Warrior

 Greetings

I have just finished this acrylic painting.

It is inspired by my (as yet unpublished) fantasy novel.

I have just started working on another painting....

Until next time

Adieu

To the Yield 1

 Greetings

I have been working on another acrylic painting. It's nearly finished...

Meanwhile, here is another piece of computer art.

As  usual, I will be posting lots of different versions.

Until next time

Adieu

Anchors 12

 Greetings

Here is the last version of this computer art.

A little censorship has been applied for this blog...

Until next time

Adieu

First Officer

Greetings

The new acrylic painting is now finished.

This is steampunk inspired.

You will note that his shoulder flash shows a crowned dirigible over crossed swords with a wreathed 5 below

I am calling this one "First Officer"

Until next time

Adieu

Anchors 11

 Greetings

The painting is still not finished...

So here is yet another version of the computer art...

Until next time

Adieu

Anchors 10

 Greetings

I am currently working on a new acrylic painting. 

It's in the dreaded 'nearly finished but not quite' stage...

Meanwhile, here's the next version of this computer art.

Until next time

Adieu

Anchors 9

 Greetings

Apologies for late post. Life...

Here is the next version of this computer art.

Until next time

Adieu

Anchors 8

 Greetings

Here is another version of this computer art

Until next time

Adieu

Anchors 7

 Greetings

Here's the next version of this computer art.

Until next time

Adieu

Anchors 6

 Greetings

Here is another version of this computer art

Until next time

Adieu

Anchors 5

 Greetings

Here is the next version of this computer art.

Until next time

Adieu

Greek

 Greetings

This is a new acrylic painting that I have just finished.

Until next time

Adieu

Anchors 4

 Greetings

Here is another version of this computer art.

Until next time

Adieu

New painting

 Greetings

I have recently completed another acrylic painting.

I am rather pleased with this one. I think the hands have come out particularly well.

I call this "Eighteenth", referencing both the uniform ( 18th Hussars) and his youth.

I used lots of close-up photos of my 18th hussar uniform to get the braiding patterns right. He is, of course, wearing the Ball Dress version of the uniform, showing the waistcoat in the facing colour.

Until next time

Adieu

Anchors 3

 Greetings

Here is the next version of this computer art

until next time

Adieu

Lesnes 2025

 Gereetings

Much earlier in the year, the Paladins were asked to provide period colour for a ceremony at Lesnes Abbey marking the anniversary of its dissolution in 1525.

Lesnes was ( I think) the first abbey to be dissolved by Cardinal Wolsey whilst he was attempting to put pressure on the Pope to grant Henry VIII a divorce.

I had been asked to stand in for the abbot, so wore my old day robe. I was standing there, minding my own business, when I heard a voice say "Oh, look, there's a real one!" and found myself facing the Bishop of Rochester.

I explained that I normally re-enacted as a bishop and that I was standing in. I even had a set of large (borrowed) keys to hand over if necessary.

He insisted on having a photo taken with me.

(So far, I've had no problems from any C of E clergy whilst I've been in kit. When I tell them I'm a medieval bishop, most of them just ask "Which Diocese?")

In the event I didn't have to bother with handing over the keys and my lord of Rochester unveiled a rather nice plaque that was to be cemented in later.

It was quite a nice little gig , even though the place was way over in east London and took me two hours on the tube  to get to (and back from).

Until next time

Adieu

Anchors 2

 Greetings

Here is the second version of the new computer art

Until next time

Adieu

Jarad and Abby's wedding

 Greetings

Our godson. Jarad  got married on the last weekend in September.

Where does the time go? It can't be that long ago that he was was buzzing round my knees and we were Castle hunting in Shropshire... But- reality check- he's actually nearly thirty and married...

The wedding was in Welbourne (near Lincoln) and ( as it was an option) we took the medieval tent and set up in the field next to the village hall( where the reception would be)

As you can see, we were in glorious isolation. Here's a closer shot..

