WWII Encampment May, 2006

The following pics are from the WWII encampment held this past May at the Buckley Homestead in Lowell, IN. It usually takes place on the first weekend of May. I've been here before several years ago but it coincides with the MFCA show and that's where I've been going instead. I opted not to go to MFCA this year and decided to take in the reenactment. I'm glad I did. There are four camps that hold American, German, Bristish and Polish troops. I did see some Russian soldiers so there might have been five camps. They live in authentic WWII encampments and use the same gear soldiers used 60 years ago. The weather was great and provided me with ample amounts of sunshine to get some really great photos. I could only post a few here for obvious reasons. If you'd like a CD that includes all 150 photos taken at high res, 8 MP drop me a request at mailto:mrsarnowski@comcast.net

Bloody Knife

This is a resin bust by Harton. It's somewhat larger than a conventional bust because it includes a complete upper torso. I painted this piece in January of 2006. Bloody Knife was in fact an actual person. He was George Custers favorite Indian scout.

The kit was painted in oils and like all my figures was airbrushed with Testors Dullcoat to get rid of the shine from the oils. The flesh tone was my basic mix of Gold/Ochre, Brnt/Sienna and Titanium White. However, I added some Venetian Red to take the overall tone to a Reddish/Flesh color associated with the Plains Indians. Other additions are the neckerchief and brass studding on the rifle butt. These were signature items related to Bloody Knife.
For more on Bloody Knife select the following link. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Knife

Citizen Clouseau

This is a bust I completed this past June. It's an Andrea resin kit painted entirely in oils. The name of the kit is "Le Sans Coulotte" which roughly translates into "He without pants." I have no idea why it's called this but oh well. This is the explanation listed on the Wikipedia website. The sans-culottes are the characters emblematic of the French revolution; it is the name which the partisans of the Revolution since 1791 give each other, mainly in Paris.
I attempted a new shading technique on the face with this figure. Normally I would have shaded with Burnt/Umber or Burnt/Sienna. This time I used Blue/Black. I was quite happy with the results. I'm not sure how this combination would work on a small scale figure such as 54mm but for a large bust like this one I'm quite satisfied. The face on this piece is one of the best I've ever painted. It has so many details sculpted into it that it was a complete joy to paint. I don't usually paint a kit more than one time but I would certainly make an exception on this one.