Geisha Girl Flat Figure
12omm resin casting from Mil-Mart Miniatures
Painted in 2011
Unfortunately Mil-Mart are no longer trading presently in 2025, however you never know if Ken Farrer might return to the hobby and sculpt some more superb flat pieces.
During the period he was active, Ken sculpted a hundred or more flats, covering all sorts of subjects from ancient Romans to American Civil War studies, and whilst some stood out as superbly rendered flats, one or two did show where he started from and how his skills developed as time went by.
I’ve got to say that I’ve bought more of his pieces than I’ve painted – well in truth I can say that about almost any company that produces models – but this Geisha Girl really caught my imagination and I just had to get paint on her.
Photo #1 shows the “box art”, although Ken’s offerings actually arrive in zip-lock bags rather than boxes, but you know what I mean.
Photo #2 is a picture of the bare resin casting. These are single sided flats and are cast in a nice pale grey resin that is really easy to clean up, although there’s very little if any of that necessary.
The flat is about 3mm thick and the layers of clothing are sculpted with good definition.
Photo #3 and I’ve completed the face. My usual mix of Mars Brown and Titanium White oils to create the flesh tones, and once fully dry a little touch of carmine to add a blush to the cheeks and more of the same to colour the lips.
Photo #4 shows the grey of the kimono blocked in with and acrylic undercoat and the red lining added with an initial coat of Scarlet acrylic from the Humbrol range followed by a mix of Carmine and Mars Black oils, then more Carmine, followed by Crimson to top off the highlights.
Photo #5 shows a close up of the feet and the red kimono lining with the cast shadow caused by outer layers of the clothing.
Photo #6, whilst the red paint is still wet, causing it to shine a little, the collar of the lining can be seen in this shot.
Photo #7 and I’m starting adding the grey oils to the acrylic undercoat on the kimono.
Here I’ve added an initial mix of Mars Black, Titanium White with a touch of Mars Brown to tint the overall grey.
This mix is painted on to the sections of kimono and then as can be seen in this picture, swathes of Titanium White are added in broad strokes of the brush, which are then blended in to the surrounding grey with a large soft brush.
Photo #8 pulls back to show the area from the previous shot having been blended in and the difference between the flat look of the undercoated sections, to those that have had the oil colours added and the three dimensional appearance the different oil colours give.
Photo #9 moves on to have the whole of the grey sections of the kimono completed and ready to go into the drying cabinet for a few days for the paint to harden.
Photo #10 and I thought I’d add some flower designs to the grey Kimono. The orange flowers are done with an old synthetic brush that the bristles have begun to “hook”. When spread out and dipped in a small amount of paint, then pressed gently onto the surface of a model, tip first, the hooked bristles spread out and create a kind of Chrysanthemum shape, although the same motion might have to be done a couple of times depending how complete the form of the petals is. Simply rotating how the brush is appliedbefore it comes into contact with the surface will fill in the rest of the flower petals. By adding a couple of different colours over the top with the same method, a three dimensional appearance can be gained.
The small white flowers are circular dots with a fifth orange dot added in the centre and adding some stalks and some bamboo leaves is just a case of a good brush and a steady hand.
Photo #11 and it’s all starting to come together simply by adding an undercoat of green acrylic to the middle layer of the kimono.
The white cuff to the sleeve was added earlier, and I decided to keep the lining layers of the kimono white too.
I’ve darkened some of the shadows on the red sections, to add the appearance of depth to those areas, which all goes to fooling the eye into thinking the flat is in fact three-dimensional.
Photo #12 and I’ve begun to add the green oils to the middle layer of the kimono. I began with a mix of Monastial Green and Mars Black, adding this only to the areas that would be in the deeper shadows, then just the monastial green over the main areas with some Titanium White blended in to create the highlights.
Photo #13 and the green areas are complete and dried off fully to look a little less vibrant, but basically what I was aiming for.
The gloved hands I left as grey to match the kimono outer layer, and I’ve done a small flower design on the fan that she’s holding.
The hair has been painted in and the ribbons added to match the inner layer of the kimono.
Whilst the white linings looked OK, I changed them slightly to be a pale pink, I felt this matched the grey outer layer of the kimono better.
Photo #14 shows the block of Yellow Pine I used as a mount of the flat, and on the upper and lower corners I used plasticard to form a couple of fans.
Photo #15 With the pine varnished and fastened to a piece of black marble – to help balance the backward sloping wood – and the fans painted with a cherry blossom design.
Photo #16 The shape of the fan vein detail is a lot easier to see in this shot, as too is the painted design. It’s very similar to the white petal flowers on the Geisha’s kimono, but done in a dark pink, and a gnarled branch added to link them up with some Vandyke Brown followed by some Light Red, then Buff Titanium.
Photo #17 gives a closer look at the face and hair.
The latter being painted with Mars Black oils, then Vandyke Brown being brushed over like I was combing her hair, and followed by highlights – possibly too many – in Titanium White.
I thought that the white oils would fade a little bit, but they haven’t – most disappointing.
The face doesn’t look very Japanese – partly my painting, but mainly the sculpting, but there’s a story behind that, which I’ll come to later.
Photo #18 shows a closer look at the lower half of the kimono with the various flowers and bamboo painted on. It looks a lot more complex than it is, simply thinking out the design, adding the colours in layers and allowing them to give both shape and depth to the design takes a little time and thought, but it’s worth the effort, and setting it aside occasionally as the details are added can be useful to work out whether more needs adding and the particular places those additions need to be made.
The rest of the pictures – not many, because there’s a very limited amount of angles you can choose to take photos of a flat – show the model off rather well.
A story from Ken Farrer.
OK so I mentioned to Ken that she didn’t look very Japanese, in fact I thought she looked more European really.
He nodded and replied that he’d based the sculpture on a Portuguese girl who had been on a trading ship which sank in really terrible storms off the coast of one of the Japanese islands. She was the sole survivor of the people on the ship, and luckily the Japanese villagers that tried to save the crew of the ship were kindly and took her in, giving her food and a new home.
She learnt Japanese by staying with them, and as she grew up began travelling to the more populated areas, seeking knowledge and employment.
Her looks were striking and she gained popularity as a courtesan, rising to be sought after as a companion to some of the richer Japanese nobility.
She had adopted the dress of a Geisha, and became well loved by those she came into contact with, because of the hardships she had suffered when younger, but also because she was both beautiful and kind.
Whilst not gaining much in the way of power, she did become moderately wealthy and used her money to help the poorer members of her community, particularly those back in the village that had taken her in and given her a new home and family.
Apparently she returned to the same village as old age overtook her and her fame faded into history.
A lovely story eh ?
Complete fabrication on Ken’s part, but it got me hook, line and sinker !
I think it demonstrated Ken’s sense of fun, his quick thinking and an ability to tell a story in a very believable way.
Final thoughts
Well apart from the interesting story, it’s a lovely flat, yes, OK it’s not exactly very Japanese looking facially, but you can always tell the above story – I expect some embellishments mind – to justify the look of the piece.
I think if I had another rone to paint I’d be tempted to do the white facial make-up and maybe a tattoo on her exposed shoulder.
The opportunity for freehand designs on the kimono really is up to the painter’s imagination, although there are several good reference sources for genuine Japanese designs that are extremely handy if you can find them.
As with a lot of Ken Farrer’s pieces from Mil-Mart, highly recommended.