Hussarettes: the most complex painting yet

Regular followers might be wondering why it has been nearly two months since my last post. Apologies but I've been distracted by my two-dimensional art rather significantly. Fans of the Hussarette genre, however, should be pleased as the latest commission has allowed me to rejoice once again in the theme of lovely ladies and gorgeous uniforms. You might have seen it in process in the background of my  post on the Battle of Lobositz .  Here is an overall view of the completed painting "Hussarette Aides de Camp in Spain c1810" and the story of how it came about.

Oil on canvas 80 cm x 60 cm. "Hussarette ADC's in Spain, c1810" - Nicole, Therese and Margueritte 

As an artist I'm always on the lookout for inspiration and I wander, camera in hand, ready for an opportunity. The Duchess and I went on holiday to Andalucia, southern Spain, just over a year ago. We spent a couple of great days in Seville and much of one of them was spent in the Alcazar Palace and exploring the exotic gardens. This was originally a Moorish Palace but taken over in the Reconquista and adapted and rebuilt over the centuries to meet the needs of Spanish nobles. There are grand buildings in the grounds with elaborate architectural details and clad in classic Spanish tiling. With the wonderful trees and plants and fountains it is an assault on the senses. 

While walking through a "summer house" which was like a mini-palace, I was struck by the posing of three lovely young tourists who were wrapped in conversation and completely oblivious to their surroundings. But I was able to snap a few photos and begin to wonder how I could put the moment in time and place to good use.

One of several photos taken as the ladies made minor shifts in stance

Later in the holiday another amazing photo opportunity presented itself. On the road between Cordoba and Grenada we stopped at a roadside cafe and as I sauntered round the back through a  fairly unkempt yard looking for the loo, I saw an old bullock cart that looked as if it could have been used to carry supplies to one of Sharpe's Peninsular War garrisons! Here is just one pic from my 360 degree photo shoot of that piece

In the Alhambra Palace in Granada the Spanish tour guide, quite bitterly, told us how the Spanish palaces had been ransacked by Napoleon's soldiers and a lot of works of art stolen.......ideas began to take shape

Classic view of the Alhambra Palace on a rather dull day in March 2018

When I got home I tried these photos on one of my muses - Ian Allen. Ian is one of my most ardent patrons and always willing to allow me to bounce ideas off him.  It took a few emails and false starts but between us we came up with the following little scene for the latest in my theme of empowered women in an imaginary "blackpowder period" universe.

It is around 1810 and the French are rampaging through southern Spain. The Army has just taken a city by storm and three Divisions have temporarily come together to share the spoils. To decide the next moves their three Generals are having a meeting in one of the palace buildings. The door is guarded by dismounted dragoons (or dragons as my French-born former miniatures-painter window cleaner called them..... dragons?? it's imaginary but not fantasy!). As it happened each general has a lady Hussar as personal Aide de Camp (well, who wouldn't, given the chance?). These French ladies all know each other from earlier campaigns but rarely meet. So what better opportunity for a catch up when their bosses are engrossed in military plans for an hour or more and they have free time to call for wine, bread and cheese, and oranges, and munch away while discussing the news from home.  

Margueritte surrounded by food and drink sustenance
(based loosely on Penelope Cruz)

It's hot, they've discarded their dolmans and pelisses, sabres and sword belts, sabretaches and cartridge boxes and headgear. Ian likes his ladies sexy but respectable so he came up with the idea of "peasant-style" blouses and I took them as far as my model would allow. I looked at references of Sir William Russell Flint's Spanish ladies to give her inspiration. 

The high-level meeting has disturbed the looters and the girls sit amidst looted cases, sacks of fabrics, carpets, copper and brass vessels and candlesticks, weapons, beer barrels, and a painting in fancy gilt frame. Ian's sense of humour suggested I make it one of my own paintings, so the large print of Natalie came down from my studio wall and posed sideways in the cart!

