Posted by Raffaele "Picster" Picca

Hey everyone!

Wow, crazy times at the moment! Two weeks ago was a very special weekend. In fact it was so special that I needed 2 weeks to regenerate and focus again to write this event coverage.

Some infos about this years show:
- Date: 09.11-11.11.2012
- Held in Monte San Savino, Toscany, Italy
- International figure painting & sculpting event & competition
- Special Guests: Alfonso GIRALDES (SPA), Diego RUINA (ITA), Alfonso DESIDERIO (ITA), Jaque Alexander GILLOIS (FRA)
- Jury: Roberto Boschian - ITA, Andrea Terzolo - ITA, Massimo Pasquali - ITA, Luca Olivieri - ITA, Andrea Iotti - ITA, Ugo Solvino - ITA, Steve Reynolds - ENG, Antonio Guardini Zapatero - SPA, Javier Gonzales - SPA, Jean Francois Pierre - FRA, Thomas David - FRA, Ben Komets - GER

So if you're somehow into miniature painting you probably know some of those names :)

It's a MUST to go there every year, my personal opinion is that this is the best figure show I've seen&been so far.

But now... for my personal report, you will notice that there are almost no figure photos, there are many other reports about monte on different blogs with lot of figure photos... this report will be a more personal view. This year we will have no videos, I brought my bigger camera and so I took some photos instead! There are a lot of photos, so sorry 56k users :)

If you're interested in other reports, check out the following links:

Cursed Monkeys report
Cursed Monkeys photos
Greengobbo report
Sergeant Blackart
Alessandro Manilii photo gallery
Matt Cexwish's photo gallery

If you want to have your report or gallery added (or removed) here, write me a mail at "Picster (at) MassiveVoodoo (dot) com"!


You can also check out our report from last year, you'll find the videos on our MassiveVoodooTV channel on Youtube!

So, here starts my report:

Me and my girlfriend startet our trip on Thursday at 4pm with a trainride to Graz/Austria to get to our friends there... almost 7 hours later we arrived and got picked up by Kurt and cruised to their little settlement of happiness. The others already waited for us and we used the rest of the night for some nice talking...

The next morning we started our tour to Monte. As always Kurt was the ultimate driver (ok sometimes his girlfriend had to take the steering wheel :) )

We packed up everything, including the special Massive Voodoo price that Robert prepared over the last days... It's an ostrich egg with mirrors... basically like a disco ball.

Kurts driving is always nice, so the hours passed and passed, out of the window there was some nice austrian landscape but soon it got dark and the hours didn't seem to pass by...








Later at around 9:30pm we arrived in Monte... but not quite in the center. We arrived at the restaurant where the opening buffet was held. There are not many things more exciting for a miniature painter than a whole restaurant full of other painters. I love this buffet :)

(That's only half the room...) Seeing so many old friends, new friends and hobbyist is always just too crazy too believe. I didn't quite had the time to get something from the buffet as there was too much to do :)

After the buffet we returned to the center of Monte San Savino, in front of the museum where the competition is held to get some "Idromele" ... and what kind of mead this is, it tastes like drinking honey and wine and vodka at the same time while having a fishermens friend in your mouth! Awesome!






After a night with some VERY good sleep we started saturday with the entry of our figures, it was a little bit complicated but next year I will make the preregistration!

We had some time to check out some of the AWESOME figure, I mean.... really AWESOME. All those incredible masterpieces one normally only knows from tiny photos on the internet stand all in front of you. Hundreds and hundreds of them... It's just crazy! The place has some really magical atmosphere...

On noon there was some nice gathering again with a good meal in a small bar. It seems that in Italy everything is about connecting people, good food and a glass of vine. Somehow suddenly the figures seem to be far, far away and everyone comes together to celebrate life :)
After this great meal we continued to check out figures, have some nice talk and stroll around in the small, lovely city of Monte.
The day was over very fast.. sitting in one of the nicest cafes worldwide (I'm sure of it!)... seeing new stuff here and there. Time just flew by.
This evening was a little bit more relaxed, we searched ourself a nice pizzeria in Monte where we eat some delicious italian pizze and met more and more painters :)

Later that night we were brought to the western pub again.. this is just such a crazy place! I have no words, but only some leaked photos that can get me killed :D

So, some hours later we woke up again. Another nice day to come!
Again I found some minutes to check out minis, have some nice talk and wait for the award ceremony.

After some time that felt for me like 5 minutes the award ceremony started and everyone was gathering in the small theater that is used for this part of the show.
So... this are all of my photos... almost! I told you we had a special Massive Voodoo price. Our personal best of show, now this is the winner:


I hope you could get an impression of the event. Now for some last words.

THANKS, thanks to everyone that was there, thanks to everyone who made this weekend what it was. Such a community is unbelievable! I am looking forward to come again next year and see all of you again and I hope there will be even more people!

Now some special thanks:
My (now) fiancé Anci: For beeing the best partner in my life I can imagine!
Kurt & Sandra: Thanks for driving, without you it wouldn't be possible for me to come to Monte :(
And thaaaaaaaaaaaaaanks for the great time there!!!
Robert: Hahahahahahahahahaha!!!!
Francesco: YOU ARE AWESOME, I don't need to tell any details because this would have to be a complete blogpost. THANKS! Thanks to make it possible for us to come!
Luca: For giving us a warm welcome and beeing something like the Monte daddy :D
Legio: What a awesome group of people... crazy!!! It was soooo cool to see you all again!!!
Cursed Monkeys: It was so great seeing you all again! Stay as you are!
Ben & Matt: It was nice seeing you again monkey brothers :D
Valerie: It is always such a pleasure seeing you, especially in Monte.
Alfonso & Diego: You know why,... because of all the nice talk and mindset you have!
José: Thanks for the nice words on sunday, it really motivated me :)
Raffaele: For all the nice talk and the GREAT addition to my rose collection :)
Fausto: Come to munich man! And thanks for the cool dog&frog mini, we will buy another cabinet in the studio to make some place for it!
Fabrizio R.: When you smile I have to smile too, it was great to see you again!
Frank: Thanks for the nice talk and the nice gift! It was great seeing you again in Monte
And for sure EVERYONE I did forget here... don't take it personal, it was just way too much talking for one weekend :(

So hope you liked this report.... phew it was quite long!
Raffa