d’guy’s all new and totally improved 2019 painting diary

[Leman]

They do look very good. I am assuming cocktail sticks.

[Steve J]

Great idea with the oxen Bill .

[d_Guy]

Leman, I'm using toothpicks (round as opposed to flat). Our cocktail sticks are longer and some what more narrow (but given our idiomatic difference, these might be your cocktail sticks?) We do use the round toothpicks to makeup horse dovers, however. 

The great beasts are now getting their ox bows and the middle seam of the yoke cross piece is getting built-up with green stuff.
(A round tooth pick is in the fuzzy back ground):


Fsn, cutting 6mm off each tapered end of the toothpick and butting them together gave (more or less) the shape of the yoke.
In previous communication we discussed the spectacle of the gun train. Here are five teams nested:


As always, thanks for the comments all!

And please, if any one could suggest the appropriate skin color for 16th c oxen in Scotland, I would appreciate it.

[Techno]

Hi Bill.

Totally 'gut' feeling is that they would be black, or so dark brown you wouldn't  really know the difference.

I can only go on the basis that I've stood in a field, with a load of 'these gits', trying to take photos of Welsh beef cattle (for reference).

The 'conversation' was along the lines of......."Will you please get out of my blanking face....I don't want any of you to knock me over and stand on me."....(I think they weighed something close to an 'imperial' ton..)

They were very 'friendly'......But had no clue as to the potential damage they could do, to a skinny little oik like me, if they knocked me flat.....and then walked over me.

Cheers - Phil

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Browns, blacks, bay, dun, roan all work

[d_Guy]

Thanks Techno and Mr. Lemmy, they shall be base-coated burnt umber, highlighted in sienna (ox blood), washed in black.

Phil, your new tribal name in these part will be, "Near-Stomped-By-Ox".

[Techno]

 

Some time after we moved over here, one of our fields got terribly overgrown, as far as the length of grass was concerned.....Too long for the horses to happily munch on.
One of our neighbours 'lent' us a dozen or so of his cows, to get the grass down to a manageable  length, so the horses could go back in.

I didn't know it before.....But in retrospect it would seem fairly obvious....But cows drink a LOT of water each day, so I had to fill one of the troughs at least a couple of times a day.
Each time I did this, I had to stay by the trough as it filled to stop it overflowing too much...This meant squatting near the trough, so I could control the speed of the water going in.

One of the cows, I think her name was Rosie, was particularly friendly and would often amble over to see what was going on. (Or wait for me to get out of the way, so she could have a drink)

It didn't 'worry' me, as such .....But it was a little disconcerting to suddenly notice a bloomin' great head leaning over your shoulder, when you're low to the ground. 

Cheers - Phil

[d_Guy]

Phil you have sufficient experience to do a James Herriot-like book, your animal sculpts and the associated field research easily filling volume one! 

Here is the "official" set-up for Linlithgow Bridge:


A ground level view looking south toward the Manuel Nunnery (on the horizon in the center) one mile distant. Hamilton's small blocking force is on the east side of the Avon bridge in the foreground:

[Techno]

That looks cracking, Bill !! 

Cheers - Phil

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Phil - cows aren't friendly, just nosiey - had corrugated iron to provide our overhead cover on an exercise on Ripon Training area. Local cows all turned up to see if was a new trough. That coupled with earth like concrete, loverly day.

[Techno]

Yep.....Nosy is probably a much better word to describe them.

(Also potentially very dangerous, especially if they're protecting a calf......Each year, you sadly seem to hear of a walker that's gone into a field for a walk, and ended up being knocked over and trampled.)

Cheers - Phil

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Nice fields.
Cows, eek

[Leman]

Crikey! that doesn't half look the dog's.

[d_Guy]

Thanks again. Leman, I continue to be heavily influenced by your battlefield set up, still working on execution, however. A dog's what i'm Sure I don't know.


Finished first ox train this afternoon. Earl of Lennox can now get his guns on the field:

Attempting to indicate chains between the trails but not happy with the result. Will have to rethink.

[Westmarcher]

I'm going to swim against the stream here. I think the yokes are great but the cocktail sticks/ toothpicks between the oxen are over scale (i.e., too big). The chain effect is good - in fact everything is great - except it's too big - and that's because the cocktail sticks / toothpicks are too big. Just an honest opinion.

[sorry  ]