Strange Flames The burning side had been quietly waiting for a while. Not because I had forgotten it. No, no. More because I was slightly afraid of it. The clothing was clear from the beginning: turquoise. That part had already been decided, changed, questioned, abandoned, rescued, and finally accepted again. So at least one thing was certain. Everything else? Not so much. At first, I interpreted the shapes coming out of the vessel in the middle of the card — and the forms growing up from the ground — as flames. It made sense in my head. Fire side, dramatic…

By mid-May, I could finally start. My printer had produced a reasonably good version of Temperance, and I was more than ready to begin priming. After all the failed prints, waiting, adjusting, hoping, and occasionally staring at the printer as if pure disappointment could improve its performance, I was very happy to finally hold something usable in my hands. So I started preparing the model. And then, of course, I noticed something. Layer lines. Everywhere. Not just a tiny little line here and there. No, the kind of layer lines that suddenly become impossible to ignore once you have seen…

At this point, I realised something very important: I am completely insane. I had never painted lava before. I had never really painted fire before. I do not exactly have a deep and meaningful relationship with UV resin either. And, naturally, I also do not have endless time to experiment, fail, try again, fail in a more interesting way, and somehow make it work. From the very beginning, the idea for Temperance was clear to me. This is not just one figure. It is a figure shown in two different “states,” two sides, two energies, two moods trying to exist…

In April 2026, my favourite 3D sculptor, Nerikson, announced a painting contest — and naturally, I immediately thought:“Yes! That sounds fun, relaxing, and totally manageable.” Famous last words. The contest officially started on May 1st, 2026, and will run until June 30th, 2026. Two full months sounds like plenty of time, right? Well… only if you conveniently ignore a full-time job, real life, and a two-week holiday that cuts a rather impressive hole into the available painting schedule. But where would the fun be without a little pressure? The first challenge was choosing a model. Nerikson has created so many…