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About Me

Hi there!

This is the most difficult part of my site!

What can I tell you and, more important, what are you interested in hearing?

I was born in 1977 in Gelsenkirchen, a town in the middle (a little bit to the west) of Germany. After finishing school I became the team manager for the team assistance in in an international company operating on the sector of explosion protection.


That’s me!

I think I should tell you the way I came to the hobby of miniature collecting and painting:
In 1996 I met a very strange guy who was involved with such exotic things as role-playing games and tabletop gaming. This guy was (and still is) so cute that from that time on he has been my boyfriend. He (my Matthias) takes all the nice pictures you can see on my web page.
He also reworked it so now it does not only look good on MY screen. ;)

He dragged me into all the fantasy stores he knew!
Up to that point, I only knew about oil paints and miniatures from the game “Hero Quest”.
This was paradise!! Dragons, wizards and everything a fantasy fan could ask for.
And the colours!!!! Please understand, I have a lot of respect for all of the painters who use oil paints really well and are able to get these wonderful results, but the acrylic paints suit my purpose so much better. My first mini was a Bretonian knight from GW (this one I will show to no one!). Since this day, I have used every opportunity to ask everyone at fairs and exhibitions for hints and help regarding miniature painting. (Now the internet is an irreplaceable source of information to me).

The first steps toward my involvement with competitions were made through the Internet. After I won my first prizes there I thought that it was time to present my minis to the general public.

In 2000, we visited the DUZI in Wesel (Germany) for the first time. The exhibited minis were very impressive!
And so I decided to take part in the competition in 2001. I took all my courage and selected a little Rackham air familiar for the contest – and won my first “Golden DUZI”.
Since then we have never missed a DUZI.

I think that I met Holger Schmidt the organizer of the “Miniaturansichten” there. He asked me if I were interested in displaying my minis at the “Miniaturansichten” and I thought: “Why not?”!
It was fun to talk to all these people who asked so many questions and to meet other painters in person whose minis I only knew from Coolminiornot.

Painting is just one of my hobbies: I’m working full time, I am managing our household, and have to feed a very hungry boyfriend. I’m reading very much (mainly fantasy) and love to play Adventures on my computer, Playstation 3 or the Wii.
Therefore is not much time left for painting. These are the reasons, as well as my time-consuming painting style, for the limited number of painted minis.
Consequently, I said no when Werner Klocke (Freebooter Miniatures) asked me at the “Miniaturansichten” to paint minis for him.
Once back home, I felt bad about it and decided to write him an e-mail. I told Werner that I wanted to try it. What could possibly go wrong I thought?
Up till now I painted a lot of minis for him. :) And it is fun!!!
In addition, Werner allowed me to paint at his booth during the exhibitions at DUZI and Spiel in 2003. These were wonderful days full of fun. The atmosphere in the booth was fantastic and everyone was really kind. Therefore, we did it again each year till 2009! :)

Another mini was painted for “Masquerade Miniatures” you can see it in my Masquerade Gallery.

Oh, if you want to know where my little treasures where painted then take a look here.

Do you want to know why the name of the site is Amber’s Nightsky? Then read on:

The name “Amber” or “Black Amber” is a relict from my "Gothic" time. On the internet and in chat rooms “Black” faded away and only “Amber” was left because it is shorter. Moreover, it does not sound that dark and I think it fits me better today.

In addition, I was driving a “night-blue” Renault Twingo which was named “Nightsky”, so we could not confuse it with my friend's Twingo which is “cherry-red”, (take a look at my old car or the new one I am currently driving).
It was a real problem to find a good name for the site. Steffi’s painting corner and Steffi’s Minis were all too boring. Thus, “Amber’s Nightsky” was born.

As background I created a night sky with the constellation of the dragon, as I like dragons very much. That is the main structure of my site.

My prizes:

Crisis 2009 Gold: Demoness with wings (Single Miniature Fantasy)
Silver: Mermaid (Single Miniature Fantasy)

Crisis 2008

"Best of Show" for the Autumnal walk

Gold: Autumnal walk (Diorama)
Silver: Dead Lady (Single Miniature Fantasy)

Mini-Art-Con 2008 Silver: Autumnal walk (Diorama/Unit)

Crisis 2007 Silver: Succubus (Single Miniature)

DUZI 2007 1. place: Wazabi (Single Miniature)
1. place: Succubus (Same miniature - German Masters)

mini-ART-con 2007 Bronze: Gossamer - Air Sorceress (Single Miniature 30mm)

Crisis 2006 Silver: Daedra (Fantasy/SciFi)
Bronze: Long John Silver (Fantasy/SciFi)
Bronze: Beloved of Sobek (Fantasy/SciFi)

DUZI 2006 1. place: Long John Silver (Single Miniature Fantasy)

Miniatur-
ansichten
2006
1. place: Beloved of Sobek (Monster Masterclass)
2. place: Daedra (2nd version) (Single Miniature Masterclass)

Salute 2006 2. place: Yorick Ltd. (Diorama)

Crisis 2005 Gold: Lioness of Alahan (Dioramas and Vignettes)
Gold: Pirate Queen (Dioramas and Vignettes)
Silver: Spiderdust (Single Miniature Fantasy/SciFi)

Duzi 2005 1. place: Pirate Queen (Single Miniature historical)
2. place: Spiderdust (Single Miniature Fantasy)
3. place: Lioness of Alahan (Masterclass)

Miniatur-
ansichten
2005
Silver: Spiderdust (Single Miniature Masterclass) and a trophy for the best painted Freebooter mini!!!
Gold: Lioness of Alahan (Monster Masterclass)

Crisis 2004 Silver: Blackbeard (Single Miniature Fantasy/SciFi)
Silver: Yorick Ltd. (Diorama Fantasy/SciFi)

Duzi 2004

"Best of Show" for the Yorick Ltd.!!

1. place: Blackbeard (Single Miniature Fantasy)
1. place: Yorick Ltd. (Vignette Fantasy)
3. place: Die Monstern (Unit)

Fantization.com 2004 3. place: Chaos demoness

Games Day 2004 Finalist Single Miniature Lord of the Rings: The Rest

Feencon 2004 1. place: Le Corbeau (Single Miniature Fantasy)

Miniaturansichten 2004 1. place: Wizard with blue dragon (Single Miniature Fantasy)
1. place: Freebooter Diorama - Teamwork (Open Category)

Duzi 2003 3. place: Black Rose (Single Miniature Fantasy)
3. place: Brücke - Ja wo ist er denn? (Vignette Fantasy)

Duzi 2002 1. place: Glass - Drunk (Vignette Fantasy)
2. place: Robo Rally (Unit Fantasy)
2. place: Golden Dragon of Chaos (Monster)
3. place: Misan (Single Miniature Fantasy)

Duzi 2001 1. place: Familiar with book (Open Category)
3. place: Onyx (Single Miniature Fantasy)