Charity auction

I'm still catching up on everything that I've missed recently and just came across the fantastic pictures of the Bloggers For Charity game with all those fantastically painted figures. Still gutted that life got inthe way and prevented me going up and seeing it in person. Congratulations to the team for putting together such a great event!

There are about 10 days left to get your bids in and own some of those units

http://bloggersforcharity.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/figure-auction-for-2014s-bloggers-for.html

It's good to see the Coureurs that I painted all based and ready to battle

BfC Coureur des Bois

They have taken a while, but the Coureur des Bois for the Bloggers For Charity project. These are the first historicals that I've ever painted , so it was a nice diversion from zombies or pulp models.

I'm happy with the models (mostly). The only area that could be a lot better are the eyes. It's something I struggle with a lot and really need to work on so they don't have such a surprised expression. 

They will be appearing at Triples in Sheffield on the 17th/18th of May along with all of the other great offerings. It's something I want to go up and see in person as it'll be rather spectacular to see the project come together.

I just need to work out how to post them out to Loki to base without the paint scratching. They will be varnished (once I pluck up the courage to try again after the misting problem seen on the mummies), but will need some decent packaging. Previous attempts at packing in foam or tissue have both failed and ended up with chipped models. 

Day off = prep work

For once I've actually got a bit of time off work. I know, weird right?

I took the opportunity to go through and clean up a load more models for the painting challenge, which brings the total for everything that has been prepped to about 1600. There is no way in hell I'm going to put much of a dent in that, but at least all the prep work is now done for them all.

Now to try and finish off the BfC models before the 15th so the painting table is clear. Speaking of which... here's a sneaky peek at how they are going. The colours were all chosen after having a long chat to some ladies at a craft fair near us who deal with historically accurate natural dyes. the range of bright colours; most of which I certainly didn't expect. You can see some of the colours over on Claire's blog.

And in other news...

...painting has finally resumed! And the subject models are those for the Bloggers for Charity game/auction...

Only to be halted quite quickly when I discovered that all my thin detail brushes are in a bit of a state; which made painting some eyes on the first of my coureur de bois a bit tricky to say the least. Still. Some painting is better than none and there are now some new brushes and some brush soap on it's way, so the rest should be easier.


James and Loki may notice something slightly different about the guy on the left. With 16 coureur to paint and only 3 different models, I thought I should add some extra tiny touches to a few for a bit of variety. Some have grown longer beards or hair and a couple have picked up some nasty... habits from the natives they are working with. Better photos will be forthcoming once there is actually something decent to see :)

Bloggers for Charity reminder

I'm sure most of you reading this are already involved, but Bloggers for Charity are looking for a few more painters to help finish their fundraising efforts. Painting for charity... what could be better?

It seems I'm going to be fighting for the French. I knew working for a Belgian company would come back to bite me at some point. Still, I get to paint half of the Coureur de bois units to fend off those pesky English. I'm looking forward to these guys as the models are new releases from AW Miniatures and seem to be full of character.

To get me started I've just been for a quick trawl through Google Images for some reference material for Courer de bois, so I know where I'm headed (roughly). Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be much in the way of colour reference compared to the military uniforms, but Steven Lapon has some nice Couteurs painted up on his blog.

For a bit of inspiration, here's what Wikipedia says about them:

In 1534, Jacques Cartier discovered the Gaspé Peninsula and claimed the land in the name of Francis I of France. For the better part of a century the Iroquois and French clashed in a series of attacks and reprisals. That's why Samuel de Champlain arranged to have young French men live with the natives, to learn their language and customs and help the French adapt to life in North America. These men, known as coureurs des bois (runners of the woods), extended French influence in the south and the west and in 1609, New France controlled all the Canadian Shield. "Coureurs des Bois came from all social ranks and all succumbed to the lure of the wilderness."

In 1680, the intendant Duchesneau estimated that there was not one family in New France who did not have a "son, brother, uncle or nephew" among the Coureurs des Bois. It was not just the promise of adventure or the freedom to roam that enticed the Coureur des Bois; it was the profits earned by purchasing valuable pelts from natives in return for European goods.

A coureur des bois was an adventurer with many skills, including those of businessman, and of an expert canoeist. They engaged in a range of activities including fishing, snowshoeing and hunting. All these activities depended on skills learned through close contact with the indigenous peoples of North America.

From that description and the few pictures that I can find, the Coureur de bois seem to be  most likely to be wearing whatever they wanted, rather than a specific uniform, which could lead to a rather random looking squad. As woodsmen and explorers I wouldn't have thought they would go too over the top, but some tribal designs and styles may be apparent due to them either trading with, living with or even marrying into the various tribes. For colours I would imagine browns, pale blues and rusty reds? I'm wondering if warpaint would be seen on some coureurs that had integrated more with the tribes?

I'm sure I've got some photos of the F&IW era from a reenactment around here somewhere... I just have to wait for my full photo library to re-import to Lightroom. This may take some time!