My 2 Cents

February 25th, 2009

I have just finished painting up 2 Cygnar Centurions. I started these a while back, but they sat around with just their basecoats for some time. It was an odd job to finish them up, as I have changed some of my techniques since, and it was weird meshing the two styles without totally repainting them. The metals, for example, are done in my old style with ink washes and Vallejo paints, but now I use Citadel washes and colours.

I felt it would be fun to post a pic of the Squire with his two bigger brothers :)

Also, I have created a painting log where I am tracking my completed projects and works in progress.

 

Cheers,

Robin

More Painting

February 19th, 2009

Hey all! First off, Liz and I still do have plans to post the rest of our UK tour pics, not sure when, but they are coming. :)

I have been able to continue painting on a regular basis, along with playing a decent amount of games lately. My Warmachine league play has been a lot of fun, but I haven’t yet played as much 40K as I would like. Now that I have my Rhino completed (my first ever vehicle), I will try and get some more games in. Also, I have provided a quick pic of the station setup I use for taking pics.

Cygnar (Warmachine): 

Chaos Space Marines (Warhammer 40K):

 

 

My Lightbox Setup: 

Cheers!

Robin

Painting Up A Storm

January 22nd, 2009

Happy New Year! We have taken a small break from posting for the holidays, but have plans to complete posts that will cover our fall tour of England and Scotland, so stay tuned. Today, I wanted to post an update with lots of pictures of one of the hobbies that has been keeping me busy since we landed in Toronto. I have started putting together a Warhammer 40K army of Chaos Space Marines, and have now painted up my first 500 pts (pictures below). I am also posting up my Warmachine Cygnar army (pictures taken by Jarrett Lee – thanks man!)

My plans this year are to play both 40K and Warmachine on a regular basis, while keeping to as much painting as I can. I have joined a local Warmachine league that starts this weekend (and goes for 3 months), and there are a couple of Games Workshops nearby (including a battle bunker with lots of tables), so finding 40K games should be easy. Woohoo!

Chaos Space Marines (Warhammer 40K):

 

Cygnar (Warmachine):

This was the first army I painted up back in Edmonton. I have a couple of Centurions almost done that will be completed once I get my Chaos Space Marines up a bit more in points.

That’s all for this week. Take care!

Robin

Stonehenge, Lacock, and “Sheephenge”

December 24th, 2008

Happy Holidays Everyone!

As Liz and I enjoy the smells of the turkey dinner roasting in our newly-installed gas stove, I thought I would keep our weekly photo updates going and post about our day trip that we took while in the UK to Stonehenge and the village of Lacock. Stonehenge doesn’t need much of an introduction, but Lacock might.

The village of Lacock is almost completely owned by the English National Trust, which results in an unspoiled appearance. It is also home to Harry Potter’s house. This is the house used in the films when they show ‘you-know-who’ paying a little visit to Harry’s parents.

We took a Mad Max minibus tour out of Bath, trundling through the English countryside. We stopped at Stonehenge first. Be warned that if you visit Stonehenge, it can be underwhelming. After all, it is just a hill with some rocks on it. But for the curious at heart, it can be a lot of fun speculating about what it has been used for throughout history. The audio tour provides a lot of background, and reinforces what a mystery this site truly is. I can’t help but feel the astrological tie-in to the site, so my theory is that it was indeed used for marking time and the passing of seasons, along with providing a meeting place. I mean, it is a bunch of big-ass rocks on a hill. I can just imagine it… “Hey Bill, after work, wanna meet at the big-ass rocks on the hill?”

Works for me.

For those wondering, Sheephenge is what I dubbed the sheep-filled pasture that surrounds Stonehenge, heh. There are a few fun pics of it in the gallery.

By the time we got to the village of Lacock, the light was rapidly passing us by, so some of the pictures are a little dark. All in all, it was a really fun day. Liz and I really enjoy day trips like this to check out the sites.