We drove up on the Friday. I was a bit of a slog. We hit several delays and our Sat Nav took us on a couple of pointless detours, but we got there -eventually- and set up .

As there had to be two camp beds in the tent, there wasn't much room for anything else, so we set up tables under the awning.

The last time we had been in the area had been for Annie and Chris's handfasting, when there had been quite of fellow campers. This time there was just us and  Jess and her family in a camper van, who arrived on the Saturday, but had a lot less to set up.

The Saturday was a very nice day and we were actually at the church, dressed and ready, early, so we helped the vicar put hymn books out. (Yes, I got Teddy there early- It's not easy, but it can happen)

The wedding went well, despite the efforts of one small boy, who clung, limpet-like, to his mother when she had to get up to do a reading and that made a crawling dash for freedom down the central passageway ( It's not an aisle- aisles are the passageways on the outside of the arcade), actions we all fervently hoped would be well recorded and brought back to haunt him in later life.

Here are some pictures I rapidly snapped outside the church.

The last of these is Ellie ( our Goddaughter, Jared's sister), who is now  in her mid twenties.

The reception was very nice and went well. We did not engage in the dancing( particularly as the music volume was 10-20% too loud for the room size and the band just wouldn't believe that- They could have played unplugged and been well loud enough in that room) and a good time was had by all.

We could have done without the weather turning wet halfway through the night and continuing wet right through out pack down the next morning,

We opted to use Teddy Nav on the way back. We still hit a few delays, but at least we had a better idea of where we were...

The shed resumed it's' explosion in a canvas factory' appearance for a couple of days- until the various bits had dried out- again..

Until next time

Adieu

Anchors 1

 Greetings

Here is some new computer art. This piece also led to an acrylic painting that I have already blogged about.

This is the first version.

I will post other versions later.

Until next time

Adieu

Surrey Hills Wood Fair 2025

 Greetings

The week after Amersham the Paladins and I were at Surrey Hills Wood Fair.

The site took a bit of finding and , luckily, I had looked the event up on line so knew what the un-signposted five-bar gate site entrance looked like.

I arrived at about 2.30 on the Friday and helped put up the main shelter. I then put up my own tent.

The great advantage of this show was that we could park our cars just behind our tents. This helped a lot with set-up.  I concentrated on getting the inside of the tent to rights, with particular attention to getting the bed set up, but did not have time to get the awning up.

I found someone to help me with the awning the next morning.

Here is my tent.

 I had had an idea at Hever and tried it out here. I  used the door/ privacy screen a a small awning during the day, using the two long poles I used to use with separate awning ( that does make sense- trust me).

I used two double ropes from my other ( larger) tent and ( removing their plain finals) was able to use mitre finials that I'd carved and painted myself.

It was rather narrow, but it worked and looks good,

Here is the rest of the encampment.

 We were scheduled to do two shows each day: a kids battle in the morning and a tourney in the afternoon.

I didn't do the kids battle on the Saturday, but armoured up for the tourney in the afternoon.

There was just me and Deejay fit to fight that day, but, fortunately Ali and some of his full-contact fighters( I think the group is called Invictis) had also come along. We divided the full contact guys in half and gave 'command' to me and Deejay. The heavies all fought each other and I fought Deejay.

We arranged three clashes and my side was down to win.

After the first clash, all my guys were down, so I invoked the relic in my sword and raised them.

We went in for the second clash and then, again, my guys were all down. I made a great show of calling on the help of the St Michael and the Heavenly Host to get them back on their feet.

Then the final clash  in which Deejay and I apparently killed each other, but I then miraculously recovered.

Unfortunately, my efforts the raise my men (who where dead again) showed I had exhausted the power of my relic and I was forced to get the crowd to help me raise them-  and their fallen foes

It was a lot of fun and went down very well.

