Sunday, 7 February 2021

From Curt: Capering Chaos Creatures of 'Bruegel-Bosch' (80 Points)

When I was a kid, my mom was an active member of our local library board, so we always had lots of books around the house. In addition to the military history and craft books, I always enjoyed anything dealing with art, especially books focusing on the Renaissance period.  While I liked the Italian masters well enough, I was particularly fascinated by the painters from the Low Countries. Pieter Bruegel and Hieronymus Bosch were two of my favourites, as their work was often quite bizarre, bordering on the grotesque. Here are a few samples:

Bosch's 'Garden of Earthly Delights'


Bruegel's 'Seven Deadly Sins'


With all this in mind, a few years ago I created a fictional setting that I call 'Bruegel-Bosch', a canal town in a composite Renaissance-esque Germany/Low Countries environment. I'm slowly populating it with all things strange and odd. In a way, it was my response to the loss of Warhammer Fantasy's wonderful 'Old World'. 

First I started with some of the brilliant Renaissance fantasy figures offered by Lead Adventure (sculpted by the talented Ratnik). Below is a trio of examples (not for scoring):


So, when I came across Eureka' Fantasy range I knew I had to get them as they fit in perfectly as denizens of 'Bruegel-Bosch'. 


They are so terrifically odd and macabre, with many being thematically adjacent to characters in Bosch and Bruegel's work.




I mean there's a bird-faced creature with a bucket on his head, his tentacles holding a huge honkin' key. WTF? I don't have a clue what it's all supposed to mean (much like Bruegel and Bosch's work), but it really creeps me out, which I find super fun.  :)


There are 12 figures in this group and I still have around 16 still to do, each one a delightful study in the strange, macabre and the grotesque.




One of the crones in this group will serve as my price for a teleport to The Tomb. That being the case, this group will give me 80 points (a base of 60 points and 20 for the Sorceress bonus). It will also give me my 8th Point for our Squirrel Challenge. Eaaxcellent.

- Curt

Posted by Curt at 2:16 am
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39 comments:

  1. Sander7 February 2021 at 03:02

    oh dear, my parents had some of these books at ho e too, but more out of a sense of pretending to appear semi-intellectual than proper interest. Also I had the chance to see some of the works from Bosch in real life and they scare the living daylights out of me still. Not necessarily due to their subject but due to the (in)sanity of the mind they sprang from. I like Breughel better. His canvas displayi g depictions of Dutch proverbs is a favorite of mine https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlandish_Proverbs.

    Anyway I digress: your painting as usual is top notch, can't wait to see the remaining figures in the lot.

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    1. Curt7 February 2021 at 11:26

      I thought you might enjoy this entry, Sander. Yes, as I've grown older, I've come to enjoy their other works, especially Bruegel's 'seasons' series of paintings ('hunters in the snow' is my favourite).

      Delete
  2. MartinC7 February 2021 at 03:35

    These are properly brilliant. These painters were always the highlight of high school art class

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    1. Curt7 February 2021 at 11:27

      Thanks Martin. I absolutely loved these as a kid and enjoyed the art classes where we tried to puzzle out what the figures all represented.

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  3. NoelRW7 February 2021 at 03:39

    Amazing collection of weird creatures, very nicely conceived, Curt. I like the concept of your trippy town, but certainly could not live with Boschian nightmares on my shelves. Next you'll be setting it in John Martin landscapes, with Richard Dadd's fairyland on the outskirts. There's a fair number of mad artists to work with!
    Another brilliant set of figures!

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    1. Curt7 February 2021 at 11:29

      Oooh, I love Richard Dadd! It would be great to do up some figures based off of his paintings. Trippy!

      Thanks Noel. :)

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  4. Barks7 February 2021 at 05:28

    Wonderful use of these Eureka sculpts. I’d love to see them in a game.

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    1. Curt7 February 2021 at 11:30

      Thanks Barks. I hope to put them into sabot bases for the future version of Warhammer Fantasy (fingers crossed).

      Delete
  5. Matt7 February 2021 at 06:33

    These are just fantastic sculpts, and the painting is amazing.

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  6. JamieM7 February 2021 at 06:51

    Wow, what a properly weird collection of..... ummm..... weirdos? I particularly like the nose holder prop thingy - disturbing stuff! Lovely colour work, really suits them.

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    1. Curt7 February 2021 at 11:31

      Haha! I like him too. He's helping 'Olaf the Unsteady' make this advance :)

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  7. BruceR7 February 2021 at 07:01

    Disturbingly Well done.
    BruceR

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  8. Paul Scrivens-Smith7 February 2021 at 08:17

    Fantastically disturbing, great work.

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  9. SimonG7 February 2021 at 08:26

    Great stuff Curt -- simultaneously cute and creepy!

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    1. Curt7 February 2021 at 11:32

      Thats what I figure as well. Thanks Simon.

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  10. Peter Douglas7 February 2021 at 09:17

    Great stuff but amusing and creepy! I always wonder if these works were the results of some truly potent food poisoning

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  11. caveadsum14717 February 2021 at 09:25

    Fantastical, grotesque and bloody brilliant!
    Best Iain

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    1. Curt7 February 2021 at 11:33

      Thank you Iain! I wonder if you will be working on of set similar to this sometime. :)

      Delete
  12. Christopher(aka Axebreaker)7 February 2021 at 09:56

    Superbly creepy done in a grotesque amazement! Excellent!

    Christopher

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  13. Greg B7 February 2021 at 13:56

    Great work Curt - disturbing, but in a "refreshing" way, as compared to the GW approach of "here comes something with 5,000 skullz" (which has its own appeal, too).

    I think many of us out there mourn the loss of GW's Old World - what a cool project in response!

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    1. Curt7 February 2021 at 14:25

      Thanks Greg, let's hope I can put them on the table with an updated version of Warhammer Fantasy.

      Delete
  14. Dallas7 February 2021 at 14:19

    Those are just awesome. Well done dude.

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  15. Ray Rousell7 February 2021 at 15:41

    Now that was one hell of a weird post!

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  16. StuartL7 February 2021 at 18:05

    I'm not sure what I just saw, but they were very well painted. Every one of those sculpts is both amazing and strange at the same time and you've done a great job at bringing out the character of each of them.

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  17. Bluewillow8 February 2021 at 04:07

    outstanding Curt, really like those!

    cheers
    matt

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  18. AdamC17768 February 2021 at 09:05

    Nice Work

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  19. Yarkshire Gamer8 February 2021 at 12:58

    Super collection of the wierd and wonderful, great figures, great painting 👍
    Regards KenR

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  20. The Kiwi10 February 2021 at 22:26

    Totally amazeballs! Love it!
    You must have some patience to operate that Eureka miniatures website. I get a case of the vomits after only a few seconds of look at it.
    Fantastic work...as always.
    Cheers

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