TIM’S Miniatures & Musings (No: 147)

Featured by theimperfectmodeller, posted in Knights, Musings, Uncategorized

When I last posted back in July I flagged that it would most likely be some while before I would get around to posting again.  Well I’ve been true to my word!  I could list the reasons for not doing so earlier but that would be boring and pointless.  Let’s just say that life all to often got in the way of my best intentions and doubtless will continue to do so.

So, in the modelling and blogging world of TIM what have I been up to?  Well if truth be told not a great deal.  As much as possible I’ve been reading the blog posts of those I follow and very occasionally commenting when time allows.  More often than not I’ve been reduced to clicking on “like”.  What I would say is that some great content has been posted but not it seems to me with the regularity of those Covid days.  It would appear that I am not the only one who has been preoccupied by the distractions that life brings along.  Few of us it seems are posting as often as we once did.

On a more positive front I have been keeping my hand in with some figure painting from time to time.  The idea for a diorama continues to allude me along with the necessary enthusiasm to get started on one.  However, with the wet days and the dark nights upon us here in the northern hemisphere perhaps things will change and my mojo will return.  In the meanwhile I aim to keep my hand in painting little chaps such as this one which Mark Farr featured in his Footsore Miniatures news letter a while back.

Screenshot_20231021-103250_Email

In addition to the above screen shot here are a couple of further photos.

20230924_17215320230924_172211

As I said above, I won’t bore you to death with the various things I’ve been up to and that are going on these days save one which is the most relevant to the hobby.

It seems that my right hand is going the way of my late father’s which is to say the tendons are starting to tighten up which in time will prohibit my fingers for straightening out.  If it continues to deteriorate then my hand will become more claw like in years to come just as my dad’s did.  Ideal for Halloween perhaps but not so clever for painting.  Holding a brush will become much harder than it is now and the cramp which I already get from time to time will become worse too.  Typing wont be much easier either and will take even longer.  An operation might be the answer but I don’t recall it doing much for my dad and in any event it will have to get worse before the NHS will consider doing one I suspect.

I’m not entirely sure what causes it but my dad said it’s a genetic hand me down from the Vikings.  Whether that’s true or not I’ve no idea but it sounds cool.

TIM

36 thoughts on “TIM’S Miniatures & Musings (No: 147)”

  1. So sorry to hear about your hand Dave, and do hope they will be able to treat it, before it has to get too much worse, on a side note have you tried soaking it in warm salty water ? I know this can help with many afflictions in the hands.
    Excellent work on the knight, and masterful job on the complex line work.
    Commenting on blogs can be almost as time consuming as writing blog posts, especially with some being more prolific than others ! LOL

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

  2. Well that is definitely a dark knight for the dark nights! 😉 Nice work, Dave! 🙂 Sorry to hear about the trouble you’re having with your hands – getting older is no fun whatsoever! I’ve got osteoarthritis in my hands and three of my fingers are starting to bend quite noticeably so I’d better sort myself out and get on with painting stuff! Good to see you posting!

    Liked by 5 people

    Reply

    1. You’re not wrong John, getting older is a pain. Hopefully I’ve got a good many years of painting left in me, just need to sit for less time is all for now. Doesn’t sound to good for you either. As you say we’d best get on with things. That back pile looks even more daunting now! 🤣

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

  4. This is such a sweet-tragic post. I absolutely love the figure! In fact, it was your post of this type that has made me think about painting single figures. I hope to have an inspirational figure painted up before years end!

    Then I read about your affliction and I am sadden. I do hope that it mild enough that you can keep up the painting, I do so enjoy your work.

    Lastly, I also feel the same about posting post covid. In a strange way I long for those days. It felt like a trial run at retirement, and I am still looking for those long stretches of having time to do what I want without worrying what the “work week” would stymie.

    Again, good luck with the hand and looking forward to more of your work!

