"Painting Wooden Stockades" Topic

I have been researching how to paint the weathered wood of a F&IW period stockade. Many of the photos show wood weather bleached to a pale gray and I was going to go with that. Then I realized that most of the forts were relatively new and they probably had more of a freshly cut timber look. Any tips from those who have painted a fort themselves?

You're right about the age mattering.
The question is whether or not the bark was stripped off the logs.
I like to spray with a Dark Brown flat. I use Krylon Camouflage paint. I think it's called Dark Earth.
Then drybrush with craft paint. There's a Barn Wood paint.

John is spot on. Wood ages quick in a dried state.

Take a look at this. link

Vallejo also has an Old and New wood effects set that contains a nice document on how to do both.

It seems so many people paint trees, forts, etc brown for some strange reason ?
Trees are actually Grey in color in most cases.

Russ Dunaway

That's why I use dark brown as a base coat, and then heavily drybrush with Barnwood and various shades of grey and light tan.

I was painting some trees and decided to go for a walk in my neighborhood. The trees were not brown, they were graying over a black background in large part, though there are some differences in different tree types. Of course, that is living trees. I second or third or whatever John's suggestions on structures.

The current Fort Gibson was refurbished in 2013.

fortwiki.com/Fort_Gibson_(1)

It all depends on the type of trees used. Up close they're a lot more grey. Viewed far away, it's more of a brown impression. At the end of the day, go with what you like.

We have a lot of old lumbar on our farm and I grew up around old farm buildings – they are much more grey than brown

Brown as a base is good but mix in some red browns with the grey dry brushes (don't mix the paint, do in successive 'layers')and if you are doing a staked fort with freshly cut 'points' I use a yellow ochre with some lighter brown dry brushed on.

While trees may really be more gray than brown when standing, once cut – other than with age – I've never seen a gray wood (not counting those exotic woods), mostly a lighter red brown to a yellow color unless redwood then a bit more of the red brown (but no redwood in the east where FIW happened.

Painting is about the reality but the perceived reality – the perception of the eye of the beholder.

If it helps, this is how I do it:

Paint all over medium grey.
Thin wash of dark/earthy brown.
Dry brush light grey.

If the fancy takes me, a thin wash of green, or if I'm feeling arty I might lightly spray forest green or British Leyland Bracken that leaves interesting spots.

Note I use cheap craft paints and car sprays!

My split rail fences I made a wood stain bath, you can get weathered wood colors.

My giant cut and split wood pile was Grey when cut and still is ??

Russ Dunaway

Forty Shades of Grey. Paint not the book.

My 4 year old house is partially clad in larch. Where most exposed to the weather it is a silvery grey, in more sheltered areas still a light orange- brown. Freshly split logs of many trees are creamy white (split a few tons over the years) and bark is most often various shades of grey, with brown, green and almost black mottling, depending on species and where growing in the woods.

Old Glory – what kind of trees are you cutting that are gray when cut – at the point of the cut? I've cut pines, firs, oaks, redwood at the least and none of them at the point of cut come any where close to being gray. Not saying yours weren't gray, just wondering what kind of tree cuts that way?

@BB- I don't think that Russ meant that the fresh cut / inside pulp was grey at the time of the cut.

I'm looking out my window as I type this and all of the trees that I see are some shade of grey. All of them.

The sharpened cut points in a stockade fence would weather with age so it doesn't make a lot of sense to paint them a light color unless your are depicting a stockade wall that was just made.

I think it all goes back to kindergarten and 1st Grade coloring books. We were not subtle. Trees use the dark brown crayons. QED. So, it's muscle memory or something like that. It's only lately that I think that maybe I should… do something about it.