Mr Lee's Year, 2014, in review!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

So in traditional fashion of the end of the year.. let's see what I got accomplished! I can honestly say that it was not as much as the previous years like 2013, 2012, or 2011. But since it was the year of the travelling brush, I can say that this was definitely upheld throughout the year! And I will probably be focusing more on the adventures more than anything else!

January!

With the full move to UK now behind us, and the family now ready to settle in.. this was the first month of really being relaxed in UK. For painting it was mostly to acquire new toys, and to start projects.. but a re-occurring theme this year was the lack of finishing projects. 

Scibor Zombie bust started, but still in more or less the same shape today as it was back then. 

I did receive my first pieces I ever purchases from artists as well. 

Zombiecide characters from Roman Lappat. 

Barbarian Dude from Arne Wilkins. Both helping to fill up my model cabinet!

And it was also the month that I joined the 5th-dimension crew and their painting blog as well!

I had also traveled to Berlin to attend Matt Cexwish's basing workshop. The first of many workshops that I would attend throughout the year!

February!

Here I would begin to find out about a lot of events near and close to my new home in Basingstoke!

The first being for SMOGCON!

Here I would meet people like Adam Parkhouse, editor of Portal Magazine for Wamp. And also challenge the Painting Buddha shirts with a Massive Voodoo one!

I would also run into Mat Hart who at the time was finishing off his kickstarter for Guild Ball!

I would also receive a nice surprise gift from Adam while at Smogcon in the form of the previous years Salute figure!

Overall a good month! And more projects started, but very few finished. Mostly gaming pieces here and there. 

March!

Here I would begin to dub the year as the Year of the Travelling Brush. Due in part to my plans to travel so much. And travel I did!!!!

First up would be another convention near home called Overlord. Where I would be introduced to Bolt Action, and would begin to get involved with the local club soon thereafter. 

I would also head up island to Liverpool and Manchester. Meeting John from the 5th-Dimension blog for the first time, and also attending the Fundamentals painting class with Tommie Soule in Manchester. 

 I would head back up there again to see John try to teach us how to use our Airbrushes. 

Where the legendary Strongbow technique would be invented and perfected by many within the class. 

I even took the family up to Nottingham to the EM-Con event. Which was a let down, but the trip to the Warhammer World.. was also a let down but they had beer so it was ok :) And I could now write that off my bucket list as well :D

As far as models go.. nothing really gets finished, but the Alien bust that I would tour with throughout most of 2014 would begin to come to life. And the paint splatter would be applied to him that would spark off many others using the same technique... or at least 1 other person who then immediately painted over it.. doh!

April!

Here travel would get out of control. Both with Salute and Duke happening in the same month.. it was pretty intense. It also didn't help that I took off to Germany for a while more than expected and had a small private lessons with Roman and Raffa in their studio. 

My tine display at my first real painting competition.. which would bag me a Gold for Alice in the Standard category! Hurray!

Busy busy month there.. and again not much was finished.. but many projects started once more!

May!

After so much travelling in April.. May would be a lot quieter with only a single trip up to Cambridge to visit Volomir's painting class held in conjunction with The Weekend Workshop, John. 

Though I would paint up the Ronin from Andrea that I picked up in Duke. And get it to a level that I think would be considered finished. However I would fiddle with it from time to time to correct minor things on it or test new things like the color aspects from above. 

June!

Here we would go on another rollercoaster of trips though!

My family from Canada would arrive and we would take off to Scotland for a week to explore the local scenery there along with a variety of castles and whiskeys. 

A quick jaunt up to a local show called Valhalla where I would see more of the locals and their games here in UK. And spend more money on pieces that may or may not see the light of day anytime soon. 

And I would also visit Germany, again, for another painting class. This time with Fernando Ruiz who was head of H&V at the time. 

And Fernando, along with the rest of us, just prayed that the flies would leave us alone long enough to paint!

