Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Time for a quick side track and talk a bit about inspiration and motivation (with a non-paid shameless plug thrown in).

What gets you going? Why do we sit there for hours and paint? Personally it's about stress relief and the feelings of accomplishment that I get when I finally finish a project. I love to take pictures of the models, to post them on the blog and wright about how I took a clump of white metal, resin, or plastic and turned it into something that might, in the loosest possible terms be deemed "art".

Now I don't know about you, but I can't sit in my painting room and work with nothing in the background. My mind wanders and get distracted. I have found that listening to podcasts or watching YouTube videos helps me tremendously. Listening helps me focus and turns what might have been a 30 minute painting session into something that can last hours, and generally has better results.

So what do I generally listen to?

My go to is Painting with Menoth John. John has a weekly show on twitch.tv that airs in the US at 8pm Eastern. He also makes the show available on his YouTube channel pretty much right after the live show airs.

What make's his show unique and inspiring to me is multi-fold:

1. He is a good painter and has enough skill to make it interesting to watch and learn a few things.

2. His co-host John (yea its not as confusing as you would think). Is a great Ed McMahon to his Johnny Carson. Co-host John does a fantastic job of keeping everyone on topic and has great insights on gaming as well as media.

3. Special guests! John reaches out to both the painting and playing communities and finds guest hosts that are extremely knowledgeable and entertaining. Some guest hosts have included fantastic painters such as Shoshie from Shosie's Magnificent Miniatures, Ashton Holbrook from Red Model Painting, and the list goes on.

4. Alcohol abounds. How can you go wrong with a few camera's a live show and shots?

5. These folks actually listen to the audience. One of the Johns is generally in the show chat and interacts with the audience.

So there ya go. If you are looking for something to paint to/along with. Give them a try. I think you will find them to be worthy of your time.

P.S. Again this was a non-paid shameless plug. I am not affiliated with the show, but did want to spend the time to give them a shout out and a thanks for making my hours of painting more enjoyable.