Just a little Bit
If you are like me, at least in one regard, you have a number of unpainted or partly painted models sitting around, most or all of which you plan on painting "Someday." You know, that day in the future when you somehow magically have a whole bunch of free time and the drive to paint? Well, if your calendar seems to skip over Someday (is that supposed to be after Saturday?) I have a suggestion for you. Make your Someday happen sooner, rather than later. There are all sorts of tricks to help get your models painted, but I think this is the best one that I've run across.

The basic idea is to use your down time to paint. "Sure," you are probably saying, "that's fine if you have down time, but I'm really busy." Trust me, so am I. I've been struggling to find time to paint for quite a while, then an idea occurred to me. I actually had this idea long ago, but I didn't implement it fully and ended up forgetting about it. We all have some down time. It might be a few minutes in the morning before going to work, it might be a few minutes at night before you go to bed. It might be while you are watching TV or hanging out with friends. It might be any odd few minutes that you find yourself not busy. The trouble is, you have to get your paints and models together and set up your painting station and get ready to work. By the time you do that, the minute has passed and you have to do something else. Now what?

Now you spend a few minutes organizing yourself. First, find a place that you will frequently have a few minutes to spare, even if they won't often be more than a couple of minutes at a time. Second, gather everything possible together that you will need for your next painting session. Time spent trying to find something, or getting something from another room is painting time wasted. Once it is gathered, try to find a place nearby where you can store the materials without them spilling or getting in the way of anything else. (Hint: you can put the paints in a sealable bag to prevent accidents and angry mothers/wives/girlfriends!) Make sure you have something to protect whatever surface you are painting on included in your materials. Then all you need is a plan.

If you don't know what you are going to do in general, or what you are going to do next in specific, you will waste valuable time pondering what to do. Plan your work and work your plan. Decide what model you will paint next. Decide what colors you'll need and have them handy so you don't have to search through all your paints each time. Decide what step of the painting process you want to do next (Highlighting? Shading? Detail? Blacklining?) That way, as soon as you have that time and get set up, you can start putting pigment on the model and actually get something accomplished. Now that you have a plan for what to do, also plan for how to put it away quickly. Now let's look at my plan.

I've got a small drawer-thing setup in the living room to house my computer and I realized it would be a great thing to use for my painting project. It has wheels and can easily move out of the way when not needed. When I want to work on a project, it will make a good table to use.

I gathered all the necessary materials for my painting project. Good Paintbrush, paints in only the colors I need. I also included a cup for water and a paper towel.

Here are all the materials for my project in the drawer, ready to go. The picture will give you a hint as to what next week's update will be.... :)

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