Hi guys,

Happy New Year to you all.

This magnificent Pili Pili bust was a recent Christmas present from my wife, and I've been working on it on the relative cool of the night, because at the moment its too hot to paint during the day.

It's been 100 degrees or more for most of the past fortnight, and even with the air conditioner turned up full blast the acrylic paints dry too quickly in this heat.

I haven't finished painting this bust yet, but I wanted to show you my progress so far. I still need to do some more highlighting on the uniform, the emu fathers and the slouch hat and give everything a dusting of pastels to kill the shine.

My apologise for the poor quality of the pics.

Excellent painting Tony.

Tony,
Well done on the painting,its brought him to life,any chance of doing an NZMR bust?
;-).
Andy

Thanks Guy, not quite finished yet.

Thanks Andy, you sculpt him and I'll happily paint him for you.

Excellent job on a great bust Tony. I knew you would have him on your work bench as soon as I saw the release.

I'll have to share your weather comments with my new neighbors, a lovely family of four from near Melbourne (Inverloch exactly) who are here on a 1 year teacher exchange. I've been trying to keep them warm in our -30degree Celsius winter since they arrived a week ago! This week....driving lessons on the correct side of the road with ice! Should be fun.

Very good painting Tony and all the very best to you and yours for 2009!!

Ray

Thanks very much for your kind comments Glenn, Nap and Ray,

Canada sounds waaaaaaaaaaaay too cold for my liking. Please give my best wishes to your Aussie neighbours Glenn. It must be quite a culture shock to be living in -30C and having to drive on the wrong side of the road at the same time.

I'll post some more pics soon.

Nice work Tony, this really was designed with you in mind I think Was it a suprise from your wife or did you have a hand in it?

Roger

Hi Tony, I know when is hot is difficult to paint, in summer time I prefer go fishing... Now in northern Italy is not so cold as in Canada .. but there is today -10 degrees.. is perfect to paint..

The bust even if not my preferred period is a very great sculpt. and it seems you are doing a magnificent paint work.

Cheers Stefano

Good work Tony,

Marc

Tony,your work on this one is great!!
When I first saw this bust,that is the original box art,I didn't like it at all.
It appeared to me to be a caricature of a young Australian.
But the way you have painted this face,it has brought a maturity and a look of a young person that's suddenly experienced war.
You know that thousand yard stare you were after before.I reckon you may have got it.

Nice work Tony! I've always had an interest in this piece, seeing this makes me want it even more. May have just moved up a couple notches on the ol' wish list! Keep cool!

Jay H.
OKc

Grand work on the bust, Tony! You really brought out both the youth and the pain somehow at the same time on that face. Wow!
All the best,
Dan

Hi Roger, Stefano, Marc, Mark, Jay and Dan,

Thank you all for your very supportive comments. Hopefully as I put the finishing touches to this bust over the next couple of nights I can bring out more of the character of this piece.

As most of you know, I'm a big fan of the Australian Lighthorse and I was extremely pleased to see Quang had sculpted such a wonderful bust of my favourite modelling subject.

Great painting Tony!
I have just finished this one myself & really enjoyed painting it & the research.
Here's mine
Mark

Nice job Tony he is looking good so far mate,it must be a nightmare having to put up with all that nice warmth and not freezing your butt off,i really feel for you mate ,got to go now and snap the icicles off my fingers before i start painting LOL.

Steve

Tony,
Great looking. Send about 50 degrees Indianapolis way
Cheers
John

Sorry,
Duplicate

Hi Mark,

Thanks for posting a pic of your Lighthorseman bust. Well done mate, that's a fantastic job you've done.

Steve and John, I feel really really sorry for you poor "Northern Hemispherians" shivering away in your long, dark freezing cold winter. NOT What happened to global warming??????