This one came my way recently..... It's Vladimir Danilov's
superb vignette of the French and Indian Wars - or more
accurately of Pontiac's War, as I intend it to represent an
action that occurred in the densely forested Alleghenies
near to a place called Bushy Run Station, after hostilities
with the French had ended. It's a thrilling piece and might
be interesting enough to feature here as this old duffer's
attempt to bring it to life......I've been told my approach is
a bit different.

The history which surrounds Pontiac's War reads like a
movie script - full of heroism, hideous savagery, typically
inept British arrogance, lots of shooting, even an attempt
at early biological warfare. I actually like research - for me
it's part of this whole figure painting thing - but we don't all
think the same, so rather than give chapter and verse in
one hit now, I'll add it in italics as we go along, so those
who find such guff boring can skip over it.

Tempting though it is to pick up the brushes straight away
and make a start on the painting, this one requires us to
begin on the ground floor, with the two individual bases
Vladimir supplies with his vignette. They have to be sorted
first because I'm using them rather than creating a base
of my own. I'm not being lazy here, let me add, it's simply
too easy to get carried away with simulated groundwork,
that unless we show restraint, an overworked base can
unintentionally alter the entire character of the figure(s), or
even, heaven forbid, wreck the sculptor's skilfully contrived
compostion. The aim instead is to indulge the individual
creativity Volodya's work always seems to inspire in us,
while at the same time keeping a sharp eye on his original
concept.
Another thing is, with it's strong narrative, this piece hardly
needs a busy landscape. Texture is required more than
distracting detail - after all, what we have here essentially is
a luckless Highland Officer with the fear of God in him as he
almost certainly draws his last breath on earth.....in the face
of that, superfluous scenery surely misses the point. So after
both bases were carefully drilled and firmly joined with metal
pins (three of them) and Milliput had dealt with the gaps, just
simple layers of simulated 'forest-floor', and 'tree-moss' were
considered enough.

The 'forest-floor' came from plywood....when you cut the
stuff, especially with a coarse-toothed rip saw (....don't
forget to count your fingers afterwards) there's always a
kind of fur of wood splinters on the underside of the cut.
Scrape 'em off and they're just about right for 1/30th scale
Allegheny Hemlock Tree debris - the moss is softwood
sawdust. The base was coated thinly with bog standard
PVA glue, and layered with the materials, and allowed to
dry. Then everything was misted over with a 5 to1 dilution
of H2O and PVA, in a cheap and cheerful atomiser, and
again left to dry thoroughly. Misting is essential in fixing and
sealing all the textures, so after a final coat of pre-painting
primer, everything looks as if it's integral with the original
casting and not a stuck-on afterthought.

A quick check on the relative positions of the two figures, to
make sure they still interact properly, and it's time to reach for
the brushes .....but more of that next time.

Are you getting all the images Steve ? I'm a bit of a techno idiot and
haven't got 'em this end. I've consulted the oracle (Kev) so hopefully
he'll tell me how to sort it

Mike

Looks to be a great start, Mike, although, as you say, no images as yet. I confess to being a duffer, too,...can't manage the tecchie stuff regarding posting pictures. I seem to post them everywhere on this Devil's dustbin but where I want them.

Alan

A cup of coffee. a bit of swearing, and a lot of help from Kev, and all
now seems OK.....on with the motley.

Mike

I admire Danilov's work - this one being typical of his excellent historical eye. Like you Mike, I do this modelling hobby as an extension of my love of history and technology. I shall therefore lurk quietly and read the italics too

Phil

This looks like a very interesting project.
I'd be tempted myself but this scale is too small for my tired old eyes.
Following with great antisipation.

Bill

Great idea and start; will be following closely.

Well Mike,where do I start? First things first I consider Vladimir Danilov one of the top 5 sculptors in the world right now.His talent is unmatched and whatever comes out of his hands is nothing less than a masterpiece regardless of subject,historical era etc.Second I am one of those slightly damaged individuals who actually enjoy researching their modelling works as much as painting them if not even more.I often say that through the years I have spent more money on books than on paints and brushes and as you remarked that does not work for everyone but it does for me and it gives me great joy.
Having cleared all this I will now comment on your work.It is simply excellent so far.You have done your research,you have planned ahead and you have a clear vision of what you want to achieve on all levels (presentation,atmosphere etc).This is bound to be interesting and I will certainly follow with great interest.

Oda.

Great project Mike and one of my favorite periods. Looking forward to more posts.

