I painted Gandalf the White for the One-Ring October Painting Challenge. Not much success, but I got a couple of votes, so at least someone liked this. The winner was MacGothmog's really awesome Gandalf the Grey on the Bridge of Khazad-dûm with over half of all the votes, and for a good reason.

This model was a great exercise on painting different shades of white. I went for the white movie look on Shadowfax instead of the grey that was described in the book. White just looks better on this model.

I started painting from a white base. I first basecoated the hair an mane medium grey and drybrushed them with lighter greys. Then I gave Shadowfax a wash of very light grey (Vallejo's Stonewall Grey with some white added) and shaded the deepest shadows with very thin Stonewall Grey. Then I highlighted most of Shadowfax's body back to pure white. The grey parts, the socks and muzzle, I painted with a medium grey (Vallejo's Cold Grey) and highlighted them with lighter grey and blended them to the white with progressively lighter greys.

Gandalf's inner cloak is the same colour as Shadowfax. His outer robes and cloak are a very light mix of khaki and white. I shaded them with darker browns thinned to transparent, first with Citadel's Kommando Khaki and the deepest shadows with a mix of khaki and Vallejo's Earth colour, which is a medium lightness neutral brown. I finished the clothes with slightly transparent white edge highlights.

The base is a bit more modest than most of my cavalry bases. I tend to put quite a lot of stuff on these larger bases and I know that often my cavalry looks like gallopping through some rocky ground. This base with mostly grass and scattered leaves may be a bit safer for a horse.