Kepi- Day 1

Day 1- I am choosing kepi, a type of hat worn by soldiers on both the Union and Confederate sides. The cap part is made from wool that is dyed with Indigo or organics, depending on the side. The brim and strap are made from hard leather that has been dyed black. Often, you will see brass pins on the hats that can indicate the state, branch, regiment, company, and status. The flagbearer I photographed was from the 17th Connecticut, Company H, but was lacking insignia.

The setup

I was able to capture the image of this flagbearer at the Natural Bridge Reenactment in Florida. I made several sketches of him and found one I like. I have traced the sketch and transferred it onto my watercolor paper. The paper size is a 9″ by 12″ cold press cotton paper.

The yellow bits are masking fluid. This will help keep the highlights crisp and clean. I won’t remove it until after the whole piece is filled in to avoid having to rub out an area.

I’m working on my website and will have my history themed paintings up soon.

Filling in the Kepi

I am using combination of Ultramarine Blue with in the lighter areas and Indigo in the darker areas to fill in the kepi. I did a light wash over the whole hat before adding in the darks. On the brim and strap I am using Ivory Black, a brownish black. I feel like the of the mixture is more organic, giving the hat a more youthful look.

Today, I set the face up to be worked on because I believe that color is relative. The blues bring out delicate pink and orange tones in the flagbearers skin. Not taking that into account can make the image look like it isn’t out of sync with itself.

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