Moving home! Another blogging hiatus...

From the Georgian splendour of a Grade II listed building, to an 'umble Victorian terrace, these ceiling pics tell it all. But whilst it's a pretty big step down in grandeur, it's also a massive step up for us - our first! - in terms of scaling the home-ownership ladder.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, moving home (again - the second time in the last six months!!) has disrupted figure painting and model making activities, never mind blogging about it all! I have at least managed to slip in the odd inspirational war film.

A superb book! [1]

I'll be posting some film and book reviews ASAP, just so as to get some activity on this 'ere blog back up and running! Above is one of the several newly acquired books I got recently: I bought this (and James Holland's War In The West) at Topping Books in Ely, specifically to have something engaging to read as we moved into our new home.

One weird thing that I noticed, looking at my 'blogger' stats, is that there was a massive peak in views of the blog whilst I was away from it. Most odd and unexpected!? I do hope I might get traffic like that again! Especially if it leads to some more comments and interaction.

Something else both strange but pleasing was that the very weekend we moved in, March, our new home town, played host to a 1940s weekend, with a decidedly military flavour. We spent the saturday supervising the movers and getting all our stuff into the new home. And then the sunday relaxing at the show.

I don't usually post images of myself on this blog, but here I am, above, in my new 'all-purpose' khaki shirt and Panzer commander's 'crusher' cap, both bought at the March event. And below, trying on a 'Dad's Army' style Home Guard sergeant's tunic (whilst still sporting my Panzer cap!). The the latter pic was taken a few weeks later, at another '40s event, in the nearby town of Ramsey.

I have to say that this whole dressing up malarkey has suddenly grown enormously appealing to me! A lot of the people at these shows - many dressed in general 1940s civvy-street style, plus all the WWII re-enactors - looked just fab.

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NOTES:

[1] I've written a short review of this book, already posted on Amazon UK (here). I'm preparing a more in-depth review for the blog.

An Hiatus Hexplained...

Canova's classical style bust of Napoleon, at the BM.

This here blogging malarkey is both addictive and demanding. But sometimes life gets in the way!

I thought I'd better just post something - so as to post anything, really! - rather than let the blog languish altogether. So here are a few odds and ends, incidentally giving a partial explanation of why wargame and figure related business is kind of on hold for the mo'.

At present, as well as my music teaching work (it's the busy period of a new term getting underway), I'm doing some fun freelance illustration for a big name client, and I'm painting a harpsichord lid - see pic below - for my uncle, Terence Charlston, a professional classical musician and educator specialising in baroque era music. It's a totally new departure for me, and has proven to be a great experience: fun and educational (and it even brings in a helpful bob or three!).

The harpsichord lid as it is at present... a ways off finished!

I'm also posting a few pics from our visit to the venerable British Museum, where Teresa and I went to see the superb Bonaparte and the British show, on the day before it finally closed. Seeing two Eagles 'in the flesh' was quite special.

Whilst at the BM we also saw an exhibition of incredible stuff belonging to a collection from the Rothchild family. Check out the inlaid work on this ancient gunstock!

And finally... as a wee kiddie I used to make hordes of little Plasticene figures; in my early teens I even sculpted some really rather woeful Milliput ones. Now, all these years later, I intend at some point soon-ish (time and work allowing!) to have a 'proper' go.

I really enjoy Tom's videos. He's working at a larger scale than I intend to. But I learned a lot from him: thanks Tom!

The videos of American fantasy/sci-fi figure sculptor Tom Mason were educational and inspirational (thank'ee, Mr Mason). And after watching a few of his lessons on YouTube I decided to 'tool up'. The pic below shows my current arsenal of gear, ready to go...

Well, back to work!