Stan Dallas Se5a

[Russell Smith]

( Pssst! Hey Breguet...)

Well, I've been a little remiss in posting any new works or projects here in the past few months.Not that I haven't been busy, just slack.

Anyway, here is a commission that I am currently working on. It features SE 5a's of 40 Sq RAF, based at Bruay aerodrome in May of 1918. The scene depicts the SE 5a's as they are getting ready to pull the chocks for a sortie. The Se 5a in the foreground is that of Major Stan Dallas, the highest scoring Australian Ace. His SE 5a, D3511, wore a distinctive camouflage pattern which you don't see on other SE5s (or any other late-war British scout, for that matter). I'll skip over all of the preliminary work which has already been completed and bring you straight to the in-progress painting itself.

The color underpainting is now finished. I've been doing a good bit of plein air work (i.e. painting outdoors) in the past few months which has boosted my awareness of values and light. As a result, I've skipped over the bruneille stage here and gone straight to color. Some of the background is only loosely brushed in. I gave the most attention to the main compositional elements. I’ll give the background more love on the next go around.

I already see some edits which need to be made and I am making notes of things to address on the next round. In particular, the guy at the nose of the second SE is a little distracting. There needs to be a vertical shape over there to contain your eye within the composition, but as he is now he competes with the subject. Changing his blue overalls to brown may fix that. He might be a little too big also. I need to adjust him.

I’m setting this one aside for now to dry. My schedule won’t allow me to get back to it for a few weeks, which will actually be good. That will give it time to ripen. I should be able to get back on this right after Christmas.