Paint Table Saturday (just made it by three minutes!)

Well, I have had a not very exciting week this week.  I have been stuck at home, with no trips to London to break up the monotony, writing a report.  The light was so bad I couldn't even take the odd painting break, although I have continued assembling my Perry Miniatures plastics during the evenings while watching TV.  I also undercoated the Renedra American church and built their store model too. I have to say that I find that the fit of these models is not what they should be but maybe I have been spoiled by the Hasegawa aircraft model kits I used to make twenty years ago.  Some filling will be needed on the store.

Yesterday I went down with a strange 24 hour bug.  I felt really ill, had the shivers, a bad headache and had terrible pains in the joints of my legs.  I dozed on the settee all afternoon and was so ill the Old Bat had to get my dinner for me, the first time she has done that for years (and if you had ever had her cooking you would know why I always cook my own meals).  I went to bed at about eight  and slept for 12 hours.  Today however, as the Beatles used to say, I feel fine.  Very odd.

As a result, I had to do the work today that I should have done Friday and also had to go shopping as we literally had nothing to eat.  I did however, get an hour's painting in this afternoon and, after a brief panic when I thought I had run out of white paint, I have now finished the horses for my ACW Union cavalry.  This is a big part of these figures out the way. I am now glad I decided to paint all twelve at the same time.  Next I will do the saddles and blankets, which I hope to get done in the next week.  I even did a little bit on my first company of Texan infantry.

Union saddle blanket

I really have no idea about ACW uniforms so am having to do a great deal of research   Fortunately, the amount of re-enactors sites has helped a lot, although exact colour matches are a minefield given the vagaries of photography and the colour changes that weather and time has wrought upon original uniform items. Without a good re-enactment site I would not have known how the saddle blanket was folded and that the effect is an asymmetric look to the different sides.  Now all I have to do is paint orange stripes on very small blankets.  Perhaps it is no wonder I am such a slow painter!

Dans le patio (circa 1905)

Today's wallpaper distraction is from a French postcard with an illustration by François-Maurice Roganeau (1883-1973).  He studied in his home town of Bordeaux but was a good enough painter to win the prestigious Grand Prix de Rome in 1906, which gave the winner a paid year to study in the Italian capital. He was  director of l'École des beaux-arts de Bordeaux from 1929 until 1958 and lived to be ninety years old.  Proving, once again, that painting naked ladies leads to long life (unless you are Modigliani).

Today's music is nostalgic as it accompanied, how shall we put it politely, a rite of passage with the young lady mentioned in our previous post.  Oddly, however, until yesterday when I downloaded it from iTunes. I had never owned a recording of it.  I always argue with my best friend Bill about whether Puccini or Verdi is the better opera composer and he is firmly in the Puccini camp.  Given I have five Verdi operas on iTunes and this is my first Puccini one I am obviously in the other!