Hello chaps,
Thank you for all the kind words. First of all, my wife does see me… My workbench is in the dining end of our lounge/dining room - so while she's watching rubbish on telly, I'm sitting painting.
The bases are done by first gluing grit on, then painting the whole base with Vallejo 122/912 'Tan Yellow' & drybrushing with 007/837 'Pale Sand'. Then I touch up the edge with Tan Yellow again, and glue on a few patches of Woodland Scenics 'Burnt Grass' turf.
The blue thing isn't a picture of my missus, nor is it, as someone suggested, a device for showing 'blue' movies. It's actually a daylight lamp/magnifier, quite like this one:
http://uk.daylightcompany.com/home/product/?id=603
I don't actually use it as a magnifier very much - I'm short-sighted, so I tend to just take my glasses off instead. If I'm doing something where I might get bits in my eyes (like cleaning up figures) I use it, but for painting, I use the Mk.1 eyeball, unaided. The blue cover is to prevent the sun shining through it and setting the house on fire - not really a problem in our current weather conditions!
And yes, you can never have enough Romans... So this collection will probably continue expanding, though more gradually now, as I'm involved in painting other Romans!
Cheers,
Phil