Cheers,
Ken

Thanks Ken...me too .There's something highly appealing about that point
in history. . The next post will follow soon...Storm 'Arwen' has rather taken
my eye off the ball for a day or two (bloody great tree down in the garden.,
some slates off the roof, and a twenty-seven hour power outage to boot !)
As my old Grandpa used to say - Bugger!!! Back soon......

Mike

I totally understand. Never a dull moment as a homeowner. Take care my friend!

Got this bookmarked, gonna be good!

Sorry about the wretched delay.....hoped to have this vignette
done and dusted by now, but had to spend three solid weeks
dealing with storm damage that proved more serious than we
first thought - a major headache that forced an urgent change
of priorities. Our scantle roof of Delabole slate and lime mortar
- traditional for Cornwall but never an easy fix even for a roofing
specialist - has been relieved of its tree (!!) and relaid so should
now be good for another fifty years (and we also have enough
properly sized, split and stacked logs to keep the wood stove
alight forever). So yesterday I was at last able to get back to the
brushes....

I am first and last an 'oily' - W&N Artist grade by preference,
who for years now has avoided strong and over-saturated
colours like the plague. Instead, I like 'low-chroma' effects.
with everything mixed and harmonised from a short palette
of just five base colours. It's a technique that uses 'relative'
rather than 'absolute' colour, and reproduces that nifty trick
used in painting pictures called 'aerial perspective'. I also
use 'glazing' layers here and there to give the paint a bit of
a glow in places. To help me play about like this, my base
colours have evolved over the years into Violet Ultramarine,
Burnt Umber, Winsor Red, Indian Yellow, and Raw Sienna,
with the bog standard 'neutrals' Titanium and Paynes for all
the tints and shades. Sounds all rather arty-farty, I know, for
sure it's a bit left field, but that's painting for you....it's always
been a highly individual process where we all have our own
ways and means.....right ?



.........and this is how the groundwork is turning out Clearly
it's not finished, but I was anxious to get something posted.
The tree itself is superbly sculpted and even features tiny
insect bore holes in the trunk.....no they're not air bubbles
caused by bad casting, they're just a typical example of
Volodya's faultless attention to detail. It's being painted as
an Allegheny Hemlock, a species commonly found in west
Pennsylvania, but could of course be any Conifer really - I'm
just a hopelessly obessive nerd about these things as you've
probably already guessed.


Historical guff......

In 1763 - just months after hostilities with the French had
ended - egregious and vengeful policies imposed by the
British on the indigenous tribes, aroused a confederation
of them to the rebellion that became known after it's figure
head as Pontiac's War. Forts and local settlements over
a vast area were attacked - eight of them were destroyed,
hundreds of vulnerable colonists were killed or captured,
and far more forced to flee their homesteads. Fort Pitt, in
the remote wilderness at the headwaters of the Ohio River
( the site of today's Pittsburgh ) with its 125 strong military
garrison - swollen by more than four times that number
of frontier refugees - found itself under siege.

Contingents of 42nd and 77th Highlanders along with the
60th Royal Americans, were mustered in Philadelphia as
a relief force. After weeks on the march across the dense
forests of the Allegheny mountains - and lifting two more
sieges of other forts along their route - they were drawing
near to their proposed night camp at Bushy Run Station
when they were ambushed by a large combined force of
Hurons, Delawares, Mingos, and Shawnees........



The 42nd Highlanders lost 29 men killed in the fighting
that afternoon, including our luckless officer here. Aside
from details of his uniform and equipment, we have no
idea what he personlly looked like, or indeed the precise
nature of his death. Thanks to the commanding officer's
surviving account of the action however we do know his
name .........Lieutenant James Mackintosh, killed in the
service of the King at Edge Hill near Bushy Run Station
on the 5th of August 1763......and he's up next

The tree is looking fantastic Mike! And the historical info is marvelous and really helps set the scene. Well done sir!

Cheers,
Ken

Thanks, Ken....after so long I had to remind myself which way up the brushes were meant to be

Mike

Fine work on the tree Mike. I thought you may have seen enough of trees for the time being! Looking forward to seeing Lt. Mackintosh come to life again.

Phil

Absolutely Phil.....bloody trees.... eh? Normally of course I would have started
on the figures first and then moved on to the base, but on this one the painting
sequence required the change.

Mike

Great start on this project Mike. The tree is looking really good and looking forward to seeing some paint on the two combatants. Love the crisp sharp details on these figures.

Neal