The weather was not very good and all the sites was predicting a bad storm for the next day. This led to Ali's group deciding that they were not going to stay and they all went home on Sunday morning.

The weather turned out to not be so bad on Sunday morning and Deejay and I did the kids battle. 

It stayed dry until lunchtime, but just after Deejay and I armoured up for the tourney, it started to rain.

As there would only have been me, Deejay and Paul, we had arranged to do a second kids battle to be followed by a short tourney.

But the rain settled in and showed no sign of stopping and all the public took shelter,. We were never going to get any kids for the battle and the footing was getting worse by the minute, so ( with the organiser's agreement) we called it on safety grounds.

I had managed to get the curtains, bedding and soft kit packed up and into the roof box just after breakfast, as I had been worried about trying to fill the roof  box if it was raining. I had also put all the bits I didn't think I'd need that day into the car.

The bits in the car turned out be both a help and a hinderance, as they were not in the right order and I kept having to move things to get other thing in, but I got there in the end and, with a bit of help got the awning and the tent down, folded and into the car.

And it was raining the whole time. It still wasn't as bad as had been predicted (particularly in regard to wind strength)  but it was still miserable.

As it was still quite early, I was able to stay to help with the shelter and solders tents, but, once most of the kit was piled by the van and being loaded, I had to make a move.

The journey back was - interesting. I chose a different route, as I knew that a section of the A3 was closed and this one took me all over the shop. At one stage I went up into wooded hills and and nearly had to put the fog lights on, as I passed darkly through the base of the clouds. I was very pleased to descend  from that stretch, especially as it was a very bendy road.

I got home and Teddy helped me unload and lay out the tent in the shed , over the banisters and everywhere ever else we could to let it dry out

Thus went the last  re-enactment event for this year, It was an alright show and would have been reasonably relaxing , but for the weather

Until next time

Adieu

Repairing a Yeoman 1

 Greetings

I posted some time ago about a broken Airfix model of a Yeoman of the Guard that my cousin gifted me.

It arrived in several bits and I repaired it, but I thought the sword would have to stay broken, as I couldn't find the rest of it.

However... whilst I was searching for a dropped pencil under the desk in my studio, I found the missing piece.

I have now managed to fix it in place and the figure is complete.

Until next time

Adieu

Stretch 27

 Greetings

Here's the last version of this lad. Nearly as nature intended...

Until next time

Adieu

Amersham 2025

 Greetings

A fortnight after Hever, I was at a one-day show at Amersham.

I had a lift from my fellow Paladin, Sandy, So only took minimal kit with me.

We couldn't even fit the awning in her ( much smaller) car.

We helped set up a couple of soldiers tents when we arrived , which nearly turned into only one when we found one half of a ridge pole had been left behind and we only had one small bag of pegs.

However, we are resourceful. We managed to rig up two extra guy ropes and tensioned the ridge of the second tent and we pegged ever other loop and - voila, the second tent was up.  I added my small array of weapons to the display.

There were only a few of us there, so we armed Deejay for Arming The Knight, with me commentating.

It was quite hot, so he then disarmed and I ran a display of training for two squires and then we finished with a fight between me and Deejay in jacks, gauntlets and helms.

It went quite well and, with only two tents, the pack down was quite quick.

As usual we had a good number of public and it was a nice, unstressful show.

here is another of Poppy's photos of the bishop from Hever.

Until next time

Adieu

Stretch 26

 Greetings

It's that kinky boy again...

Until next time 

Adieu

Hever 2025 2

 Greetings

Saturday went well but was very hot, Sunday showed all the signs of being even hotter.

As usual, I sang a Mass on Sunday morning.

Fellow-paladin Poppy took some pictures and managed to be unobtrusive whilst she did it.

These are used with permission.

I think they came out rather well.

As previously mentioned in an earlier post, I chose not to fight on the Sunday, but took up my polaxe and helped to marshal the field. As it was much hotter and there was no cloud cover or breeze, it's just as well I didn't armour up.

