Late Night WIP

I'm going to be staying up for a while tonight to keep painting the Feral Warpwolf. I feel like I'm into a good groove and have been making good progress... I spent all of last night beginning to define the sculpted musculature and hope to finish up that process this evening. It's been an interesting night so far and I get the sense that the miniature is drawing me on to do more. I think this is probably a good state of mind for a painter, however unwise it may be for the father of young child. I'm ready to accept the consequences of being tired and out of it tomorrow but right now I simply must paint more.

I was in some pretty deep thought earlier while painting concerning the nature of painting and how it occurs. It's something that has crossed my mind before but tonight it has really been in the forefront of my thoughts. Although it is a basic and straightforward question, I doubt it has been examined too often by those in our hobby. So, why do I paint the way that I do? I'm not wondering with regards so much to any particular techniques or skills but rather more having to do with the colors chosen, the order in which they are applied, and the placement on the sculpture itself. And why is it uniquely the way that it is for each miniature? This intrigues me to no end and is something I would like to explore in the future. However, as I have already dropped the Warpwolf twice in the last couple of hors while contemplating this matter, I should probably just focus on my painting for the time being. I've reattached the two spines that popped off of the right shoulder and believe the glue should be set by now. Back to it, then!

PS - I'll come back and add a picture to the top of this post in the morning to show how far along I got tonight. I expect by the time I stop painting it will be too late to worry about messing around with my camera. Otherwise I am going to just go for as long as I can....

[2/24/2010 - Update: Yes, the picture at the beginning of this post was taken around 10:00am of the following day. I painted for another couple of hours before calling it a night sometime between 1:30 and 2:00 am. It was indeed a good night of painting!]