Lady Gray, or, a miniature painted, would you believe.

Finally.

Praise be to all the painting gods. Finally. A miniature painted

Painted, not finished (basing and varnish await) but I'll put it in the achievement column anyway. Doing anything is a win.

Meet Lady Gray, and her boy, Rocko.

They are from Jon Boyce's very nifty Colony 87 miniature range of science fiction civilians sculpted by Michael Anderson. They are a mix of baroque and ramshackle. I get a very Dune-ish Harkonnen vibe from this one and her nominal consort (to be painted) which is a good vibe indeed.

Painting-wise, this was started two or three weeks ago and finished this Sunday gone, and I can't remember how many washes and highlights I daubed. I seemed to be mixing ivory and bone into everything on the wet palette and smearing between colours to get a range for highlighting.  About the only certainty was that I wanted to use pink and turquoise (P3 paints have slowly been getting into my kit) for the plating and the robe. Oh, and Rocko had to be largely unclothed.

(I notice looking at the photo that I need to add colour to Rocko's booties and there are a few rough spots between Gray's leg and cloak. )

I'd had a plan for the hair to be dark. The face changed that. The more I highlighted her face, the sterner she became and the more Thatcherite (ugh) she appeared. I could not soften the face to save my life. Just as well, really...

I did attempt makeup. Some very diluted turquoise for the arched eyebrows. Red for the lower lip and a touch of colour on the cheekbones. (New technical thing: I need to get better at using reference.)

Enough half arsed paint techneek talk.

***

It's been the same thing now for ten years.
"Mother," he'll say in his squeaky voice "let's go to the zoological garden."
By the Emperor, ten years of staring blankly at Desert Devils and stuffed Grinxes and listening to Rocko giggle vacantly has taught Lady Gray to hate. She hates the zoo. She hates the animals. She especially hates the smiles. One day, one day soon, she'll borrow her husbands jokaero things and see what the melting point of teeth actually is...

We are not amused.

***

What to paint next? I'll know when I do it,