Painting Class Review - Trier, Germany

Allright ...

It is time to pay this cool weekend in Trier, Germany proper credit.

You might have recognised that the jungle is not busy like it was in the end of 2013 - or shall I say the whole year of 2013. The past year was so busy with a lot of focus in different aspects. Exhausted like I was from the past year I regained some energies but said for myself to focus in a different manner in 2014. My focus will be put on teaching and sharing experiences. May it be with painting classes (which are pretty much every second weekend so far for the upcoming months) or may it be with articles about actual and past projects. Helping the painter - that is where I come from and where I want to head back for the roots of it. So you might call the new year "the year of the painter" here on MV. Which is good, I think! More about this will reveal in the future ...

Well, I was travelling to Trier about ten days ago to have a quiet small beginner's class of my own. I knew there was one guy, Simon who would do the class for the second time. I was also looking forward to Pascal, the owner of the Spielbar in Trier. A really nice gaming store in an ancient city. Trier is famous for their Ancient Roman History.

Check the link behind the picture!

Thanks a lot to Pascal and the team of the Spielbar for helping Peter and me organise this class. Thanks to Peter for his help! Thanks for the smooth organisation that went from top to bottom, before and during the class. Thanks to Helfrich for a truely comfortable sleeping place, nice views during the car ride and talks we enjoyed in the car, beside the class. It was my pleasure!

I was pretty happy due the travel to Trier as I am still in my ancient roman mania. Still reading many books. Thanks to the hint with the author "Ben Kane" I am still deeply involved with my brain in these ancient days. Thanks to Michael who picked me up from the train station I was able to see the Porta Nigra close, have some talk about the other roman locations in Trier which can be visited. I even brought home two pieces of wood from the ancient roman bridge which had to be reworked. That wood is more than twothousand years old and Michael who is working as a carpenter and joiner made one plinth from one of it. Surprisingly he gave it to me as a present. That was truely freakin' me out!

But he also had to expect something from me and Raffa. He helped Raffa with building the socket for his Giu's Robot Repairs and therefore I had to bring a small gift from Raffa in form of a robot with some electronics in it to Trier, so I did. Michael also recieved a little gift from me ... the 1:72 Samurai on horse which I did in the end of 2013 was to become his in return for another favour. Really thank you, Michael.

 Laser-Beam!

Michael happy, happy Michael!

Well, there was not only Michael attending to the class. We have been 16 painters in the end and I was happy to welcome everyone of them. A truely nice group gathered toegether in ... the basement of the Spielbar. Not a regular basement it was. Also ancient romans used it to store food in there as the walls were truely salty. I did not get the whole concept why this happens but I was again set back in time, in this roman basement. Thanks to Pascal, the staff of the Spielbar, Erik, Raphael and Michael who provided this article with their photos!!

Pascal making ready for the colours!

As soon as everybody settled in on Friday late afternoon we started the class officially with preparations, a big block of theory and the basing work. Even if I was not able to bring too much stuff due the train trip I was happy to see that everybody was enjoying what he did and I was looking forward to see everybody throw some colour on these cool concepts. Thanks to PK-Pro,
Kellerkind Miniaturen, Secret Weapon Miniatures  and Juweela who provide additional basing material for the class. Thanks also to Sockelmacher.de who provided the plinths for the class everybody took the challenge of building up a display socket. For many it was the first time ...

Friday night went by with the big block of theory and it was time to head for a good bag of sleep. Saturday arrived quicker than expected and it was us again, ready at the tables to work our way to more practical preparation work before we went for lunch. Before lunch we primed our figures. After lunch it was planned that the painting finally starts, at least it is a painting class ...

 

 

Well and so we did with fresh energies. Sitting down and paint the whole day away until the middle of the night. We were working hard on different subjects that brought back Friday's theory part again but now in practical exercise. During the whole day we had several meetings, where I explained the next steps and I really have to say that it is always a pleasure for me to see how everybody is growing in their painting skills and mindset during the class. Everybody joins the class with different experience in miniature painting and I already can see during Saturday afternoon that everyone is doing big steps further. A real joy to watch, never able to bore me!

Saturday night was pretty long as I was also "allowed" to show the additional presentation on how "The Last Light" was created. I did present this during Games Day 2013, but not everyone has been there and so I was happy that everyone enjoyed the end of Saturday night though.

Sunday, again arrived earlier than expected and when I was entering the Spielbar-Dungeon close before the class would start I saw all students already sitting on their tables, painting on. Well, that's the spirit. During Sunday we worked on several main parts of the figure, but used most of the time for adding detail work. Again I introduced the students to different topics and afterwards everyone spent their time on the actual challenge. It never fails to amaze and surprise me on how the figures and bases come together to one piece, to one athmosphere during Sunday's working hours. A little lunch time was a welcome break, but everybody was strong and pushed on and on in his miniature. 

In the end I was not lying when I stood in front of the class and said that I was proud. Proud on what everybody has achieved during the class. I also mentioned that the class's content is an extrem when it comes to the light situation painted on the model or the colour choices, but if you never experienced the extreme it is hard to get there on your own. Let's what the demon ladies looked like in th end.

Well, thank you all for a great weekend! Stay put to your brushes and I hope we see again!
You can read Michael's review over on 5th-Dimension!

Keep on happy painting!
Best Wishes
Roman