May update; no new painting

Well, it's been too hot to paint in my little room/office and when I've tried the paint has started to dry out in my palette. Instead, I've taken some photos of flowers with my new (actually secondhand) camera body.

I've always been happy with my choice of Pentax cameras and my K70 was and is no exception, but I've long cast envious eyes on the top of the APS-C range Pentax K3 Mk III as a possible next step upgrade. When Ricoh (the owners of the Pentax brand) announced that it would be discontinuing the K3 range (apart from the somewhat specialist K3 Mk III Monochrome) I knew that I'd have to get one before they were all gone. Brand new, the body alone is eye-wateringly expensive but knowing that, I'd been saving up monthly to get the readies for a good quality secondhand body for quite a while.

Luckily, I was able to get one three weeks ago, and these are the first shots I've taken with it. The camera body is heavier than the K70 but it is of a sturdy pro-spec construction and despite the huge range of parameters and options you can tweak it is remarkably intuitive if you are a Pentax regular user (I've been using Pentax kit for decades). Even so, it pays to really read through the user manual to fully understand what everything does. I think that the multiple focus point options come out well in the last picture of a bee on Pyracantha blossoms, a difficult shot from both a contrast and focal point selection perspective.

I'm pleased with the results so far and looking forward to giving the new kit a proper workout over the coming months.

The future of digital SLRs, certainly Pentax ones sold by Ricoh seems in question. Maybe their next step will be to go mirrorless rather than persist with actual pentaprism cameras? Who knows? In any case, I've now got an absolute gem of a camera and I've got my K70 as a more than adequate backup too. I suspect that both cameras will outlast me!

Two more figures from Bad Squiddo

I forgot to post these earlier, so here they are. Scroll down to see both of them.

This is Jeanne d'Arc. She comes in two versions, mounted and on foot. I only have the latter. Both versions come with a nice paper banner and a metal spear to put the banner on. 

Actually, you get two flags, in case you mess up the first! The flag artwork is Martin Whitmore.

The second figure is a fantasy one.

She is a spellcaster, described as an Arcane Witch on the website. As you can see, she is hovering above the ground, buoyed up by her magical powers.

Tieflings

 Yes, Tieflings. Six of them in total. Scroll down to see them all. These ones are from Bad Squiddo.

I decided that a bold colour palette was the way to go for these lovely figures. Above we have a Fighter of some sort, possibly even a Paladin and a spellcaster with a grimoire under her arm and a mystical McGuffin in her hand, maybe a Warlock or Wizard.

Next are two more Fighters. I decided to tie all the more martial Tieflings together with the colour of their clothes, making them kind of swaggering and dandified swashbucklers. The one on the right has some kind of small pet creature on her wrist.

The last two seem to be rather useful additions to any band of dungeon adventurers; another spellcaster and a rogue. I will say that these two are my favourites of the six. I could see the spellcaster working as a Druid, Sorcerer or a Wizard and the Rogue speaks for herself. I mean, everyone likes a sneaky thief with assassin-type skills, surely?

The backdrops are, as usual from Jon Hodgson's terrific books available from Bad Squiddo or Handiwork Games.