"Wolff's Requiem" Color study

Russell Smith · 2 July 2007, 08:26 AM

I've finally gotten the color study for this one finished. The piece is entitled "Wolff's Requiem" and depicts the death of

Kurt Wolff in MvR's 102/17. Here are the facts:

- Wolff was flying MvR's tripe 102/17 when he was killed. There are, of course many different visual clues that distinguish 102/17 (and its cousin 103/17) from all other tripes, but the 3 that I feel are most important are: no wingtip skids; the curved leading edge of the horz. stabilizer; and, of course, the serial on the fuselage. The paint job was slightly different also, but i don't think that feature would be as obvious. To tell the story, I feel that I need to be able to show at least one and preferably two of these features in an obvious way.

- In addition to showing 102/17 I want the viewer to be able to see Wolff in the cockpit. After all, the painting is more about him than it is the airplane. The middle wing of the tripe limits the number of angles from which you can view the pilot, especially when you add in the details above that need to be included.

- The weather was lousy that day, so lots of clouds. In fact, it was pretty much lousy all of that week.

- The action started around 15,000 feet. Given the falling nature of a dogfight, I imagined my scene to be around 10,000 feet.

- The engagement consisted of at least 10 aircraft - Wolff in 102/17, Schoenebeck in his Albatros, and a flight of 8 Camels from Naval Squadron 10. In a thread posted earlier this year here on the forum, it was supposed that the flight leader, FLt Fitzgibbon, had taken 4 Camels down to chase after some German aircraft. Meanwhile, 4 other Camels stayed above. Wolff and Schoenebeck attacked the 4 upper Camels and suddenly found themselves at a disadvantage. Wolff was shot down by FSL MacGregor, who stated later that he suddenly found himself on right on Wolff's tail, got off a brief burst and then zoomed to avoid collision. I usually don't find it necessary to depict every plane that was involved in an engagement, but in this case I decided to do so in order to capture the tension of a dogfight as well as the desperation of the moment.

Compositionally, this subject provided some challenges that were both tough and unique. Generally in most aerial scenes your subject is the victor. When that's the case you can follow some pretty simple rules: make your subject the largest aircraft in the composition, put it in the foreground and put the vanquished foe going down somewhere in the background. OR, if you're depicting the moments just prior to the victory: again, make your subject the largest aircraft in the composition, put it in the foreground pointing or turning towards its target and put the soon-to-be vanquished foe smaller in the background.

In this case our subject IS the vanquished foe. To make it more complicated, the victor is in such close proximity to the subject that his aircraft is going to be similar in both scale and value to the subject's aircraft. In working with this subject I was reminded how much that middle wing on the tripe really limits the usable angles for painting. When the subject is the pilot, you want to be able to see the pilot in the painting (even if it is just his head). That middle wing really blocks the view of the pilot from many angles.

A few colors and values still need a little tweaking here and there, but generally speaking I'm satisfied with the direction that it is going

The color study measures 11" x 17" and will be going to one of our distinguished forumites. The finished piece will measure 44" x 28.5" and will be going to another pone of our fellow forumites. I'll leave it to both gentlemen identiify themselves if they so choose.

Many thanks to Mike Westrop and Terry (Taz) Phillips for their help and input on this piece.

Russ

Gregvan · 2 July 2007, 08:40 AM

Absolutely beautiful, Russ. Astonishing attention to detail - I really appreciate your effort to be true to the historical accounts and get the correct color schemes, airframe niceties, etc. Terrific!

Greg

Russell Smith · 2 July 2007, 10:49 AM

Thanks Greg. My tasks would be much more difficult without the help of guys like you, Mike, and Taz.

Russ

Bruno Stachel · 2 July 2007, 12:16 PM

Very nice Russell. I like the way you positioned Wolff's plane, and MacGregor's as well.

I especially enjoy the way you and the other artists share the thought put into the work. Very interesting. Thanks.

jonightflyer · 2 July 2007, 04:56 PM

Russ this is beautiful... you really nailed it in terms of atmosphere, drama and the inspired vision that you have brought to this depiction of an historically documented event. This will be a mighty piece in it's final incarnation.

Having travelled with you since the earliest sketches and concept drawings, through the many different photoshop mock-ups, the detailed scale drawings and now the completion of the oil study, it has been a facinating journey.

It was also terrific and fortuitous that your visit to NZ coincided with the early work on this project and we were able to chew over ideas from the many emails that had passed between us over the months. I think you have achieved everything you hoped for with this one and I look forward eagerly to the day that the original is hanging on my wall!

Bravo my friend and thanks.

_________________

Taz · 2 July 2007, 06:34 PM

Russ- It looks absolutely spectacular and flyer should be proud to have it on his wall. I am just happy I got dibs on the study. Looks like another prize winner if flyer can stand not to have the big one for a while.

Taz
Terry Phillips

Russell Smith · 2 July 2007, 06:38 PM

Thanks guys. I should note that, looking at the image onscreen, the color of the tripe is slightly too saturated when compared to the actual color study. You get the idea, though.

russ