Painting Procrastination

There always seems to be a point in every army where you get so tired of painting little dudes that you start finding other things to do. It's just like writing a paper in college- when suddenly you realize how dirty your dorm is and that you must wash all of your clothes immediately.

Haven't you learned to paint yourselves yet?

We've all been there. Sadly, I'm there right now. Here's what I've been up to instead of painting Longbeards:

1. Reading
     I haven't done as much reading as I'd like to lately (that always seems to be the case) so when I hit that rut, I often pick up a book. I have a long list of books to read, so it's never hard to find something. My current pick is a Black Library book, so that's shouldn't count against me, right?

2. Clean All The Things!
     The biggest time waster of them all. Just like in college, suddenly my painting area, kitchen, bedroom, well, the entire apartment actually, has become a disaster zone in my eyes. So I must clean, and clean everything. This includes dusting off bookshelves, reorganizing my spice rack, and giving the dog a bath. She had it coming anyway.

3. Cooking Elaborate Dinners
     Nothing eats up time like spending 5 hours to make dinner. I could just throw something into the crockpot, turn it on low, and forget about it all day, but then I'd have time to paint, wouldn't I? So, I brined Cornish Hens last night. That involves quite a bit of hands-on time, not to mention all the clean up afterwards. The most delicious form of procrastination.

4. Obsessively Checking on Work
     I work from home, so I set my own pace most days. I do my tasks, check my email a few times, and that's that. But when I'm in painting procrastination mode, I find myself checking my email twenty times in ten minutes. Then I realize I don't quite like a spreadsheet layout... next thing I know it's two hours later and I haven't done anything else, but that spreadsheet sure looks good.

5. Staring Contests with the Dog
     I won. All of them.

6. Work on the Blog
     Generally, this means starting a few posts ahead of time. Getting ready to talk about the things I haven't quite finished yet, for example. I've had a post waiting in the wings about my Longbeards since April and they're the reason I'm here procrastinating right now. Actually, posts like this one are a good example, too.

7. Going Out to the Mall
     I don't need anything, I tell myself, I'm just going to stretch my legs for an hour, and do a little window shopping. Then I'll definitely come home and paint. But, it never happens like that. I wander through several stores I haven't been to in a while. I probably stop and have something for lunch. Then it's back to window shopping again. Inevitably, hours later, I end up at the Games Workshop, because there's one in my local mall.

This leads to the last, and perhaps the most dangerous form of painting procrastination:

8. Planning My Next Army
     This one wastes a lot of time, but it can also potentially spell the death of the current army. Looking at all those new shinies, it can be hard to stay excited about the army you're burned out on. It also can sap your resources (both time and money) away from your current project.

My Space Wolf army is an excellent example. I've bought most of the models I need. I've also bought paint and sculpting supplies. Worse, though, is the borderline obsessive amount of time I've spent deciding precisely how I want them to look. I've been scouring painting and sculpting pages for weeks gathering ideas for these puppies.

Tantalizing, isn't it?

I am phenomenally excited to start this army, and it's rather a wonder that I haven't given in already and set my Dwarfs aside in favor of them. I know I need to finish the Dwarfs before I move on, or I never will. It's just how those things go.

When you get painting fatigue, what do you do instead?