The castle had only put up a few notice boards to guide people to where we were and these were not very effective. We had very few member of the public on the Saturday and Sunday. Strangely, we got slightly more on Monday morning. 

I also decided not to fight on the Monday, as this gave me the opportunity to close up the tent after lunch and start doing some packing.

Once we were off duty, the pack down went fairly smoothly- part due to Sandy helping take the tent down and get it folded and packed.

I even got home at a reasonable hour.

It was a -mostly- good event, but certainly not a patch on pervious events at Hever.

Until next time

Adieu

Stretch 25

 Greetings

Here's that boy again...

Until next time

Adieu

Hever 2025 1

 Greetings

 Despite the sloping grounds and the ruts and holes we managed to set up the campsite and even obey the noise restriction cut-off time imposed by the site, though, as we heard practically nothing from their great musical production, I doubt they'd really have heard much from us anyway.

Saturday was quite hot, but it clouded over just in time for the fighting, so I armoured up, including the brigandine, and went on.

I managed a couple of fights ( both with fellow-paladin Gus) and decided to sit out the melee.

I have always had a tendency to over-heat when I am fighting. This is ,obviously, worse when I am in full plate. I have come to the conclusion that I will need to go back to light harness if I want to carry on.

I will just have to make sure people know I've only got a padded jack protecting my body, though I think I'll carry on wearing the mail skirt for the moment.

I will post more about the Hever event  later

Until next time

Adieu

Stretch 24

 Greetings

More kink for our boy...

Until next time

Adieu

Hever 2025

 Greetings

I was at the Hever In History Re-enactment over the Bank Holiday weekend.

The site had managed to double-book themselves and had built a massive stage/auditorium on the area where we normally camp to put on "Ann Bolyne - the musical".

Consequently, we were camped on the hole-pocked, rutted field next to the jousting arena. Some effort had been pout in by the venue to fill some of the holes, but by no means all of them.

The site of my tent had two depressions inside the tent and I arranged for these to be either side of the doorway to limit the chances of tripping in them.

There were fewer re-enactors and some groups didn't show at all.

Here are some pictures of me that my fellow paladin, Poppy, took ( used with consent)

Here's a shot of the bishop talking to the public

And one of the bishop preparing to help marshal the field on the Sunday- complete with polaxe to keep those fighters in line...

I will post more on this event later.

Until next time

Adieu

Stretch 23

 Greetings

Here's another version of our boy's leather gear...

Until next time

Adieu

Father's sword

 Greetings

Here is another acrylic painting that I have recently finished.

I call this "His Father's Sword".

This was inspired by all those stories of a young man taking up his father's sword and going on some adventure or quest. In the stories, the sword is always somehow special- whereas it would probable just be - well- old and possibly past its best...

I given this youth a little more to help him. He's found one mail voider, a standard to protect his throat and some leather-edged patches to sew on the jack that nearly fits him, as well as a couple of battered pieces of plate and  a buckler, which he had hung on his belt to protect his groin. His boots are not a pair and his hose have been patched more than once.

Until next time

Adieu

Stretch 22

 Greetings

A harness for our lad...

Until next time

Adieu

Rebel

 Greetings

Here is a new acrylic painting .

I call this one 'Rebel'.

Until next time

Adieu

Stretch 21

 Greetings

Here's our lad in kinky kit again...

Until next time

Adieu

Space Navy

 Greetings

Here is a new acrylic painting I have completed recently.

I started this one with some computer art and then used that as the source for the painting.

I will post the computer art later ( as usual, there are several versions...)

Until next time

Adieu

Stretch 20

 Greetings 

Kinky kit for our boy...

Until next time

Adieu

Yield

 Greetings

Here is an acrylic  painting I have recently finished.

I call this "To the yield".  You will not that he had thrown down his right gauntlet in token of surrender.

It's possible I may come back to this one and do some more work...

Until next time

Adieu