Review - BÄM²-Painting Class, Blumberg-Achdorf

Posted by Raffaele "Picster" Picca

Wow, what a weekend! A really though job writing it down, but I will try anyway ;)

I want to thank some people before starting the report:
Vlado for the big help in the organisation of everything. Without you, a vetaran in the organisation of classes, this event would never have taken place!

Haris for the great cooking and talks, you're a real pro in the kitchen, a joy for my taste buds :)

Achim for the driving and nice talks. It was a real joy to be in your car, feeling safe at any time and not needing to drive myself home after a teaching on a painting class is a real relaxation.

And for sure my bro Roman for, well, just everything :)




We started our trip to Blumberg-Achdorf on Friday by getting picked up by Achim, he is a real well trained car driver doing hundred-thousands of kilometers every year by car, so the ride was really relaxed, the perfect start for a weekend.

Arriving in Blumberg was nice as always, everything was already prepared by Vlado and so the painted class started, just like planned, at 6pm.

Roman and I were pretty nervous as this was the second edition of our BÄM² painting class, we already learned much at the first one and so we changed some thing for the second class.

We started the class with a round of introductions, sharing painting experiences since the beginners class, how many projects one did after the first class or if he did paint at all. We talked about expectations of the BÄM class and it was good to get known to each other again.



We continued with some color theory, continuing to choice of colors, saturation, brightness, colors schemes and other stuff intensifying some of the beginner class theory.



Everyone received a Brekk bust (sculpted by me and aviable at Forged Monkey) and a wooden bust socket by Sockelmacher.
Brekk is a perfect training subject, he has skin, leather, metal and clothing, so the most common materials on miniatures are all covered. He also has large and small areas so techniques can be tested and improved. The busts got prepared and basecoated before the meal was ready.

It was time to grab some food, Haris already prepared a nice meal for everyone. Spaghetti Bolognese, real good ones.... yummy! The food and sleeping place was included in the price, that's why it was named BÄM² Deluxe ;)

After some taste buds pampering, everyone started developing a color scheme for his bust and started painting the basic colors on the bust.

The group was great and everyone had some good laughs while doing the most brainless part of the weekend. After everyone finished painting his basic colors, we finished the work for this day and moved to the chillout basement, having some beers and talk. Thanks everyone for the nice time! :)

After a rather short night, the day started at 8am to grab some nice breakfast Haris prepared. Scrambled eggs with bacon, sausages, nutella, buns and coffee the perfect start in the day was done and the participants gatered in the class room to start with the next part of the work.

Brekks started to get a first hints of shadow and light. Everyone was working very concentrated while Roman and I were walking around, giving improvement tips and feedback. Whenever someone had a problem we tried to solve it and be aviable for as much feedback as possible.

Part by part got more attention and by noon, just before meal, most of the participants finished the dublet so far.
Haris prepared some nice noodle soup with vegetables, a very wise decision as he knew what was prepared for dinner ;)

We continued with the leather cap introducing a easy way to paint leather with a lot of texture.
Roman and I had a lot to do, giving feedback while painting the participants transport boxes ;)
Many had brought wooden transport boxes and when I asked the participants to write some nice words or drawings on my box, the thing somehow escalated and Roman and I had to do the same on many boxes ;)

Many people brought some of their works to share them with others, so there was a little display for finished figures, too.

Dinner was a real joy. Good german food with dumplings, rissole, red cabbage and a nice mushroom sauce. Hmmmmmmmmmm yummy! Everyones belly was stuffed to the max and so we all needed some time to focus again on the painting ;)

We continued with the face and as the time go by, everyone was getting sleepier and sleepier. We finished the class for saturday and had some nice talk in the basement and enjoyed the selfmade mead by Alex (Metsiederei Eckert - Great stuff!).

The next morning, breakfast was a godsend, giving powers for the last day of the painting class.

This day was started with a practical lesson for painting eyes and giving the big face some color hues to make it more interesting. Everyone was experimenting with colors and trying to find some nice hues for their faces. Painting the eyes was challenging as always, but our participants really pulled of some nice eyes, a real joy to see.

The next part were the metallic parts on the figure. We gave a practical lesson again and everyone was let loose to create some nice metals on the chainmail and helmet of the bust.

Time was passing by very fast as we were drawing on more boxes and answering questions and walking through the room, checking out everyones work.

Next lesson was on freehand techniques and brush positioning. A more advanced lesson that we expected not many pupils make use of on their busts. Anyway some people tried out the learned stuff and we were excited to see some freehands :)

Last but not least, as the painting class slowly was getting closer to end, Roman showed how to bring out some of the details. A step that was somehow showed to late. Next time we will do this earlier.

As the day was over, we had to clean the house. As everyone was helping very, very much, this happened in no time and we were very happy to have such a superb group. Really awesome people this time!

I really hope everyone was driving home with a result that makes him happy. It was a great weekend for our part, we had a lot of fun and we saw a lot of improvements. For many participants it was very unusual to paint that much and we were happy that everyone did very well with this though job ;)

It was a real brekkalicious weekend and we hope to see you again soon and the most important part: keep practicing and painting at home!

Best wishes,
Raffa