All these objects, with one exception, are artifacts I own either as antiques or reproduction art props and I set them up as large "still life" groupings in the studio. The exception is the very fine brass mounted double pistol holsters in the foreground which were taken from an internet photo.

The detail of uniforms for the Hussarettes was left to me except in colouring. Ian loves light blue and yellow, and together with the red, he specified the colours. I looked at some older paintings of individual officers or ADCs (such as below) and made sure I gave all three ladies distinctive gold or silver lace, with designs on sabretaches etc inspired by actual examples on the internet.

My actual art prop is black leather
 and home made,
 based on a Young Guard
 infantry officer's design

   

Imaginary shako decorations.

All this planning took place nearly a year ago and I was busy acquiring and making some of the props I would need. Loads of work took place using Photoshop to adapt my Spanish location photos and come up with a planned composition, subject to arranging all the artifacts.  I was keen to line up Marianne to model for me as she is my go-to French first choice, but one thing after another got in our way and so the photo shoot did not take place till January this year. Although I would not use her face (see later) I still wanted a "latin" lady to set the mood and atmosphere.  I painted in the background buildings, the cart and the basics of the mini-palace arches and doorway  so we had a good idea on the spot of what was required   For the shoot I had to put the wargames table to one side, dress the room to give me a fair representation of the stone/tiled bench and upright wall and get all the stuff Marianne needed to handle and wear and we were set to go.

Many hour's work later I came up with a Photoshopped layout to get Ian's approval

This looks pretty stark because it is just cutouts with no shading or artistic effects other than resizing objects to fit. However, this gives those who have asked me a fair idea of where I'm coming from to get the final compositions. Marianne wore three distinctly different sets of blouses, leggings, scarves etc and different hairstyles and we tried each character in many positions so I had about 100 photos to choose the three that suited me best.

Here is one I did not use just to give you a flavour. I decided I wanted poses where all three girls interacted with one another, it makes a much more coherent "story".

We had to decide what sort of features Ian would like for these fictitious Aides de Camp as it gives me something to aim at, though we are not after celebrity portraits. He chose Latina type actresses, Michelle Rodriguez and Penelope Cruz, and I stuck with his theme and went for a Panamanian fashion model blogger-influencer, Pam Hetlinger, for the third. I did not achieve great likenesses but he seemed to like what I came up with fairly quickly.

Therese enjoys the chat
(based on Michelle Rodriguez)

Nicole holds forth
(based on Pam Hetlinger)

It's a tradition of my Hussarette series that the lady's name appears
somewhere in the painting. Sabre scabbards are a favourite way I can
make it look engraved in the metal or leather.
The cast shadow on this side of the painting helps throw the main attention on the girls

We felt some background figures would add realism and finish it off nicely.
Dragoons look after the ADC's horses, and up on the balcony a general is receiving a
 despatch while an aide spies out the city through his telescope

I hope you've enjoyed this rather different blog post. Something for the military equipment  enthusiasts, the Hussarette fans and the painters among my readers. Any thoughts or questions welcome in the Comment box, thank you for visiting.  (Oh! -  the obvious one - 72 hours on the canvas over three months, but countless hours in preparation, and the cost is north of £750).  And if you want to discuss a military - themed commission without obligation please email me  Chris Gregg

PLEASE NOTE: it's flattering to see my art work shared on the internet just by people who like my work and want others to see it, but the artist still retains the copyright. I own the copyright of all these images except the 8th one - paintings of three hussars, and I'm sorry I don't know who to credit for those. So if you post or copy elsewhere please credit me by name and preferably make a link back to this blog post, thank you.  I'm currently posting all my new work on Instagram as @chrisgregg173  or here's a link www.instagram.com/chrisgregg173/

First Chasseurette - Charlotte

Striking while the iron is hot, so to speak, I'm following up quickly on my post introducing Yara by showing you the "Hussarette" painting I  promised in that post. We'd set out to do our version of "The Chasseur's Lady" based on the 80mm miniature you can see on that post or here at metal-modeles nouveautes. I did a bit more research and found out these beautiful fantasy female figures were bought from UK company Phoenix Models and designed by exceptionally accomplished sculptor and artist Tim Richards. You can see, and buy, some of his lovely paintings of nude females at art gallery.co.uk. So it is a hard act to follow but that's part of the challenge of my Hussarette project. So here is my Charlotte - The Chasseur's Lady.

