Some good things about blogging

One of the nice things about having a blog is that it makes you accountable.  Left to my own devices I probably would have abandoned the trophy head project and forgotten about it, because I couldn't figure out how to paint it.  But I'll be damned if I'm going to admit defeat on the internet.

Also, this level of accountability has forced me to actually think constructively about the problem, rather than ignoring it like the lazy civil servant that I am.  This led me to the valuable realization that one of the main reasons I don't like painting is that I find the surface texture of the paint disappointing.  Now I know what the problem is, I can work out how to overcome it.  In the case of the trophy head, I can already think of some interesting possibilities to explore.

I've started by adding some blue and green markings to the head.  Despite being subtle, they're rather eye-catching and I quite like them.  However, I think I need some white accents to really bring out the markings and harmonise with the blue-grey theme. 

A lot of marine animals, like this purple-striped jellyfish, use striped markings for camouflage.  The stripes break up the animal's outline and make it difficult for predators and/or prey to recognise the animal's shape, much the same way that zebras' and tigers' stripes work.  I think I'd like to give my head striped markings. 

Picture from National Geographic

Fun fact: in the armed forces this type of striped camouflage was known as "dazzle paint" or "dazzle camouflage".  It was used in World Wars I and II by the British and Americans to camouflage battleships, and it worked by "making it difficult to estimate a target's range, speed and heading".  Here's the HMAS Yarra in full op-art livery, circa 1942:

Image from Wikipedia