Tried and Failed

Stock Photo, not mine...

  “It is better to have tried and failed, than to have never tried at all.”
(or... “Thank the emperor for simple green!”)

  That may not be the full, or even correct quote, but for my purposes, it works perfectly.

  It’s the truth.  I have had a part of the honored imperium set, the fallen aquilla, on my desk for a long time.  I have been working on it, adding a highlight here, a shade there, for a couple of months.  I got it to the point I thought it was done. 

  Then I saw the one that the Warhammer Lady did on her blog...  Yep, that was it for my model.  I just pulled it out of the simple green tub that I use to strip models.  I learned a big lesson here.  It’s not that hers is something I am going to copy or anything like that.  It’s that mine was bad, and no amount of “tweaking” it was going to fix it.  Now, my statue from that set (shown here in this post) is a model I really like and think came out great.  But the aquilla never really worked for me, and instead of stripping it and starting over, I tried to fix it half a hundred times.

  Sometimes it just makes sense to start over.  I am doing a whole new set of tactical marines because I changed the “fluff” of my chapter.  I have redone the scheme on my drop pod and several vehicles to fit the new chapter, why did I hesitate so long on the aquilla? 

  I'll tell you.  A mistaken belief that it was salvageable.  That’s why.  I thought I could save it.  That is an attitude I have to learn to leave behind.  I’m not saying that every time you paint a fig you should be so self-critical that you immediately plop into the stripper vat.  But I learned that I need to be a little more at ease with the thought of tossing something into the vat that deserves a fresh new start.  It is not defeat, it is learning and growth.  That’s all.  I didn’t want to start over because I feared I was giving up on my painting skills.  Nah, I’m just learning that I can do better and I need to embrace that and quit trying to save the dead patient.

  “Damnit Jim, I’m a doctor, not a bricklayer...”

More on the aquilla later!  Wish me luck!