It turns out that small children made a mockery of even my modest painting goals. However! Like the Stormcast themselves, I persevered in the face of noisome opposition and recently managed to complete a small expeditionary force of the Dawn Arcus. The models have been painted for some time but I've finally managed to base them out.

These were the models where I finally learned not to be scared of edge highlighting and Just Did It. That said, while I might not be scared of it any longer, it's still not my favourite activity. I've found that I actually prefer glazing down from a brighter base to a darker shadow. This was how I handled the copious gold on the Paladins and Knight-Questor, glazing a dark brown into the depths of the gold.

Not shown here is my first attempt at wet-blending in the back of the Knight-Questor's cloak. It turns out that white is possibly not the best colour to start wet blending with. The end result isn't terrible, but it's certainly not the cleanest job.

It's not possible to see here, but the ferns on the base are done with water-soluble oils. After watching lots of James Wappel, I thought that oils would be an interesting project but did not want mineral spirits in the house; they're way up high but I have a tendency to catastrophise and didn't want them near the kids. But water-soluble oils are a thing so I gave them a try. They're good fun! I've got a sacrificial model (a chaos cultist, appropriately) planned for a fuller test.

Since starting the Dawn Arcus, I've been developing a small setting in the back of my head and some notebooks. The Forest of Shadowed Murder is situated between gates to the realms of shadow and death and since the Age of Chaos is not a nice place to be. My next project is therefore going to be an expeditionary force from the Clockwork City and I'll cut into it with some of the tormented souls bound to the Forest. At the current rate I expect to have something finished in the next decade, so I'll try to get a few more work in progress shots done.