"Charlotte - The Chasseur's Lady, 1805"
Acrylic on canvas 14 inches x 10 inches

However, it wasn't till I got down to detail in planning the painting and looking up uniform references I realised what a conundrum the original Phoenix Pholly figure poses. I had assumed at first that she was wearing parts of the uniform of a Chasseur a Cheval of the French Imperial Guard - in fact the fur colback, bag, plume and raquettes are all fine. But if so that pelisse should be red, not green, and the boots should be black leather, not red. So we have a real fantasy chasseur here and I thought it better, if one is going to pay homage to a master, to stick with the original colours. Well, we all know French Chasseurs wore green uniforms but if so that should be a dolman not pelisse, unless she is from one of those few Line Chasseur Regiments which wore the green pelisse - some reader will no doubt remind us which they were.

The red boots reminded me of Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman. In the style of Legatus Hedlius here's a pic of her

Luckily my lovely Eastern European models seem well equipped wth high heeled boots, so no problem there.

Here is a close up of the, umm,  face

Not a particularly good likeness of Yara, but she was putting on her serious military "Don't mess with me" expression and I found it too severe for a commercial painting. I hope you like this young lady. And if you think she looks too young remember Marshal Massena's mistress, Henriette Leberton, was, accordng to legend, only about 20 when she distracted him from properly conducting the Battle of Busaco in 1810 (fact suggests she was 32 but that spoils my anecdote!).  As an old man painting young flesh, I'm beginning to understand and sympathise with poor old Andre :-). He was 52 at the time!

Just to complete the picture here are the hands, sword hilt and cuff lace.

Comments very welcome.

My Chasseur's Lady stands 210mm, foot to eye, and is priced for sale as a unique original painting at a similar price per millimetre as the Phoenix miniature, only she is completely ready for display and will provide enjoyment for generations. Please contact me if you are interested in this one, or "Natasha", or in commissioning anything to your own specifications.

Wargamers, don't worry, next posting will be back to Waterloo with something equally spectacular - one of Kevin's 180 figure battalions.

Hussarettes: “I know how shoot - my boyfriend was in Military”

(This was originally published on 28 Feb 2014, but I have merely updated near the end with a new email address. Apologies in advance if this causes any confusion)

Count Gregorius looked down at the girl. Although there was a slight chill breeze in the wine cellar of Grunburg castle, she showed nothing but pride and strength. If she felt cold then there was no sign of it and the flickering torchlight gave a warm glow to her skin.. On her head she wore a black fur colpack with gold cords, across her shoulder was draped  a yellow woollen pelisse lined with grey fur and fastened by a gilt strap matching the lace button loops. Her yellow leather Hungarian style boots also had gold tassels. She slowly discarded the red military style short waistcoat which she wore when she had entered the room, and placed it on a stool. She wore nothing else except a remarkable gilt bracelet. The Count couldn’t help wondering what had become of her undershirt, or her dolman, and not least, her breeches.  He glanced, for some kind of explanation, at two stern Grunburg Dragoons, the guards who had brought  her into the wine cellar, but there was none forthcoming.

He walked slowly round her, admiring her Eastern beauty and pondering on the story of her capture. It was during the Prussian army’s pursuit of the Russians following Frederick’s  rather doubtful victory at Zorndorf. She was cornered in an inn wearing what appeared to be the uniform of an officer of the Gruzinsky Hussars,  but she  had fought three of his Dragoons to a standstill until forced to surrender by overwhelming numbers. He realised such a combination of spirit and feminine charm could be put to good use in his long term ambition to become Elektor of Reikland. But first she had to be put through her paces.

