"AWI Colonial Militia Painting Mixes" Topic

It's always somewhat more easy to do the uniformed units but when it comes to pur Colonial Militia for the AWI what does everyone use as sources to paint these units up? Does anyone have a rule of thumb for colors and in any particular proportions to get an authentic look?

The primary clothing of the period was made of wool or linen. Likely the linen was not dyed. Linen mainly used for small clothes – shirts, breeches and waistcoats. Wool was generally used for coats, waistcoats, breeches. Drab colors were most common – browns, gray's, black, blue. Sometimes clothes would be made as a suit – coat, breeches, waistcoat. Sometimes not.

So what are the occasional (or not so occasional) bottle greens, burgundies, Navy blues etc you see on colonials? Were they common or is that just a painter running out of browns?

Ain't no "colonial militia." There are New Englanders, Middle Colonies, coastal southerners and frontiersmen shading into Overmountain Men. Each one will have a different mix of dress and different colors. ("Only creoles, carolines and dancing masters wear red coats.") Historygamer is quite right for, say, Lexington, Concord and Bunker Hill. (I'd hedge on black, which the Puritans tended to regard as showy.) But I'm sure he'd tell you something very different if he were thinking of King's Mountain.

I tend to form units in coats and shirtsleeves much as he says, and give them New England Pine Tree flags, and to form up units in in off-white and brown hunting shirts under southern back country Rattlesnake flags--which means neither group will really be quite right for Pennsylvania, and I have my doubts about the Saratoga Campaign.

My advise is to decide where you most want them to be right, get them as close to that as you can, then use them for the rest of the war regardless.

Ah. Study Howard Pyle for New England, and there's a painting of the Overmountain Men mustering before King's Mountain which is probably as good as you'll get for that.

In the past I've painted them in unbleached hunting shirts and buck skin breeches.

If you are looking for a quick solution I would suggest looking at paintings by Don Troiani.