I might have the name wrong, but yesterday I met a nice group of guys who are competition level miniatures (not necessarily gaming figures) painters.

They meet at Games and Stuff the first Sunday of every month and seemed very willing to talk about techniques, lessons learned etc.

If anybody is interested in really improving their painting skills this group seems like it would be a great resource.

that is amazing
thank you mike

Not the exact same topic, but check out this mini (just for painting) from teh McVey studios blog:

http://studiomcvey.blogspot.com/2010/06/ysala-and-darkness.html

cool minis - thanks for the post mike!