Hussarette: More trouble at the border?

The Chevalier de Neuvalee breathed the fresh morning air of his homeland in the Province of Savoy. He had put on one of his best blue uniform coats and riding boots as befitted a general who was the trusted military adviser of the Duc de Deuxchevaux. He walked his steed across the meadow where he could see his niece, Monique, waiting for him eagerly; he needed to save his stamina for the energetic ride he knew he was in for!

He could not help but admire his 20 year old ward with her slim physique and long flowing blonde hair tied up with a ribbon for her ride. She was wearing a new outfit, state of the fashionable art -bright red tight fitting breeches and a matching very snug waistcoat over a tiny white blouse that barely covered her midriff.  Both breeches and waistcoat were embroidered with white lace in an intricate pattern reminiscent of a climbing plant. "That's a neat touch of a blossoming flower on her buttock" he thought to himself..... The front was of hussar style white lace and she nonchalantly wore the top half unbuttoned with the button loops hanging freely....well it was a hot, early Summer day. Delicate, pendulous earings and white gloves completed the pleasing appearance.

Her grey pony fidgeted as it caught the smell of another horse and very soon the the noise of hoof beats brought a rider, breathless, into their presence. He dismounted and bowed deferentially, handing a large sealed document to Neuvalee. It took the experienced general but a few moments to digest the contents, rolled up the scroll and handed it back to the Aide-de-Camp.

"I'm afraid, my dear, our ride is cancelled! More trouble at the border and the Duke orders me to lead another expedition to teach those Reiklanders a lesson!".........

"The Cancelled Ride". Hussarette Nr 13, Monique

Well this little episode was the precursor to our series of "Honours of War" Seven Years War era Imagi-Nations wargames and you can read how Neuvalee fared in the first two here St-Ulrich and kutzdorf

We have just played the third one - Surprise at Spittelwitz and I intend to write that up very soon.

Meanwhile, for those interested in the process of creating this addition to my Hussarette oeuvre, some more information follows.

After a few years into this project I thought it high time that I painted one of the young ladies on a horse, since Hussars are horsemen and I had collected a lot of source material back in 2012 on my photoshoot with Emily and Bob.  Emily was game to extend the historical role play with some creative Hussarette poses and one was suitable for the eager young Monique above, but out of respect I have used another face adapted from the lovely Ukrainian student Ella.

This is the initial pencil outlining on the gessoed board once I had decided on the composition in Photoshop. 

Final painting is enlarged from the A4 print by traditional squaring up technique

How did you pose the General you may ask? Good question as I'm currently lacking in a gold lace trimmed 18th century general's coat, white wig and 16 hands of horseflesh. So I fell back on the great American painter James Gurney's technique of using miniature models to "paint what doesn't exist". I posed one of my 28mm miniatures, which I use as the Chevalier on the tabletop, and Photoshopped him gazing at Monique; a bit of juggling got the ADC into a suitable position too.

The pencil outline was then fixed by using a fairly fine brush and very dilute Payne's Grey acrylic paint. That was extended to render basic light and shade freely blocked in to produce a grisaille effect.

After that it's just a standard process of building up the acrylic in steady layers of colour. I use it straight from the tube or bottle onto a "stay-wet" palette, and only mixed with water, not any medium. The lighter colours and highlights do need quite a few coats to get them glowing - such as the horse's flanks, white shirt and the gold lace on the saddle cloth.

The work area with stay-wet palette

Here are some details:

Chevalier de Neuvalee's coat, boots and saddle cloth

The original model used for the ADC was a dismounted cuirassier "character"
by Foundry Miniatures, but I've given him a fictitious uniform here

Monique's very small waistcoat gives the illusion that her head is a fraction too big.
I suppose I should have tried to compensate but those of you who collect
 military miniatures will understand "scale creep" to get in the detail!

I hope you have found this interesting, please feel free to comment below.

The original of "The cancelled ride for Monique, May 1760" is 16 inches x 12 inches on 9mm MDF board and is for sale at just £75, unframed,  plus postage. Please email me if you are interested, or wish to discuss any specially commissioned work.

