Hello guys, as the May International Competition in thens comes fast - less thana month - my achine is speeding up.

This is my latest work, a vigniette , with the 2 Celts from SEIL MODELS, sculpted by babis Stathis member aka "aiantas"

All painted in Valejo acrylics.

I just hope you like it

All comments welcome

Hi Costas,

Thought for a minute I was looking at a picture of my Grandfather!! LOL.

Seriously, very neat. Thanks for posting this.

Cheers

Al

Reckon it'll be a winner in Athens my friend!!

Thanks a lot guys . competition is coming in less than a month and i am speeding up !!!!!

I am glad you likedit

Costas

Bro, this is excellent work! I love how the trees work together with the cross! Its great. The ground work is your usual incredible stuff and the figures are exceptional. Congrats to you and also Bavis for crafting this work of art!!! Cheers Kevin

Stunnig work Costas, absolutley stunning.
Both figures are great subjects and both are very very well executed. I'm particularly impressed by the blue tunic on the guy to the left. The red one looks great as well, but the blue tunic is just amazing .
The ground work is awesome as usual.
Only thing that bothers me a wee bit, is the cross. You have these very old and crooked tree's embracing the cross, which means the cross would have been there for perhaps hundreds of years. If that's the case, the cross could use a lot more aging. Heavy layers of moss and perhaps a little fungus.

My brother, you continue to surprise me every time i open pics of your latests work... every time i see one i think " He did a miracle" and every time i open next one i can only consider the fact that you made another miracle, greater than the one before...

No words to describe how much i like this one

cheers
Mirko

I dont know if 2 trees would get a chance to grow so old and surround a cross like this!
It does make for a very cool background though! The painting is stunning as usual. Love the highlights on the tunics .... its all great. Very nice Costas. How about one pic of the whole scene and base?

Did the Doctor, approve of all this activity? :-)

Good to see you up and around.... and painting again..

Costas,

Great work as usual. My only question is...where is the critter? I thought you always included a small animal. I must have missed it.

Cheers

Charles :-)

Wow! The colors look fantastic.

Costas,

honestly awesome work. The figures, the background, the whole thing. All at a level I can only dream of approaching.

As far as the whole cross discussion goes, I have an honest question. Where are these Celts from, because with my limited knowledge of the non-Roman and Greek ancient era, it seems that the Celts as depicted were no longer existing by the time these crosses came around.

That said, and no offense to you Costas was intended with these or my previous remarks, the first rule of modelling is have fun doing what we do, and do what we do as good as we can. Historical accuracy is a second....

So all I can do is honestly congratulate you with a great vignette. So Congrats,

Harm

Hi guys and thanks a lot for your comments.

I agree that the cross could have some more weathering and thats something i could do. I didnt did it onthe first place as i wanted its shape to be evident and clear. But , maybe i shoulddothat .

On the cross accuracy :

The Celts come from 500 - 400 BC 5th century before Christ , and the cros ...


I had the same curiosity myself , when i started searching for this before i make the base as i had it in mind

So some information on one of the many sites related

"The Celtic cross (Ionic cross) has it's roots in a pre-Christian variation of the Solar cross. Examples of the Celtic cross date back as far as 5000 years BCE. Its origins are not known, but it was known to be an early symbol of the sun god Taranis.

After the conversion of the Celtic people to Christianity, the Celtic Cross became an emblem of the Celtic Christian Church. Irish legend holds that the cross was introduced to Ireland by St. Columba, so it is sometimes referred to as Columba's cross, or the Ionic cross, after his monastery on the isle of Iona."

from

Celtic Cross info

But a lot of sites canprovide information about it

i dont know of course if allthis info is correct but on the other hand as a painter i use some artistic license tohave the idea in my mind come real. If better historicalbooks, and color plates were made,we would have much more help !!!!

Thanks


p.s. The small animal - bird for the occassion is onthe way to here !!!!

Hi Costas,
A great piece yo have here. As usual the groundwork is outstanding. And most importantly I'm glad that you are very active again.

Thanks a lot Alguhan for your kind comments

Great work Costas.

I really like the bright colours you used.

Did you use a "tree mushroom" as base?

Cheers

Claude

Morning Cob, how have you been keeping, I've not spotted you for a while......
Mate a busy wee viginette,...but I have a thought , the setting over powers the two figures , perhaps had you not put the twisted trees in and may be used a twisted vine instead, around the cross and placed the figs higher using the cross as a back drop and not so prominant, the balance and comperstion, may have for me been easier to look at.... This is just my opinion..
Love the over all skill level in the painting and setting,... remember we talked about the eye being lead through the setting and back to the centre...

keep pushing Cob....Phil...

Thanks a lot guys for commenting .
Claude iused a slice of an oliveoil tree branch as base

My Friend Phil , i accept the different approach that you think of,but is just the way ihad itin mind . The reverse height setup wouldnt work for reality , compared to what i had in mind

Costas, my friend, beautiful work, I like it very much.

Keep up the good work.
Cheers
Roc.

Thanks a lot my friend.I appreciate it

As usual magnificent work, Costas.
I can't wait to see your next work. Btw I know you had health problems, but will you continue Figure Painting Class?

My dear friend Hi . Thanks for commenting . I amnotthe guys that keeps unpainted figures on his bench (talking on the class) but have ordered several Valejo bottles before my ilness and they never came , pack was losted from US and i reoredered them some time ago . If they come next week , in 3-4 days iwill finish the figure fort hepainting class. Sorry for the delay but all accidenst happened at same time

Wow Costas, that is amazing, your shadowing and highlighting has come a long way. Ive just started painting figures again and im taking the advice youve given me about going with many many light coats. So far I like the results! Keep it mate!

Thanks a lot Ian !!!! Do your work and the progress will be on the way !!

Thanks costas, i will keep at it. The only thing thats hard for is doing faces. grrr getting so frustrated with it