'L'amour' from Milsy - 'The Luncheon in the Swamp'

Le Déjeuner dans le marais (English: The Luncheon in the Swamp) - originally titled Le snack (The Snack) - is a large slime on tree bark painting by the infamous Orcish Impressionist Orcward Maneater, executed some time before now. The painting depicts a female marsh troll (left), thought to be the leggy blonde fashion bogger (sic) Gretchin Toadbreath. She is ardently pursued by Halitosis Stinkbad (center) and Billious Bogtrotter (right), a pair of male marsh troll suitors. In the right foreground we see an unnamed Skaven lackey attempting to secure garnish for lunch in the form of dragon flies. Rejected by the Orcish Grand Council of da Artz, Maneater seized the opportunity to exhibit this and two other paintings in the Salon des Refuse where the painting sparked public notoriety and controversy because it lacked axes. The piece is now in the Musée d'Orky in da Badlands. A smaller, earlier version can be seen on a rotten stump, or perhaps it's just moss.

Artist: Orcward Maneater
Year: Some time before now
Type: Slime on tree bark
Dimensions: Some skullz x some skullz
Location: Musée d'Orky, da Badlands

What's it all about then?
This may well be my most left-field (Left Bank?) submission to the Challenge ever. The artistically inclined amongst you may recognise a subtle similarity or twenty to a work by a French artist working in the mid 1800's. Or not.

The miniatures included are a proper rag-tag collection. "Gretchin" is an old RAFM scuplt which was unfortunately missing the human "meal" clutched in her left hand and held at head height. This did however give me the opportunity to cut off her arm at the elbow and reposition on her hip in a somewhat more provocative pose. "Halitosis" is a Reaper Bones plastic mini and the first of these I've managed to paint successfully without any issues of paint rubbing off. I'm quite pleased by that as it means I can now paint some others I have without fear of wasting time. "Billious" is a real Oldhammer classic and I'm absolutely in awe of this sculpt. The eyebrows alone are a reason to love him. He's a further addition to my Chaos Warband. Finally, the Skaven is a cheapo plastic one from my bits box.

The scene is composed from the mish-mash of card, foam and plastic craziness. Most of it is fairly self-explanatory but I know people will ask about the lilies (pads are card bent over a dowel, flowers are beads), the dragon flies (cheap ear rings), the picnic set-up (tartan fabric and doll's house fittings) and the large tree (a tree root cut into three pieces and re-assembled as a dead oak - thanks Ev, some quality Wombling there mate!). Oh, and the glossy "water effects" are nail varnish, the working man's (a.k.a. tight-ass) answer to expensive professional [ahem!] mediums.

Regards the composition/theme, I've turned the original subject matter on it's head. Previously the female subject was being ignored by the males in the scene which I never understood. You're sitting about with a hot naked chick and you'd rather talk about politics or the weather? Bollocks to that, let's have a little ROMANCE lads and treat the lady with some love (OK, lust) and respect!

I suppose having executed my own personal homage I can now count myself amongst other greats of the art world including Monet, Cézanne, Picasso, Gaugin and Davo the Signwriter from round the corner. None of them had my breadth of vision obviously but there you go. You can't turn it off after all...

So there you have it... L'amour. Or something. :-)

Cheers,
Millsy