I would also finish the Alien bust at this point. Or until I get some more hints at Euro later in the year. I would kick off the building of my Forged Hope piece. And we would also see the start of the 5th-dimension painting contest as well. 

July!

More trips? Seriously?? Travelling brush indeed!

Starting it off with a trip down to the Tank Museum with Junior to see tanks, and some other bits and bobs there!

I would also take Junior up to Oundle for the Figureworld Model Show. Not a competition so much as a model show to show off the local wares and see what people are up to with their models! Great catch up with Mat from Guild Ball, some of the Platoon Britannia boys, and others all over!

And another trip up island to Liverpool to see and meet Alfonso Giraldes aka Banshee for the first but definitely not the last time for his Skin painting class. 

Oh and I finished the Monkey bust from Giorgios in greece as well. 

August!

A bit of a quiet month for me. The family would take off to Turkey, while I would head to... yup. Germany once more. This time for the inaugural opening of Roman's first basing class!

Where I would build, paint, and then showcase this piece for the remainder of the year. Gaining me a few awards for it in that time as well. Not bad for 3-4 days worth of work eh? :D

I would also finish a second model, the Forged Hope piece! Yes.. 2 models in the same month! Who knew!!!!

September!

First and foremost.. the blog and my handle got its official mascot! Although another version had been created this really captured a more generic version from the original, and also was my first time working on the creation of an idea from start to finish. Great job from Massive Voodoo on this and to go through the whole process with me on it!

I would also head up to Cambridge for a day after the family returned from Turkey to visit the painting class that was being held. Actually there were 2.. Banshee showing NMM, and John showing the fundamentals of painting to new painters. 

I would also finish another bust from a previous class. The Scottish Crusader. Just in time for our roadtrip to Euro Militaire where my long time buddy from Turkey, Burak, would join me. 

October!

Here I would attempt to get Roman's exchange model/dio finished in time for Scale Model Show in the Netherlands, but that didn't turn out so well. And I would go on to make a second version after SMC. 

And I would be taking the advice and critiques from Euro to my display pieces right before SMC. Which in the end I am no sure if they helped or hindered me for that event but I did snag some more medals, but more importantly got to hang out with a few more old friends from Germany!

I would also head back to Liverpool for a weathering masterclass with John once more!

November!

Things begin to quiet down here in November as the winter time begins to approach. 

Actually not really considering that I flew off to Italy for the Monte San Savino show and met up with even more amazing artists!

So many great models shown off here.. heck.. I think I was standing awkwardly beside one at some point ;) 

My blog would also hit 600 posts in this month and I would do another artist showcase of Max Betterman. Half because he is a great artist who gave me a lot of input at Monte, and half cause he gave me some cool models while at Monte ;) 

Oh and I would head off to Sweden to meet up with Burak where much was done, and little was remembered. But the scars and bruises will remind us for months/years to come!

Ah.. good times.. oh and some Scotsmen from SAGA would get painted.. 

December!

And finally the last month of the year. Where I literally did very little except prep for Christmas, not travel ( shocking I know! ), and finished up a few projects around the studio. 

I would paint an entry for the first round of the Great Portal Paint off for Adam. 

I would build a Star Wars game board for my son.. 

Oh and paint up a figure from the Fallen Frontier game.. which is thanks to Elias for the opportunity for that to do so. 

And of course many reviews of Dwarf busts.. more on that in the new year :) 

And that is about it! Quite the year of travels, activities, and friends! One that has brought me a megaton of memories and ideas for what to do for next year! Which hopefully will be all about focus and trying to get the most out of all the opportunities that exist out there. 

As for a final model count for the year.. which is kind of a tradition.. I don't know really.. I would say it would be around 400 or so.. since I painted up the Japanese Bolt Action forces, some IG Scots, and the SAGA Scotsmen. Aside from that, it was all about the showcase, display pieces that I put all my focus. 

Next year I think it will be even more focused on the showcase pieces and seeing what I can do to push myself to new heights with everything that I learned this past year! Best of luck for everyone here, and thanks to everyone for following along on my journey this past year!