Full Gallery: Stonehenge and Lacock (27 photos)

A few highlights:

  

  

  

Full Gallery: Stonehenge and Lacock (27 photos)

Cheers!

Robin

Time for a Bath

December 17th, 2008

After our visit to London (see previous post), we decided to hop on a coach and head west to the city of Bath. On the way, Robin and I caught our first glimps of the English countryside. That first real slate-cottage thrill!

Bath is grand, and layered with Roman history, yet charming and serene at the same time. It is a gateway to the English countryside, and when you gaze out to the little houses spilling across the hills, you can just begin to see the overlap of the Cotswolds. The Georgian style buldings that can be seen everywhere in Bath were once stained black from coal fires. In recent years the buildings have been cleaned to reveal that milky stone that Bath was famous for.  The Roman baths, though no longer in use are an important part of a visit to the city. The museum has done a wonderful job preserving ancient crumbling rooms below ground level, and you can wonder amongst them, a catching a glimpse of the hot springs gushing along as abundant as ever. In the shopping areas of Bath, you can find oodles of fudgeries, Cornish pasty shops, and corner cafes, trinket shops and English souvenirs a plenty. Bath is a great place to stay especially if your planning on some day-trips to Stonehenge, and the village of Lacock (which we will post about soon).

Full Gallery: City of Bath (46 photos)

A few highlights:

       

  

  

    

We did have a fun adventure one evening, we had been given a tip that inexpensive and tasty dinners were to be found in many local pubs. So, Robin and I wandered until we found one with a couple of available chairs, and sat down. We both had a beautiful roast chicken dinner, Robin had some ale, and I had a Blackthorn Cider. Before long Robin said, “I don’t want to alarm you, but did you realize you are the only girl in this whole place?” Yes, indeed I had noticed that all around me men were glued to the “Football” game. Well, when our dinners were done, a friendly inebriated young man came up to us, said that he was hungry, and then asked if he could have a go at our leftovers (of which there were none- just the bones really.) It took a moment before we realized that this poor soul wasn’t joking, and then he turned around apparently too embarrassed to speak to us any longer. We did feel a little bad, but the man could have bought food instead of booze. Well, there is no shortage of adventures to be had in English pubs, and neither is there any shortage of chips.

Full Gallery: City of Bath (46 photos)

We would love to hear your comments,

Liz

London: Codpieces and Cannonettes

December 11th, 2008

Now that we are back from the UK, our pictures of London have been posted (over the coming weeks, we will regularly post about our tour of England and Scotland):

Full Gallery 1: London (49 photos)
Full Gallery 2: Tower of London (25 photos)

London is too big to see in one visit, too diverse to sum up, so filled with ancient history it leaves your head swimming, and frankly too bloody astounding for words. But, I’ll try to paint a picture for you; London is a bustling metropolis filled with layers upon layers of architectural wonders, world treasures, haunted pubs, umbrellas and tureens of clotted cream! Robin and I were electrified by London’s goings on! We took full advantage of one of those handy hop-on hop-off double-decker buses (and it’s our opinion but it’s the best way to see London in a day), and marvelled that we were actually there, in the middle of it all. In fact, my first thought coming into Kensington station on the Underground, was the “Chim Chimney…roof tops of London” song from Mary Poppins! There it was; that chimney sweep world of enchantment.

We stayed in a little hotel in South Kensington with scented toilet paper and a shower tap mechanism previously unknown to us. We enjoyed English breakfasts at a spot called “The Muffin Man” and puzzled that every bloody plate came with a whithered tomato, and explored as much as we had time for. We ate fish and chips, and cream teas, we found Turkish delight, and lamb and mint flavored potato chips. We also managed to master the Tube, listening to countless announcements to “Mind the Gap between the platform and the train”.  I was desperate to get all the haunted information I could, and on Halloween night, Robin and I not only found the Sand Witch, but met up with a ghost tour complete with limb-less live action.  We toured the British Museum which is amazing, and equally exhausting, the National Gallery were we both fell in love with Turner’s paintings, and The Tate Modern, where some installations actually made my stomach turn.

