Wednesday 29 April 2020

A final push - Lockdown project.

I have just two days left to complete my personal challenge to paint and base 24 DBN elements by the end of April and it's looking good. Today I have 10 x British line infantry to paint and tomorrow 4 French Dragoons and that will complete my target.

Each morning starts with coffee and a dog walk followed by my usual breakfast and the replenishing of the previous days mini wet palette. Generally speaking I have completed the painting and basing by around 5pm with breaks to do other things of course. I think I mentioned previously that I like to keep my evening free from painting.

On the subject of the palette, as you can see it's very much a miniaturised version of that I used for many years, especially in Spain where the extreme summer heat meant paint dried out in minutes. I find this little lid can keep paint open all day so any retouching does not require more paint and wastage. I generally cut out  a few days worth of grease proof paper circles and keep them in the drawer. I give each fresh circle a rub over with water and away I go.

Right, I'm off to paint some soldiers and will update on Friday (1st May) with pictures of both armies completed .....fingers crossed!




5 comments:

  1. I am so impressed by the ‘lid’ palette that I am off right now to get my own sorted out. i have used them in the past, but they have been annoyingly too big!

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    1. Let me know how you get on please Norm. The lid is also low profile which I like.

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    2. I have employed a 3½” wide plastic lid from a Johnsons cotton bud tub. It was a little deeper than I wanted, so I have trimmed it down with grim determination and absence of injury!

      I am painting in a room that has a ton of glass, so warm days are hot and hot days stifle! So this should be a great help in at least getting through a painting session.

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  2. Lee - interested to see your wet palette - nice and simple, though I'm not sure where the dried banana comes in. These days I use a folded paper towel (I have a Tupperware box that exactly fits a paper towel folded into quarters), and my top sheet is baking parchment, which is pretty much like greaseproof anyway, I think. If I keep the box cool, and put the lid on when I'm not using it, the paint can stay useable for a week or more (not Vallejo, for some reason, it separates out) - biggest problem can be mildew starting in the box! I could probably grow my own penicillin.

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    1. Hi Tony, always a pleasure to hear from you. I did wonder why I put a picture of my breakfast bowl on there, but that's where I eat it why I prepare for my morning painting session, I'm finding having a set routine is helping me to get through this lockdown.

      My little lid is left open so the paint is only really usable for a day, but that still saves a lot of paint blobs. Know what you mean re the mildew issue, one drawback of the closed box.

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