Whatever next? Old school Warhammer 40K?

Hope the title grabbed your attention but if you're looking for Warhammer 40, 000  figures on this blog you might be disappointed..if you're an "old school wargaming" enthusiast please try to smile benignly.

Those who have followed my ramblings on art and wargaming will realise that from time to time I get asked to do some art work that brings wargames figures, or historic fantasy/fiction, to something approaching life. This one is probably my strangest commission yet and I call it old school Warhammer 40K because, along with recent blogs discussing "what is old school" (such as this one  - link) it got me thinking. So much of our talk about old school wargaming is because it is something from a lost past that is nostalgic and for me, surprisingly, this painting did just that.
Please take a look at it:

Hikz and da Boyz, Acrylic on canvas 16" x 12"

Games Workshop and Warhammer has been around for what, 25- 30 years now? And being a die-hard historical wargamer I tended to look on it with disdain until my son reached the age of about 6 in the mid 1990s and we were venturing into all sorts of strange things, among which was "Space Hulk" (I think it was called) which eventually led us into the local GW store. It didn't take long to realise that here was branch of the hobby with its own futuristic universe with fully rounded armies, "national characteristics", uniforms and literature (at a price!) to back it all up - and rules that were fun, and, Heaven forbid! included saving throws when your figure was hit! - old school rules indeed.  Space Marines and Eldar "Codexes" became regular bedtime story reading while we planned the next squads or mechanised squadrons, and later produced our own orks for "Gorkamorka". He learned to paint figures to such a good standard I later paid him to paint some of my 18th Century units. It's nostalgic for me as it represents a period of several years when  my son and I actually spoke the same language and enthused about the same things.........until he found Playstation!

So imagine my surprise when, through email correspondence, I found one of my kindred spirit "old school" wargamer clients also had a soft spot for Warhammer 40K, had created his own gang of Ork Boyz with Imperial Guard opposition and had scratch built a superb model armoured train to go with them. He liked them so much he commissioned me to come up with an idea for a portrait of "Hikz" and his two leading henchmen "Spike" and "Shaggratt"  (Yeah I wondered I about that name too!.....well he is a disgusting ork).

So we got to thinking about, if you were an Ork boss in the 41st Century (and not withstanding what will pass for art if the World lasts that long) how would you wish to be portrayed? The answer is obviously - hard, tough, uncompromising, cruel, powerful, commanding etc, so we needed to capture that idea..... And now a bit more nostalgia since the client asked for a ruined city backdrop "like Stalingrad", and of course I first encountered the awefulness of Stalingrad when doing my own "old school wargaming style" research for 1/72 scale wargames back in 1968 (no handy scenario books back then). Then there was that old pile of my son's "White Dwarf"  magazines from 15 years ago which gave inspiration for the garish colour scheme of a 40K World and uncompromising charisma of an Ork Warboss. 

Now "How to paint what doesn't exist?" and I refer you back to James Gurney's wonderful book in an earlier posting imaginative realism. So I got the client to send me some nice quality photos of his ork models and the armoured train, from all angles. I found some grainy, but effective, black and white photos of the real Stalingrad on the internet and married then together in a computer mockup, as I do for most of my figure paintings. The Imperial Guard bodies and destroyed cannon were inspired by the old WD magazines but original poses from my imagination.

And then, with the client's agreement to the basic design and colour scheme I set to with the brushes and acrylic paint to come up with what you see about 20 hours work and 5 days later. Here is the sub-text to set the scene:

Ork leader, and all-conquering hero, Hikz, has masterminded a ferocious assault on this enemy city and now has entered on his armoured command post train to dispatch any remaining opposition. The defenders are mostly dealt with - evidenced by the foreground bodies and wrecked cannon. Those who fight on are being confidently overcome (by, for example, Spike’s blasta and the bomba rockets). Shaggratt is carefully watching his boss’s back.  The city is a raging inferno so destroyed and hot that no one should be in any doubt that is what you get if you mess with Hikz and da Boyz.

Thanks for sticking with this combined nostalgia and advert, and as a reward here is a photo of the client's original armoured train model which is far too good to hide from public gaze.