As I am ever on the search for the world’s greatest chocolate, I made a special trip to Chelsey to visit Rococo chocolates, where my lovely friend Christine had found me a rose-flavored bar. Rococo is known for their unique flower flavored chocolate, and the violet was almost as nice as the rose.

The Tower of London is worth an entire day, that’s time enough to go up into all the towers, see the levels of museums inside, have a lovely pricey little lunch at the cafe, and view the dazzling crown jewels (don’t miss out on the little cannonettes or the arms and armour, codpieces included!) The London eye is also a must-see to appreciate the enormity of the city, but ration your liquids it’s a 30 minute ride! London is truly beautiful and wondrous, exceeding expectation.

Full Gallery 1: London (49 photos)
Full Gallery 2: Tower of London (25 photos)

Here are a few highlights:

  
  
   
  
   

Liz

Full Circle

November 21st, 2008
Our last night in London, as viewed from a bridge on the Thames.

Last Night in London

Liz and I have come full circle, and are back in Toronto, where we first started our travels (boy, is Canada ever sunnier than the UK).

After close to 3 months travel, we decided to head back to Canada, just in time for winter (what are we thinking?) It feels like time to hole up for a bit, possibly doing more travelling next year. Not exactly sure what the future holds, but it may involve spending the winter in TO.

Now that we are back in Canada, and likely with regular internet access, we will be posting up pictures and such.

It has been an awesome adventure, we are bursting with stories and memories, but it is time to start a new chapter. Also, I think I may die if I don’t paint some miniatures soon.

Robin

Hello From Scotland

November 15th, 2008

It has been a while! :)

Liz and I are currently in Edinburgh with our friend Ashley (whom we stayed with in Liverpool). We toured around the city today on one of the double-decker tour buses, and then spent the rest of the day checking out the Holyrood Abbey and Palace, then the Royal Mile and a couple of the museums. Tomorrow we are going to head to Edinburgh Castle, amongst other things.

Our trip across England has been wonderful, and we have a ton of pictures to share. Internet access has been sparse enough, that when combined with our hectic schedule, we aren’t able to stay connected with everyone as often as we would like.

Cheers!

Robin

Liz and Robin in Reykjavik, Iceland

November 3rd, 2008

We have finally posted up our pictures of Iceland! They are broken up into two sets,

Full Gallery 1: Touring the city of Reykjavik (31 photos)
Full Gallery 2: Iceland - Blue Lagoon and Golden Circle (48 photos)

Rather than post gobs of text here, we have included commentary in the photo galleries, though we may post additional thoughts on Iceland in the future. It is worthy of multiple blog posts, we loved every minute there.

For those who don’t want to click through all the photos in the galleries above, here are a few of our favourite shots:

  

 

   

    

Full Gallery 1: Touring the city of Reykjavik (31 photos)
Full Gallery 2: Iceland - Blue Lagoon and Golden Circle (48 photos)

As usual, we love to hear your comments, so please post if you can. Enjoy!

Robin

A Quick Hello

October 28th, 2008

Liz and I are now in London, needless to say we haven’t had much time to update lately. Iceland was *amazing*, we will post up lots of pictures and stories soon.

We arrived in London at the start of the week (wow), and I thought we would post up our itinerary to show you what we are up to. Again, we hope to find some time to post pictures and stories on our adventures. So much has happened since our last update :)

Oct 26 to Oct 31: London (yes, that means Halloween in London!)
Nov 1 to Nov 3: Bath
Nov 4 to Nov 6: Stow-on-the-wold and touring the Cotswolds
Nov 7 to Nov 10: York
After that: Liverpool (Nov 11-13?)
Next up: Edinburgh (Nov 14-16?)

Getting to Scotland is the last currently planned location on our itinerary, not sure where we will end up after Edinburgh!

Take care, and stay tuned for details on Iceland.

Robin