Painting Uncle John – Part 6

Polly is painted!

 I’ve finished the parrot with a sense of relief! Unlike the rest of the bust it felt like a struggle to resolve this part of the paint job satisfactorily, but I eventually got there. As I’ve said before I probably blundered with my choice of a lemon yellow base colour. Although now the parrot is finished, I like the vibrancy of colour that I’ve gained through having such a bright base colour - so it all turned out well in the end.

The other issue I’ve had was around painting the feathers. The sculpt is quite stylised; not least because it has been ‘blown up’ from it’s intended use as a 32mm scale miniature. That’s provided the challenge of deciding where to pitch my paint job between realistic and cartoony. It’s something I’ve continually had to play with as I’ve painted the parrot and, over all, I’m pleased with the final result. Painting this part of the parrot became a happier experience as things progressed, so I’ll take that as a good sign.

Now everything is painted I have to fix the Parrot onto Uncle John’s shoulder. Then I shall turn my attention to the long list of tweaks and adjustments I’ve been compiling as the job has progressed. This will need to be a considered process as some extra touches may well refine and improve things, but as we all know, it’s easy to go too far and over work a paint job.

When all the painting is finally done I’ll mount the bust onto a plinth. I’ve already prepared two alternatives, so I can see what works best for the bust. Then it’s a matter of making up some transportation boxes for both Uncle John and Squarg ready for Euro Militaire next Saturday. It’s going to be a busy few days!