Close Quarters

Close Quarters

This piece is entitled "Close Quarters" and depicts the final moments of Lt Ivan Roberts, 27S1 USAS. Its going to be cover art for the 100th issue of the WW1 publication "Over the Front". Its a non-commissioned piece depicting an event that occurred on Sept 26, 1918 at approximately 5:50pm and involved SPADs from the 95th and 27th Aero Squadrons, Fokker DVII's of Jasta 13, and a Salmson 2A2. The fight resulted in the death of Lt. Ivan Roberts of 27Sq, seen here in the foreground. Roberts is credited to Lt Franz Büchner of Jasta 13. As Büchner was making his kill at nearly point blank range, Lt. Gravatt of 95 Sq (at the top of the 3-plane grouping) almost collided with him.

I use a method called geometric projection to create the perspective drawings for the main aircraft (photo 1). This method allows me to create an accurate view of any aircraft from a specified distance. The background aircraft were drawn from models shot from long range. Photo 2 shows the perspective drawing for Roberts' SPAD.

Plastic work comes in handy for lighting reference. For this project I used the Special Hobby 1/32 scale SPAD (photo 3). This was one of my first forays back into the realm of plastic modeling after a 20-year absence, so don't laugh at my modeling skill please. The wires are too thin and slightly loose, but the model served its purpose.

I only finish out my models insofar that I can take them outside and do this with them. In fact, sometimes I don't even bother finishing out the cockpit interiors. Put together, painted and rigged, however, a model can provide a great reference as to how direct and reflected sunlight would fall across a specific aircraft at different angles.

Photo 4 shows the individual pencil study for Roberts' SPAD. This was drawn using the perspective drawing as my linear guide and the model as my lighting guide.

In photo 5 you can see the overall composition. The background is a combination of a shot I took while flying into Houston last year and the Google Earth coordinates of the crash site provided to me by the researcher.

Next, the drawing has been transferred to the canvas (photo 6). I gave the canvas an overall stain of Raw Sienna so that the painting will have some nice, warm undertones. Normally my work flow includes and overall pencil study and small color study. However, this image is due mid-March, so I've skipped over the color study and overall pencil study on this one and gone straight to canvas.

Lastly, I spent the past few days blocking in the underpainting on this one. As is always the case at this point in a painting, the colors and values are not final. The ground colors in particular are fairly provisional. Overall, though, I'm satisfied with the direction that its going (photo 7). I'll let this layer dry for a week or so before coming back and painting in the final layer. In the final finish layer I'll make adjustments to colors, darken some of the values, clean up lines and add in details. The painting measures 22" x 17".

Photo 8 shows the finished painting: "Close Quarters", oil on linen, 17" x 22".