Acrylic over oil based paints -

One of the first things I learned in art class was - Don't.   However, When I was building models of WWI aircraft, which I usually painted in acrylics, I broke that rule occasionally. The popular varnish among modellers was Johnsons' Kleer. Never gave it a thought even put it over some wood grain effect that had been done with oils. Nothing bad happened and some of those models are now quite old. I think part of it is that the enamels were often applied with an airbrush, so the coat was very thin and dried quickly, or maybe I was very lucky. Being at the stage of bow finishing a model of a modern jet, an not really wanting to spray solvents more than I have to, I wondered. So...I made up a few test pieces. The spare drop tank was airbrushed and the two other bits were brush painted. They all received a brushed on coat of either Winsor Newton Galleria Gloss or Matt. The Matt is pretty flat, the gloss more satin, though another coat would probably go glossy.

This is my experience, and I'm not trying to start the argument all over, just thought I'd share the experiment. I think the results may have something to do with the formulation of Galeria varnish, dunno

A very happy Christmas everyone

Messing about with a boat

I've been working on this for a while ...years, most of which were spent gathering dust on a shelf. It's a WWII Vosper MTB (motor torpedo boat)
Anyway, while my brain is refusing to get inspired about painting, it's back in the frame so.
Most recently I've been working on a midships gun platform. As the war went on they gained more effective anti aircraft protection, and general armaments...

I am guessing the star was added to them in 1944 as protection from any trigger happy flyboys mistaking them for Geman S-Boots. below are a few shots from the early stages of building this model.

 
 

More Ottering

Doing some colour work now...

A lot more work still needed!

It's been a while...Nothing new there, then. I've recently been doing some illustration work for a friend for a book she's writing and getting on with a book of my own about an Otter...

This is a colour version

The story is written and I have a large number of roughs to be turned into finished artwork. Things like this...

Catch Up...

Finally managed to recover my account so I thought it about time I caught up with myself. It's been a busy year... Even managed some artwork. Mostly based on the Isle of Wight where we now live. Most of these are watercolour with a few exceptions. Now that the weather is gradually warming up, I'll be able to paint in the garage or outside, which means more oils!

Brent Geese

Booted Eagle

 Bugsy

Hurst Castle (oils)

Yarmouth Marsh

Minke Whales

Newtown Causeway

North Side

Praia Ossos

Canada Geese at Yarmouth

Compton Bay

Winter Forest

A job in retirement...