“Who are you?” he demanded
“I am Countess Natasha Gruzinskaya”. The surly expression never left her face as she spoke in a rich Russian accent. “I know how fight - give me sabre!”.
“Why are you naked?” He could contain his curiosity no longer.
“Better to fight, of course!”
With a little trepidation he handed her the elegant oriental sabre which he had taken from a captured Croat officer in the Prague campaign. She handled the curved hilt and weighty blade with confidence, all the time staring at him with the contempt of a superior being for an underling. He summoned forward his fencing master, a Captain of Dragoons, who took up the en garde posture which gave the Countess little doubt that she was to be tested.

Gregorius could hardly bear the thought that her perfect skin might be pierced in this contest, yet her spirit had to be broken somehow........

"I know how fight - give me sabre!"
Natasha of the Gruzinsky Hussars, 1758
Acrylic on canvas 14" x 10"
NOTE Copyright - not to be copied elsewhere without my permission, CG

.....But no need to worry, for this is part of my Imagi-Nation. “Natasha” was in no danger for she is really Yaroslavna acting the part of a Hussarette for my most recent photo-shoot to gather yet more reference material for the project. And the beautiful sword is real, but a dull-bladed, reproduction.  As she is a former professional model from Russia I was very fortunate to be introduced to Yara . She was keen to get back into “practice” after a few years doing other things.  She is a very confident young lady with loads of expressions and a willingness to take direction sometimes overtaken by her own exuberance for her art.

She entered the part so seriously that I had a bit of difficulty at first as she took on the discipline and austerity of the military persona as a kind of professional test.  I was showing her the Napoleonic carbine and was putting it at half cock, ready to fire, when she grabbed it with the words “I know how shoot - my boyfriend was in Military”. This photo followed  immediately afterwards

After a bit of this attitude, with which we got many good shots, I told her to lighten up - “Remember you are a pin-up - who wants to look at a miserable pinup?”  That got results and I do have smiling

In fact one of the key drivers for this photo session was  a beautiful miniature brought to my attention by Jean Louis (abdul666) back in 2012. A female version of a French Imperial Guard Chasseur a Cheval, but minus a lot of uniform. Here is a link to the original metal-modeles.com/en/nouveautes and lots of other novelty ladies too.

I hardly dared believe back then that  my project would enable me to  recreate it - a Chasseurette rather than Hussarette.    Yara posed for this from many angles, including the classic pose of the miniature (above), but I won’t show you that one as it will be a definite for a painting later.  But here is another variation.

The deal we have is something of a mutual goal for art’s sake, apart from her fee. In her case a self confessed “passion” for posing and modelling, and a real interest in representing this in painting. In my case I needed a model who was unfazed to go further than the lovely ladies I had already used, and across a wide range of themes. These themes featured a good selection of my props, by no means all of a military nature, but also to allow me to develop more sophisticated reference material.  A lot of that need not concern the wargamer blog follower, but for you chaps, and even ladies, here are two more themes.  The first is taking the “Tales of the Golden Head” girls into the jungles of the Dark Continent –  If I’d known her earlier Yara could have modelled Constance perfectly.

For those who prefer jodpurs I take consolation from a book I’ve recently read - Draw and Paint Fantasy Females  by Tom Fleming. He says if you want to put skin-tight clothing on your fantasy females best to use a naked model first!

The second is along the lines of the classic fantasy females made famous in the art of Frank Frazetta and Boris Vallejo in the 1950s - 70s.  Yara found a variety of  ethnic looking jewellery, and with dagger, axe and "spear" she took on the role of empowered warrior queen, both fighting and looking dignified in royal splendour. They will make some lovely paintings with imaginative backgrounds and atmosphere.

