Dear Painting Buddha Travel Diary,
What a day!
What a day!
I
met with my friend Matt Cexwish in New York at the Penn Station,
because he was already staying a couple of days in town, to travel to
Valley Forge via Philadelphia.
My trusty company phone was super-charged and I was able to take tons of pictures throughout the whole trip.
My trusty company phone was super-charged and I was able to take tons of pictures throughout the whole trip.
Here
are some impressions from the road:
Friday
9th
may
Dear
Painting Buddha Travel Diary,Welcome to Valley Forge!
It's my first day here–well, actually, we got in SUPER late last night, but after the long travel, starting from Berlin to New York via Philadelphia to the Valley Forge Casino Resort where the MFCA is hold.
Btw.
Valley Forge is the home of the MFCA for nothing less than 73 years!
After an early breakfast with my friend Matt, we went to
explore the area a little.
The Venue is located in Valley Forge, King of Prussia, funny as we are from the heart of Prussia... Berlin :D
Valley Forge was the site of a camp of the American Continental Army over the winter of 1777-1778 during the Revolutionary War located northwest of Philadelphia. And beside the largest malls of America it also got a nice and rather big National Historical Park, illustrate the historic war sight.
The Venue is located in Valley Forge, King of Prussia, funny as we are from the heart of Prussia... Berlin :D
Valley Forge was the site of a camp of the American Continental Army over the winter of 1777-1778 during the Revolutionary War located northwest of Philadelphia. And beside the largest malls of America it also got a nice and rather big National Historical Park, illustrate the historic war sight.
The
MFCA , Miniature Figure Collectors of America Annual Show and Mart is
THE big open Contest in the USA , slowly attracting more and more
international fantasy painters, since the added a fantasy Category
two or three years ago.
The
first thing you see when you enter the venue which is located in the lower
level of the Casino is the huge Mart, similar to some of the big
shows in Europe such as the Euromilitare or the Duke of Bavaria.
Anything
a true nerd could desire you would find it here, reaching from flat
figures, historic figures, busts to pre-painted Miniatures of all sizes and epochs and even fantasy figures ;).
Beside
that, free Masterclasses where offered during the whole weekend,
with such great artist such as Matteo Murelli, Philippe Gengembre
and
my good friend Matt Cexwish.
Thanks to Joel Glass and his Crew for inviting us to such a marvelous event.
The
painting contest is located in the Back third of the Hall, it’s a
rather big show with a high Level in all three categories, which
where Historical, Fantasy and Ordnance all divided into two levels:
Beginner and Advanced.
One
really interesting feature of this contest is that each contestant
had to fill out a form for each entry, nothing new so far, but beside
the usual information (name, project title and manufacturer)you also
marked the projects that are for sale. So you could actually see what
the market is like for your own works!
And it was really astonishing that even big works like the insane Stalingrad diorama by Dan Capuano are for sale….Only the zar knows what you have to pay for something like that.
And it was really astonishing that even big works like the insane Stalingrad diorama by Dan Capuano are for sale….Only the zar knows what you have to pay for something like that.
Check
of some of Dan´s works here :
http://dancapuanofineminiatures.blogspot.de/
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| sculpt by Michael Kontraros |
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| Best of Show - Fantasy / MFCA 2014 concept & sculpt by Michael Kontrarospainted by Chris Panagiotou |
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| Diorama by Dan Capuano |
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| concept & sculpt by Christian Hardy |
As always, more important than a good vendors area or an amazing contest is to meet the
people. We
experienced so much hospitality, met good old friend and made a lot of new
ones!!
It’s funny that it take a trip to the US to get to know our talented Greek friends better, we somehow missed each other the last two times in Monte San Savino.
It’s funny that it take a trip to the US to get to know our talented Greek friends better, we somehow missed each other the last two times in Monte San Savino.
Another thing I love about America is that the people are always interested in a good story - and boy we had some good stories to tell. Turns out that we are much better storytellers than pool players .. which we proved in the first night in the hospitality suite.
And with some pictures of this evening will sum it up better than 1000 words ;)
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| the pool Zen Master Poissons |
End of Part 1
to be continued...
