I adore exploring cities. I adore good art. I adore when I can combine those two joys.
You know, thinking on it… maybe I should start a tour company where I take people around to see interesting street art… or maybe make a book of the interesting street art that I’ve seen? I mean, I can only think of fifty million similar books, so it’s got to be a good market… right?
Yeah no. I’m just going to continue enjoying exploring, enjoying the beauty, and enjoying the raw and amazing creativity that people have.
All the cities I visited on the Grand Adventure had amazing art – and Dublin is no different. Enjoy!
Driving to museums is cool and all, but you know what’s even cooler? Walking approximately 120m (just under 400ft) to an art museum! A combination Art / History museum!
Not art history, that is to say. But a museum that showcases both art and history. Cassis is a small town, okay? The town museum isn’t super extensive, just roll with it.
And… I’ll be frank, here, the museum is clearly underfunded. I’m not saying that I could do better, but… as far as town museums go, this one didn’t quite reach the benchmark of “this museum showcases at least the summary of the town’s wikipedia page”.
It was neat, though, don’t get me wrong! Just… left me wanting, in terms of actual content.
What was there, then? Well – It was two stories; the first one being some interesting artifacts that had been recovered from the Mediterranean surrounding Cassis, and the second being paintings by Jacques Troupel. The artifacts were mainly Amphorae, the types of large stoneware jugs that were used in Greek and Roman times. The paintings were mainly “fire paintings”, where Jacques would paint with flammable material, and then light it to produce the interesting flame-scoring patterns.
It was neat, definitely… but I’ll still add a quick link to Wikipedia for those of my readers interested in the more detailed history of the town.
It’s been years since I’ve put together a miniature like this… and for years, I’ve wanted to put together one of the new line of mechs that Games Workshop’s made. They’re cool, they’ve got lots of guns, and they look like they stepped right out of one of the video games I played as a pre-teen and teenager.
Now… I know they’re hard to paint right, and assembly isn’t simple either, so I took my time. I mean, I took my time choosing to buy one in the first place, didn’t I? But hey – right time and right place… when I saw that a new game shop had opened in town, I figured this’d be a great way to support a local shop AND get started on something I’ve been wanting to try!
I took my time. I watched a few youtube videos from one of the guys who paints the model on the box. I picked out colors, and reviewed what I should do in what order. I bought paints, brushes, and even 3D printed up a new base for it to match the vision I had in mind.
Then, I started in.
It started with dissassembling the big bits and pieces from the plastic sprues, and assembling the basic main subsections. For paint, Priming came first – spray painting it all before applying the main layer.
From there, I did the base coat – a rough silvery metal coloration, followed by some golden / bronze highlights. Then an oily wash, to give it a working and “real life” feel; something that was well maintained, but still walks around a battlefield… instead of something straight from a museum.
I also painted the details of the pilot – small and intricate, but that’s why I was taking my time (three months… seriously!), and using a very small brush.
With the base paint set up, came the armor panels. I painted it bone white, from the Deathwing group of the Dark Angels chapter… Space Marines, instead of Imperial Knights (Warhammer 40k stuff), but they’re the faction I used to play, and I wasn’t planning on ever gaming with this, so… I can do what I want!
With the armor painted, and the highlights completed, all that was left was the final assembly of the Knight and the baseplate it would live on. Carefully applied glue, some aged wreckage, and a small mech model that an old friend had gifted me were all applied, alongside some small trees and grass bought from another nearby hobby store.
I can’t express how proud I am of this. How thankful I am to those who taught me the skill (and patience!) to paint something this intricate… and how excited I am to finally have it ready for display!