Another photo set may be of interest to viewers of this blog, which will be the 18th century Hussarette “wet T shirt” painting. Hussarettes playfully washing in a fountain or village pond is a theme that was suggested to me at the outset of the project and I have collected some good material from the Duchess and my original model “M”, but I have to say, nothing quite like that produced by Yara. We used some images from Peter Scheck’s fabulous model les baigneuses of the 18th century as inspiration and here is just one interesting pose of the many I have.  All it needs now is a sponsor to see a big painting take shape using loads of material and probably a variety of regiments’ disrobed uniforms!

OK. Now the sales pitch! A model of this quality does not come cheap, and she, quite reasonably will have  a royalty on any painting sales. So I’m very keen to be able to use some of the marvellous material at my disposal for painting - anything considered from £50 upwards. And you can engage with me by private email (Chris Gregg ), to discuss what sort of thing you might like. 

And please show your appreciation for Yaroslavna by commenting on this blog. I’m sure she will be delighted to know that she has not lost her considerable charms since her previous work experience.

FINALLY - A FRIENDLY REQUEST. I've noticed that copies of some of my other Hussarette paintings have been posted elsewhere on the internet. That is fIattering and I love sharing this aspect of how my work and hobby combine. But it does cost me a lot of time and a fair bit of money, as well as original artistic imagination and effort, and 40 years of practice as an artist, so please have the common courtesy of asking me first, and ALWAYs give me credit by name and preferably a link back to the blog or my website. Better still, as some of my clients will attest, commissioning a painting from me, whether fantasy or military, male or female, can involve you in a lot of insight into my working practice and the opportunity of selection of further images.

Fantasy female - The Huntress

Oh well, I thought my next blog was going to showcase my first really big battalion for the Waterloo project, but 138 figures is taking longer than I expected, and just to keep my readers interested I thought I'd show you a painting I did back in the Summer.

OK, she's not "military", but she does have weapons, so that's my excuse

Here is "The Huntress - Powerful yet Vulnerable"

During one of our photoshoots, when the Hussarette garb had hit the floor, my model sportingly took up some poses in her thong with the carbine and sabre.  Reviewing them later this one struck me as ideal for the kind of classic fantasy female made popular by the likes of Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell. Another famous artist of this genre is Frank Frazetta, and his Tarzan comic book paintings often had eery jungle with tangled draping foliage.  While in no position to think I can match these great artists it wouldn't stop me having  a go. So I substituted the carbine for a powerful looking bow, added a quiver of arrows and a large hunting knife, played around with the thong and bra to give them a bit more substance, and invented some henna style tattoos for an additional sense of the mysterious.

Looking back through my photo reference library I came across some scenes from Gloucestershire's very own Puzzle Wood in the nearby Forest of Dean, which already had that quality of moss covered rocks and clinging dark foliage. Just changing the perspective a little gave me a good setting for my Huntress to be crouching, examining tracks of her prey, some kind of bear is what I had in mind, then hearing a threatening sound in the woods and looking sideways, warily.

I hope I've created the mood for the viewer of a woman very much in charge, and confident, yet in this environment she is still vulnerable to some hidden being or force.......

Female viewers might say "I'd feel vulnerable dressed like that wherever......." :-)

Fans of Legatus and his wargames ladies might think she could be at home with Professor Challenger, helping to populate his Lost World

Unlike all my Hussarettes this lady doesn't have a name, so readers are invited to give polite suggestions

The painting is oil on gessoed, stretched canvas and is 20" x 16" . I stuck to a colour harmony using only 

Cadmium Yellow hue

Naples Yellow

Cadmium red hue

Viridian

Burnt Umber

Prussian Blue

Titanium white

The Huntress is for sale, at a mere £95. If you are interested, or fancy commissioning something in the same vein please contact me by email Chris Gregg or if you are not familiar with my other work you can see many of them on my website and its links (though it needs updating with more work since the Summer) Chris Gregg military art page