Whilst painting I have had a number of pictorial references at my disposal much helped by my painting desk. I generally take it for granted but thought I'd share it as it really has been useful of late.
It's an IKEA 'Vika' desk combination, the feature that really helps is the raised glass top with room to slide reference material underneath which is great as books remain flat and don't get splashed with paint or water,plus you can leave the material there when you're not working (this is a bonus for cat owners such as I !)
I also mix paint on the glass which wipes off easily. There are a number of lid and leg combinations, it really is an excellent addition to the painting armoury.
So, reference material close to hand here's the present WIP, a fully caparisoned horse with decorative damask covering.
The image on the right is fully painted in the shade colours and the image on the left is the other side in progress. For the damask designs a trawl of google images has helped, below is a sample sheet which I have utilised for this horse, feel free to use it or see what you can find yourself, there are a lot of designs and stencils out there.
Have I mentioned damask enough? it took me a while to realise that that was the name for the type of patterns favoured by Gendarmes on their barding and clothing (I might be a painter but i'm no decorator !) and once I did realise it was quite a find so damask damask damask!
The unit should be finished soon, I've left the most detailed riders until last, I'm beginning to wish I started with them first !
P.S. I hope the new look blog is to your liking, it has been a bit of a distraction from fiddly painting!
Stuart
!!!! your damask painting is...well ..truly beautifull!!!!
ReplyDeleteCheers
paul
wow - what a cracking excellent post - great (and very tidy!) desk idea; useful reference with the damask; nice and contemporary background design for the blog and above all else, brilliant paintwork on those barded horses - they are going to be truly excellent - I'll never match that detail on my Burgundians!
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to see the finished ones.
Simon.
Good god!! That's excellent work Stuart, I'd hate to think just how long you've taken on the two horses!!
ReplyDeleteexellent work i love that damask, it really looks the part
ReplyDeleteGreat work on the horses, shows a lot of patience, great work.
ReplyDeleteYour updated look to the blog looks good too, noticed it last visit, certainly sets the 'mood' for the blog.
Good post and look forward to the next update.
Meant to say, your painting station set up looks to be very good, lots of light, nice idea for the references. BTW what are the books that you've got pictured? Look to be good references.
ReplyDeleteHendrid
ReplyDeleteThe books are;
The Tudor Chronicles, Susan Doran.
This is relatively new and was bought entirely on the strength of the excellent quality large double page spreads of 2 paintings of the battle of the spurs.
The second one is Henry VIII & His Court, Neville Williams
This is smaller than the former and much older, I picked it up in a second hand book shop entirely for the same reason as the first book.
The third is the Osprey ' Armies of Henry VIII'
Of the three the first is an excellent resource and the better purchase, in this instance I used 1 & 2 so I could view 2 paintings at the same time (1 has both paintings in there but on succesive pages) .......i'm a bit anal like that, same goes for the tidyness of the desk !
luvvly, looking forward to seeing the finished figures, cheers Pete
ReplyDeleteLovely as ever Stuart....looking forward to seeing the finished product......
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments chaps, only 1 more to do!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the book info.
ReplyDeleteBump..any update on the unit, looking forward to see the finished article.
oooh not long now, just a bit of touching up then basing to go.
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