Skip to main content

Squiggles 'n' Blops on a Lazy Saturday. . .


The title of an over-sized Jackson Pollock study in color and texture?  Noooooo!  Just a description of the piece of palette paper on which I've been thinning and mixing my alkyd oil paints for a couple of evenings as I apply the colors to my Prussian and British officers and horses.  The addition of London Yellow this morning -- to approximate the yellow of an officer of Prussia's 2nd Kuirassiere -- just seemed to pull everything together.  It's funny the things that cross your mind as you paint.  And as I thinned the blob of yellow with several drops of Original Liquin earlier today, it occurred to me that the mix of puddles of various colors had a pleasing effect.  At least to my eyes.  Hence the reason behind, and the title of, this post.

Now, lots of wargamers and figure painters state that they have always avoided using oils because of, among other things, the perception that it takes a long time for the paints to dry, preferring the convenience of acrylic hobby paints of one brand or another.  Fair enough.  Especially if you are using old-fashioned oils thinned with something like Linseed Oil, which can take weeks to dry out.  

But, alkyd oil colors, like those produced by Winsor-Newton, dry to the touch overnight, and the Liquin thinner itself also speeds up drying times appreciably.  Using the two together mean that it's safe to begin the next painting step on a batch of figures within 24 hours and sometimes even sooner.  So, if you're after something slightly different with your miniatures painting, I urge you to give oils a try.  They can produce some really nice effects applied over a white undercoat. 


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Presenting the Anspach-Bayreuth Kuirassiere!!!

Here they are, with the rearmost nine figures still drying, three squadrons of the Anspach-Bayreuth Kuirassiere, now in the service of the Grand Duchy of Stollen. And now, it's onto that artillery!

And It's the End of September!!!

  Saxony's Ploetz Cuirassiers, an illustration lifted from the Kronoskaf website, which has thus far guided my spectacularly glacial painting of 30 28mm Eureka Saxon cuirassiers purchased all the way back in October 2016. A gray, cool Saturday here in Mid-Michigan with rain in the forecast. The Grand Duchess is away at a conference, so it's just "The Boys" here at home. The Young Master (almost 15) has retreated to his room for something or other following breakfast while I have stolen back down here to Zum Stollenkeller (masquerading as my office) with a second mug of coffee and both cats comfortably ensconced nearby. Enjoying the late morning and still in my pajamas! Not much planned for today beyond designing a couple of promotional flyers for workshops my department is presenting (small parties we will throw?) in October and November.  With maybe a bit of on the next podcast script. More important,  I am toying with the idea of returning for an hour or...

Happy September 2nd!!!

    T his weekend, the question of what, precisely, constitutes an "imagination" came up in an online forum of which I am a part.  To be fair, the issue originates from further afield in a Facebook group that I am not a member of, but I weighed in with my own view.  The following was in response to the question posed yesterday (Sunday) morning by an exasperated member of my own rather more gentlemanly town square, who had been met with a strident response to information he shared about his (admirable) hobby activities on said FB group.  Here is, more or less, what I wrote: To my mind, the concept of imagi-nation(s) is a broad one.  It can range from historical refights or what-if scenarios/battles/campaigns between armies of a particular era, to completely made up combatants operating in a quasi-historical setting, to the rather generic red and blue forces of the Prussian Kriegspiel that examine a particular tactical problem, task, or exercise.   ...