Hey guys,
last weekend the Duke of Bavaria-Contest was taking place in Ingolstadt. For me the Duke is a fixed date in my hobby-calender, as it is one of the best chances to meet with friends from around the world and having a nice time together.
Thanks to the so called "Open System" the contest is quite chilled. It means that every miniature which has a certain level of quality gets a medal. So bad feeling like jealousy and enviousness are staying outside the walls of the "Neues Schloß" in the middle of the city. Every year the Duke of Bavaria is a time of friendship and good mood.
I arrived at Wednesday in my home-by-heart, Augsburg. Thanks to Roman and Raffa, their ladies Anna and Anci, Bene, Phil, Max and Valerie the days before the contest were funny as always and they gave me back some dearly missed positive vibrations.
But there was also time for work. Wednesday till Friday we stayed in the studio and I had time to finish my projects (pictures soon to come). Beside making the last strikes with our brushes, the long anticipated artbooks arrived on Friday. It was quite a mess till they were delivered to the studio but as soon as we laid our eyes upon 1,5 tons of beautiful books we were like little children. Especially Roman and Raffa could took a relieved breath. All the months they had strived so hard, had finally worked out. Those of you who took part in the campaign will soon recieve a nice little package and I´m sure you will know then how we felt ;)
Saturday - We started early to be in Ingolstadt. After placing our minis at the contest it was time to enjoy the Duke. Having a look at all this awesome miniatures, meeting friends and having some nice chats about our hobby. Just some awesome nerd-time, this is what makes the Duke such a nice contest. But time goes by so quickly and after a nice dinner at the well-known "Anker" we made our way home. Taking some friends with us to Augsburg to enjoy the evening with beer and wine.
Sunday - the big day. It´s always some kind of excitement to find out about how the jury thought about you miniatures and which medal you will get. This year the jury did a very good job. On Saturday they had took their time and had a look at every single display in each of the categories. In my opinion especially the Fantasy Master Category was a quite tough one. There were some awesome entries and so the judges had a hard choice. I was happy for most of my friends to be successful and even I got bronce. Honestly I was a little sad for the first moments as I was expecting silver. But after one of the judges (Max, our Mexican) took his time to explain the reasons of their decision to me I see it very positive and as an inducement to work hard on my own skills. This is also one of the Duke´s positive ways: if you ask the jury, they will tell you their opinion and give so some important advice how you could improve in your style of painting.
Overall it was an cool event and I have to give a big thank you to the organisation-team. You did an awesome job and I´m looking foreward to next year in the new location!
Here are some impressions (some first pics down below):
Regards,
Peter
Thanks for this nice review of a wonderful weekend, Peter. I am sorry I did not say 'good bye' properly, but it was such a great pleasure to see you and the others again after such a while.
ReplyDeleteI am very glad to hear that our job as a jury has not left too many painters unhappy. We always try to give each miniature and display the attention it deserves since the painter invested a lot of time and heart in it. Though not every miniature can win gold it should at least be treated respectfully. And we are very aware of the responsibility we have.
See you at next year's duke the latest, and hopefully a little sooner, too.
Thanks for the nice review write up, buddy!
ReplyDeletehere is also a link to add from France, from l'AFM Montrouge : http://www.afm-montrouge.com/98-reportage-Ducs%20de%20Bavi%C3%A8re%202013.htm
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