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

    1. Glad you like the mini Eric and I see you’ve been doing some more great stuff yourself of late. The hand issue is mild for now and the cramp only reduces the length of my painting sessions so all manageable for now. Hopefully I’ve a good few years to get on with things. 🙂🤞

      Liked by 3 people

      Reply

  5. Nice to see you pop into my feed mate. The figure is fantastic and I hope to see more. That sucks about the tendons. I just did a quick search on how to fix it and it says rest, exercise, ice, compression and less masturbating. Haha seriously though keep doing what you love until you no longer can and then when you can’t find something else that you love to do. Movie watching, walking the dog, drinking beer and live life to the absolute fullest.

    Liked by 8 people

    Reply

    1. Age sadly creeps up on us all IRO but you are bang on the money, we need to make the most of things while we can. Plenty of painting still in me mate and hopefully some more posts will follow along too. Hopefully if I follow your research I’ll be able to paint even longer. The good news is the problem is in my right hand and I masturbate with my left! 🤣🤣

      Liked by 6 people

      Reply

  7. Always good to see a post from you mate, that knight is looking excellent as ever. Shame about the hand, that’s a bummer isn’t it? I did read a book years ago about a viking who had that condition so based on this extensive medical background I’d suggest that if/when it gets too bad for regular painting your new hobby should be pillaging coastal towns.

    Liked by 6 people

    Reply

  8. Cracking knight (as always), and sorry to hear about the hand – that’s not great 🫤
    I’m assuming you’re stretching regularly etc. so I won’t state the obvious, but have you tried painting left handed?

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  9. That’s a wonderful model and I love your freehand on it. It’s something I don’t do very often, so it’s always exciting to see your minis.
    As others have said, sorry to hear about the issues with your hand. I always think “yay, retirement will finally give me the time to paint!”. But that’s not good if your body falls apart and you can’t do the things you love! Maybe they should flip it around and let us retire in our 20s and then work the hell out of us in old age!? 🤪

    Liked by 5 people

    Reply

  10. Wonderful Welsh Champion – love the checkered pattern. True on the blogs for myself as well with getting ready for conventions. Still, nice to do it and to have that camaraderie. Wishing you the best for your hand – especially for golf too.

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

  11. Congrats on your spotlight, Mr. Green! I’m sure I’ve said it before but not a single mini manufacturer has ever spotlighted my work so the fact that Footsore does it semi-regularly for you is fantastic.

    Having said that you are greatly missed as the comments here make pretty clear and the hand news is definitely a shame. I hope that you’re pleasantly surprised and find a solution. At the same time, will this “light a fire” under you and make you want to paint while you still can? What magnum opus might you have up your sleeve? If you’re going to go out any time soon (and obviously we hope that isn’t the case), I hope you’ll go out like your Viking forefathers and go out with a bang! That was my best attempt at a pep talk, not sure if it will help any but I gave it a shot anyway 🙂

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

  12. It’s great to see you back – that welshman is showing that you haven’t lost your touch. It must make you proud to get mentioned in despatches like that.

    Good luck with the hand. I guess that isn’t what you originally had in mind when thinking about your viking ancestral legacy.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  13. Its great to see that you are still getting a bit of painting in, and as normal aa splendid job!
    Sorry to hear about the hand situation, I recall that you said you had started to get a bit of cramp in it some time ago when you painted for too long. Hopefully some of the treatments they have will work better for you than they did your farther.
    Alternately you could ask IRO to convert you a new hand out of some orc bits, I’m sure he would be up the the challenge!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  14. Sorry to hear about your hands. My father developed the same problem with his hands in his 60s. He had the surgery which helped some, but even after that the problem returned. It didn’t seem to slow him down so let’s hope it doesn’t for you as well.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  15. Wow mate that doesn’t sound good,I had a lot of body work done but that could all be fixed.
    I did have a strange problem with my middle fingers not straightening but, they said to wear splint on them but being slack I gave them up and then the y fixed themselves up ,weird.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

Leave a comment