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Step 3.5: Blocking in the Horse Tack. . .

The first two horses with their black bridles, reins, and so forth all blocked in.  Blast!  I see a few areas in need of a bit more green around the hooves.


Well, I finally decided on tackling a pair of horses at a time, simply painting the bridles, reins, and other tack to completion before moving to the next pair.  Some visible progress is a good thing.  Painting just one item at a time assembly style, by contrast, is murder even when working with, say 10 or a dozen horses. 

Painting tack is sort of like riding a bike up a very long, steep, arduous hill.  I'm thinking, in particular, of the brutal Ramsey Hill in St. Paul, Minnesota and the equally nasty hill out of Stillwater, Minnesota.  Even in cooler weather, you feel like your head and lungs will burst well before the halfway point.  Talking to your fellow riders is out of the question.  Instead, focus, concentration, and steady peddling in a relatively low gear.  But leave one or two in case the situation gets even more dire, and you need to downshift yet again.  Try to keep your spin. 

And whatever you do, don't look up at the top!  You'll psyche yourself out.  Keep your eyes on the ground about 10' in front of your front tire and focus on getting the job done instead.  Oh, and pray you don't need to stop and unclip your foot from the pedal before cresting the hill.  It ain't easy.  Ah, the mind games we play to stay motivated and moving ahead, you understand.

Painting horse tack is similar.  A job nobody likes, but it's gotta get done.  

With that said, I'm trying something a bit different this time around to speed things along just a bit.  I've thinned my Citadel Abaddon Black with a drop of Liquitex Flow-aid before applying it with a #1 round (with a good point it should go without saying).  The flow-aid keeps the paint workable a bit longer than if applied at full value.  It also thins the paint, letting some of the brown show through, which provides a nice effect.  

The third idea behind thinning down my black when painting horse tack is that it can be more easily worked to either side of the raised details before it starts to dry and set, providing a very thin, sharp line.  Think of it as black lining made easy, a feature that offsets the horse tack rather well.  I like the overall effect, but see what you think.  I'll might back in later and add a few highlights with my usual very dark gray.  Really just some judicious dabs of the brush to the higher points.

Now, if I can manage four to six horses an evening without tearing out my hair, it's possible that I might even be able to get through this most grueling of steps, for all 36 horses, in about a week.  Keep you fingers and toes crossed.

-- Stokes


P.S.
Besides the tack on the original two horses painted yesterday, I managed to get another six done today (Tuesday) in three sessions of 40-50 minutes or so.  Thought I might push it and do the next four for an even dozen, but I did some gardening outside after dinner, it's hot and humid here, and I'm flagging.  So, I'll probably turn in myself once The Young Master has been tucked in for the night.  Mr. Excitement and all that.



And here are the first four with all of that blasted tack painted in.  I went back and hit the tack on first two horses with a second coat of black to make everything a bit crisper.  And only 32 to go!  Once I complete the tack for all 36 horses, it will be a pretty quick and painless job to add the silver bits and brass buckles on the bridles.  Then, it will be time to paint the three squadrons of Batthyani Dragoons themselves.

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