2 to the power of 100,000 to 1 against and falling

A good day to be inside - rain forecast and rising gale force winds. Ah, the joys of living close to Wellington. But, with a beer, a few biscuits and a handful of pencils, normality has been restored.

RM123 has been set aside for the moment. I needed a new challenge and a number of buyers of my Ka945 and J1211 prints have asked if I was going to produce a drawing of Ka942. Well, the answer is "yes" and I started 'Nigel Bruce' this morning - just the outline and the grille so far, but it's a start.

Brett has also been grilled - Bourne's Subaru Impreza's front-end is taking shape.

anzac day

Painting warcraft on ANZAC day...  oh well..
the P40 got more background, gotta be careful... less is more with Gouache

and started the acrylic underpainting of the Moored Catalina. Marcus WILL be happy!

Fiskens Buffalo

No drawing this sunday morning as Warwick disappeared to spend some dosh on a new car. So I completed the painting of Fisken's Buffalo over Singapore. He did down 3 zeke's in Buffaloes so its all good although the actual attitudes of the planes is entirely a figment of my imagination. Certainly better than the original background but a busy picture. Now lets see if it sells!

Hot hot hot..

day off between jobs today so attacked the zero... literally...
Lots of flames etc  the smoke trail was an issue but I think its worked out.. not too obvious and lightens up nicely past the Buff, draws the eye to the cockpit too... also tweaked the Buffalo with some overpainting and  developed the other wingman. Plus balanced the horizon a tad... great fun.. lots to do yet tho..

How Shrewd and Discerning were you?

The background model was a Brit Sub.. in fact the most modern British sub.. HMS Astute!
A sub dogged apparently by some issues! Going aground, damaging the tug, showing its commander the door, breaking down in Scotland and then subject to a berserk able seaman who fatally shot a sailor in the control room! Hmmmmmm..

Ive had a shot at the Tomahawk background too... coming along is the best Id say... its the right approach tho, a windy overcast day,... needs more work! Ive been using Gouache which is re-wettable so although it dries like acrylic it can be re wetted and allow a 'smerge' on the edges where new paint is placed.. very cool!

easy peasy

just got a new easy model today.. These are already built plastic models. Theres quite a range of them and they are really only just appearing in NZ model shops. They cost between $15 and $20 and for that money are Great value.
Ive had most of these for ages but the latest is that Gabreski Thunderbolt. Looks good eh? these would be great for models for artworks to get strange attitudes etc!

and wait till you see the one in my next post! maybe you can see it in the background..

On the go...

We returned to my place as our drawing venue for the latest Sunday session - the dining room table (in the photo below) is where we spend our Sunday mornings. Examples of drawing & photographic art is in evidence - the two prints at the lower right are examples of Kiwiana by the very talented artist, Matt Guild.



I continued on RM123 - it's hard to imagine that there is two hours work between this posting and the previous posting, but the undercarriage took longer than I anticipated (and it requires still more work) whilst I also had to determine the colours of the seats within the railcar.



However, I think Brett will have greater challenges with his new undertaking - Possum Bourne's Subaru Impreza - as the number and variety of sponsor's logos will be daunting, even for him:



Brett also has the Brewster Buffalo on the go (and, yes, the new background makes a huge difference to the picture), as well as the Catalina commission, and the P40 is still hanging motionless in a southern sky - although the trees have been fleshed out (so to speak)...

In the Buff

well, the Pucara is almost done, just a satin varnish and decals to go. Ive found a way to hook my Tamiya compressor to a Paasche airbrush so hopefully that will do a nice job. Its still a crap model but Ive started painting again at least.

Heres the model

and so now Ive started a re painting of another old drawing. I NEVER liked the background I did of geoff Fisken's Buff and it certainly never sold so I hunted out a Singaporean background and another shot of a downed Zero and sortof started playing around with them..

Heres the old crap background..

and  heres the new attempt!

I hope youll agree it completely changes the picture. Just wonderful! the background is supposed to be over Perimbi Singapore. I have no idea if geoff flew there but it suits....

Inspiration

It was Wanganui, Brett, not Wanaka - the crowds at Ohakea were more than enough for one month. Spent a few hours at the Tawhiti Museum in Hawera - this is a MUST do Kiwi Bucket list item. No aeroplanes or locomotives (but lots & lots of tractors). The size and detail of the dioramas just has to be seen to be believed. I'm all fired up creatively.



The above is just one example - all the figures (including those on the stockade in the middle distance) are of differing scales giving an incredible sense of depth & perspective in what is really a shallow box. A simply brilliant example of the modeller's art.

artists block

This is why Im currently blocked re drawing and painting.
As I mentioned before this crappy Pucara model has been staring at me for about 2 years now, so after my Ohakea trip I reckoned its time to finish it!
Coming along nicely but a slow process waiting for paints to dry. The model has to be THE worst ever model Ive made! Its made by a Russian company called Gran or maybe WTYPMOBNK. Utter rubbish with flash for africa.. so its a struggle to get motivated and to actually do it. The only good part is the final detail painting when I try to make a purse from a sows ear...
anyway its taken over the work bench so Im going as fast as I can. Its the long Easter weekend just now so Ive got 4 days to complete it!!
Warwick is off somewhere over the weekend (Wanaka?) so Ive got a clear morning sunday...

Back to Reality

Both Brett & I visited Ohakea yesterday - separately, with Brett literally leaving as I arrived. Around seventy thousand people braved what turned out to be a very hot day with the airforce base gridlocked for hours. As mentioned by Brett, we have both sold our artwork - Brett the Skyhawk while I sold both my offerings (the Catalina & the Skyhawk). Very satisfactory, especially those little red stickers...



Tea and biscuits at Brett's this morning. I managed to find an old coloured image of an RM railcar which has enabled me to determine the colours of the connector housings, so work has continued on the front of RM123...



Brett did further work on the P40, but is now in a quandry as to what to do with the background. A bit of airbrushing, I suspect...



... and he started blocking out his next commission - an RNZAF Catalina at rest...