I always do my best to look after my eyesight. As a part-time artist and a keen hobbyist I consider it kind of vital to do so. I've also been short-sighted since I was about fourteen years old, and have worn contact lenses since my very early 20s.
In one of my last optician visits before the arrival of the plague - my optician told me:
"Your prescription has decreased in both eyes..."
Brilliant I thought, my eyesight is getting better.
Of course, these people can't ever give you good news - "You're going long-sighted - we'll monitor this on your next visit in six months time..."
Six months later we were in lockdown, eyes weren't exempted from lockdown and I wasn't able to visit my optician for eighteen months or so.
It was while painting miniatures about six months ago or slightly more, that I started to notice I was struggling to focus and see detail properly. My dad has worn a magnifier for hobby stuff for years, and he suggested I get one. So I got one from Amazon for £14, free next day delivery and with five different lenses.
It's been a bit of a game changer.
Rewind to 1987 and my dad comes home from work with a copy of "Heroes for Wargames" by Stewart Parkinson, a book I still cherish with lots of artwork, concept art and painted miniatures.
Speaking to Bryan Ansell one "Lead of Winter" he chuckled at seeing the book, stating that everyone had forgotten that the photographer was coming in that day and nobody had prepared any miniatures to be photographed. He described people running around getting minis ready, sending people home to get models from their own collections or just models off their own work desk.
The book has no photo credits and no painting credits either - so I can't give them. But I did marvel at many of the free-handed shields. One of my favourites was a dwarf with a beautiful hand-painted mountain on a tiny dwarf shield.
As I mentioned in a previous post about the "Doughty Dozen" I spent some time collecting up pre-slotta dwarfs on the cheap on Ebay back when it seemed only a couple of us (mentioning no names...Harry...Dave...) were collecting them.
So I dug out the mini from the book and decided to use it to test if I could achieve something decent as a tribute to the shield using the new magnifier.
I hope I've done it justice. Mainly with Humbrol but with some oils plus Scale75 and Vallejo used on the mini too.
Now on to the Old World Army Challenge 2022. May I live to the end of it!
