Superb work - so many varied poses.

W.

Yes, I really enjoy the end result. The sweat on the horses is a very nice and often overlooked detail to give the diorama more life.

Thank you very much. It was a very involved project. It’s always a joy to get over the finishing line tinged with a hint of sadness that the ride is over.

Thank you. I was a little worried adding sweat to the horses as it does look a little unreal, but it is a thing. I figured that the Uhlan patrols would be quite tiring affaires for the horses, and being late summer still quite warm.

Thank you Kevin, appreciate your ongoing support. Really appreciated. Happy 2023 mate.

Thank you very much mate.

Well, DA, ya kicked this one out of the preverbal "park", batter up! Splendid work, most impressive and totally a work of art, one for the museum, IMHO!

Thank you very much mate. Appreciate your kind words of support.

Fabulous! The final result is really impressive and so imaginative

The sweat on the horses might look a little overdone in closeup, but I think you need a different approach to painting the figures in a diorama. You need to be able to see the effect from the viewing distance of the diorama, and I think you do that perfectly. It really helps tell the story of a frenetic chase.

Well done, I am still amazed by how quickly you can pull off major pieces of work like this!!

Thank you mate. I know what you mean, the horse sweat looks overdone on real horses that I googled. I thought I was bad when I get hot but those sweaty betties get a real white froth going on, it must be the oils in their fur. I toned it down and used some gloss varnish to hint at how hot the horses would be galloping cross country, and tried to work it for closeup and diorama viewing.

I think it’s my style of painting as well. I tend to go over the same area several times in thin translucent layers. In art school I was inspired by cubism, British Vortacist’s and Italian futurism, so blurred motion and abstraction are an attractive style to me, like the motion photography of those times it’s a clash of the old world and new.

Like the slow motion still photos of Robert Capa, it leans towards the abstract, but still makes sense to us as our brain fills in the gaps.

BTW, I started the build 20th October, it would normally take longer but as you know I’ve had a bit more bench time of late, and I like to keep busy.

Made this very short movie of the final build.

Great work and beautiful paintwork

Mobo

Thank you mate.

Thank you mate, and good luck to all those who enter the Vignette & Diorama competition.

Fabulous work as usual Marcus. I am envious of your skill and imagination.

Bill

Thank you Bill. In my case it’s more luck than judgement.

I'm not a horse, but I ran after cars (well, the bus) in the summer and I can attest that it leaves one quite sweaty.

I agree that it might look overdone on a single, static figure, but - as I mentioned a few times before - there's an awful lot of action going on in this diorama, so a bit of exaggeration here and there doesn't feel out of place, I think. A really memorable piece you made there.

Least you can run for a bus, they’ve not invented paving that wouldn’t crack under me attempting that one.

Agreed, to get dynamism into a diorama you do need a slightly different approach to the modelling and painting. I’ve only ever painted one bust, think it’s the lack of legs that put me off.

Thank you again.