Inspiration

I like to think of myself as a pretty artistic person. I'd hope that my friends and family would agree. I used to draw a bunch, and even a do little bit of water colors, but I haven't been doing any of that in a long time. It's hard for me not to have an artistic outlet...even though the biggest thing standing between me and that outlet is usually myself. But just lately I've found that one thing I can pour my energy and creativity into: painting.

I'm not painting on canvas or paper, though. I'm painting miniatures. They're for a game I play called Warhammer 40K (see previous entry). As a matter of fact, the whole painting aspect of the Warhammer is pretty much the reason why I got involved. Don't get me wrong, I do love setting up my army and whalloping Thorin (although he's usually the only person I can beat), but the greatest satisfaction I get from the whole experience is spending hours meticulously cutting, scraping, positioning, glueing, priming, painting, and basing. After all that work, seeing them complete and totally different from how I got them and almost realistic is really fantastic. It makes me so happy to get comments from other gamers on my models...of course, I just say thanks and try to play it off because I don't want to get a big head, but I thank God for the abilities that he has given me to create with my hands and my mind.

I go through periods of artistic drought, where I can/don't want to draw/paint/model for whatever reason. Sometimes I think it's because I just did something cool and I need time to recharge, and sometimes I think I feel like I did something good so I shouldn't push my luck or the next thing will be crap. It's weird. But once I get going...I can keep going until I achieve...something. But I'll get a lot of stuff done, and me sitting up here at 2:50am illustrates perfectly how I can get pulled into an artistic "fit" and just have to do something.

I wish you guys could see my stuff. I can't take pictures of them because my camera sucks. Besides, you really can't get a feel for what they actually look like unless they're right in front of you...and there's something cool about seeing a whole little army of well-painted guys ready for action. And for me, those guys also represent a lot of time and effort...and a connection with my Creator, the wonderful loving Father in Heaven who has blessed my life so generously with these gifts. I am in such awe of His love and interest in my life. I can just imagine sitting in front of Him and showing him my whole collection and telling Him about all the units, explaining how each one works and the history and all this useless crap that He already knows because He knows everything. But He stands there and smiles and listens intently, giving me His full attention because He loves me so much.

"When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him?" Psalm 8: 3, 4

I know how much time and effort it takes me to build these little plastic men and use my own clumsy brush strokes to try and bring them to life. It's hard to understand those things we cannot comprehend; this hobby gives me a closer understanding of Your greatness and it fills me with awe...and also thankfulness, that the God of all Creation would take an interest in my life.

God Bless,
-Matt