Happy New Year!

I just wanted to say Happy New Year and thank you to all my followers and readers.  It's been a crazy year for me both in the 40k world and the real world.  I began 2011 trying to finish my tyranid army for the ATC in May.

At the same time, I was also preparing for a trip to St. Lucia to marry my soulmate Kristyn.

Our team took 3rd at the ATC and in out of our prize pile, I chose a nemesis dreadknight which began my Grey Knight adventure.

I also found out in May that my wife was pregnant!  Her morning sickness and evening fatigue left me plenty of time to paint, which I did furiously from June until October when I finished the army for DaBoyz GT.

The army didn't fare well at the GT, but has won me several RTT's.  I had burned out on painting white power armor, so I began rolling the prize money into a new Dark Eldar army which would feature a large amount of conversions, freehand painting, and airbrushing.

The end of the year has just gotten crazier for me with the arrival of the "chocolate holidays" which will be keeping me busy from now until Easter.  For those of you who don't know me, I make chocolates for my day job.

We also got a call from the Food Network last month to audition for their show Sweet Genius!  Unfortunately, we had to turn down the offer as they would be filming in NYC when my son is due.  I haven't had must time to work on 40k recently as my neighbor also commissioned me to paint a portrait of his dogs for Christmas.

So here I find myself at the end of once crazy year just hoping next year will pass at a slower pace with a little less insanity.  It's looking doubtful though with my first child due in two weeks.  We also spent all day yesterday in the hospital trying to rotate him as his current presentation will demand a c-section delivery.

I did get a couple hours to paint last night so here's some progress on a new look for my grotesques.  I'll be doing the metals like aged bronze and doing some finer tattoos to match the glyphs on the venom.

 My resolution for 2012 is to finish the Dark Eldar army in time for the March painting tournament.  It may be a lot with a new child, but I'm banking on the increased productivity thanks to the airbrush and him sleeping a lot hehe.  I'm not planning on traveling to any big tournaments this year due to the increased financial drain, but I'll be participating in every local tournament that I can.  If things look good, I may try for Wargames Con in Texas, we will see!

Thanks again for all the traffic and support of the blog and my hobby adventures.  I wish you all a happy, safe, and fruitful New Year!

~ Aaron Stiebitz / hyv3mynd