This is a piece from earlier in the year, and I took it to Fen Model Show (FMS) where I received a Silver in Standard. The consistent feedback from the judges was "fix the face". They used nicer, gentler and more useful words, but that was the upshot of the comments.
I very rarely return to a model, but this model was coming to Scale Model Challenge (SMC) in October, and I wanted to push a little further instead of throwing my hands up and saying "oh well, nothing I can do about it now" which has been my usual response over the years. Glad I did, as here's the before and after shots ...
It's now finished, and completed to a point where I'm happy for it to go into my display unit and remain there forever more. With hindsight, there's a lot more that could be done; higher value contrast on the robes, tidy up the headddress, add more detail into the flowers, improve the freehand, correct the lazy NMM on the jewellery etc. but it's better to take these learnings and goals across to other pieces.
I received a commended in Standard at SMC for it, which made me a little sad for four minutes until I saw the work that received medals and have resolved to improve my painting rather than assume an air of entitlement. There's so many fantastic painters out there, that if I want to have my work recognised then it simply needs to be better. Onward to 2026 and being a better painter!