Painting the light infantry officer

I have just finished a painting for the light infantry, one of the officers was leaving and they wanted to give him a special living present so they asked me to paint a military painting for him.  The painting I painted for him was of a light infantry officer of the 1812 period.  The uniform of the period was very fancy and the information and style of uniform I got from the Internet.

The background for the painting I found to be tricky as the main focal point was the officer and the uniform he was wearing, so I decided to use cloudy Smokey background with some grass and bushes to give it some depth, I also put some more detailed grasses and stones at the bottom of the painting.

The painting needed something on the left of the picture to give balance so I decided to put two figures further back to help to give balance the other two figures were of light infantry soldiers of the period.

The palette was a limited one, the colours being

Burnt umber

Burnt sienna

Crimson

Yellow beep

Permanent sap green

Cerulean blue hue

French ultramarine

Yellow ochre

Carbon black

Titanium white.

The paints I used was interactive acrylic, I find these good as they can be revitalized by spraying water on them and so extends the drying time this helps when blending the colours together. I painted it on a Windsor and Newton canvas board.

Everybody liked the painting and the gentleman it was painted for was delighted so I am very pleased.

Here is the finished picture what do you think?

All the best Phil.