Francine et Francoise de la Legion Etrangere de la Marine

I promised in my last posting  Hussarettes a new model that I would reveal the latest painting in the Hussarettes series and so here it is, or, here they are.

The client for this one is pretty keen on light blue uniforms and particularly Lauzun's Legion in the French contingent in the American War of Independence (aka Revolution, for American readers!). Originally he wanted a Hussarette of the First Legion Etrangere de la Marine to go with his existing painting, Lucille, who represents Lauzun's (Second) Legion, but when I showed him a selection of photos of my model, Ella, he wanted two, one from each Legion,  and he made up a background scenario in which to set them.

The Hussarettes project, of course, is more Fantasy Art than History and we can take it anywhere we choose, but the historical military theme is compelling for gentlemen like some of my supporters who love the concept of combining gorgeous uniforms with pretty women. And for me also who likes those two elements but with the added challenge of coming up with decorative art in a plausible setting.

So Francine of the First, and Francoise of the Second, are twin daughters of a French Noble family, who have joined a prestigious organisation for foreign adventures. They are from rich families and natural officer material, and sibling rivalry such as it is, have decided to ply their military trade with different, but related, regiments. Besides which,  Francine's favourite colour is yellow, and her twin sister's red!   So my client, wondering how to get them in the same place at the same time, wrote:

"I’m thinking that the two have visited a painter to have a studio portrait painted while taking a break from occupation duties in a town that is unscarred by the ongoing war. They have met up in a tavern while their respective sections are detached from their parent Legions for an escort duty or some such. Perhaps the artist met them in the tavern and suggested the idea?"

Can't imagine where he got the idea of an artist persuading random women to pose :-).....but at least it gave me the basis for the composition. Two wine goblets stand drained on the bar of the tavern.....it's so hot in America that naturally the ladies don't wear full hussar uniform of shirt, waistcoat, dolman, and pelisse, but their own comfortable, yet flamboyant, combinations. Inhibitions lessened by the wine, and naturally confident in their status, they loosen their clothing and are determined to give our artist the benefit of their best assets for his art.

Sadly the photographic medium just can't do justice to Francine and Francoise, and only the owner of their painting, and his guests, will get the full lustre of the oil paint rendering the gold and silver officers' lace. But for you, dear blog follower, here are some close ups which might give a better idea.

Now a bit more information about the painting itself. It is on stretched, gessoed canvas, 20 inches x 16 inches and I used a limited palette of 9 Winsor and Newton Artisan water-based oil colours plus Titanium White, they were:

Paynes Grey (my "secret" ingredient for sympathetic shading)

Cerulean Blue

Cobalt Blue

Burnt Sienna

Raw Umber

Naples yellow Hue (a basis for skin tones and gold lace)

Cadmium Yellow Pale Hue

Cadmium Yellow Deep Hue

Cadmium Red Hue

After the underpainting is done with thin paint I use an awful lot of Artisan Quick Drying medium which is very rich and glossy and allows juicy effects with good detail. The background was done in a sketchy style though with very little medium and is deliberately muted in tone and detail in order not to fight with the gorgeous uniforms. When it's properly dry it will receive several coats of varnish which will unify the surface sheen.

And that question I always get asked - "How long did it take?" The answer is about 6 hours in the planning and computer mock up stages and another 30 hours in the execution, over about 10 days. And because I'm cheap (at the moment!!) it cost my patron less than half the price of one of Phil Olley's 28mm 18th Century infantry battalions.  So it's not just a rich man's obsession to commission your own Hussarette painting. Just email me for a quote without obligation Chris Gregg

It seems appropriate to give some credit to an artist who has been a great influence on me over  the last couple of years, James Gurney. In particular Gurney's book "Imaginative Realism" gives great insight into how to concoct artificial scenes and characters and then put them in an imaginative situation for a painting. If you think my methods, costumes and use of amateur models seems a bit "cheap", then take a look at this book which is honest and practical and you'll see that even the "greats" do it that way.

Imaginative-Realism

Just a final smile from Ella, and if you've liked this posting please give her some supportive comments and she might model for me again :-) ....but keep it clean, chaps!