Commissar Yarrick. I'll wait for the childish titters to cease before I continue.), and others of their ilk I hope to raise myself up from local acclaim to maybe regionally acknowledged. Eventually I'd even like to teach these classes myself. I'd also like to be served bloody Prime Rib by my Victoria's Secret harem girls. I believe in dreaming big.

But here's my big dilemma. Marike won some pretty big trophies in the P3 Masterclass competition in 2008, and in her interview in No Quarter Magazine (yes, she has been INTERVIEWED by a gaming mag that I read.), she proclaimed that she'd been painting for (wait for it).... SIX YEARS.

Tomorrow I turn 42. I started painting in junior high. That means I have been painting minis longer than she has been alive (or pretty darned close). Yet while I'm good, I'm not even within shouting-with-a-bullhorn distance of her skills. So yeah, I'm a little intimidated. Okay, I'm a lot intimidated.

But I'm not scared. If anything this churning in my guts is making me want to chain myself to that table until she takes one of MY classes (while my lovely lingerie models rub my shoulders and bring me dewy tall glasses of lemonade freshly squeezed from between their all-natural bosoms of ampleness +5. Again, I dream big. Sue me.)

So next Wednesday I'll load up a couple of works-in-progress and hit the highway to Indy. It could be the most important and meaningful trip of my life. Or it could be another 4 days of the best non-gaming in the mid-west. Whatever happens, I'm gonna stare that pretty little gal in the eye and freehand my ass off.

Excelsior!