Hi Steve
I've attempted Italian camo a couple of times before, with varying results (!). Cold start here too, but
with a frost - not good for my chilblaines (first attack ever, and bloomin' painful).
On to our chap, and the top half of the jacket is done:
Oooh, this was labour intensive - you do forget if you haven't done camo for a while. The colours were based on Vallejo Russian Uniform, Saddle Brown and Green Ochre, darkened and lightened as usual with Off White and German Camo Black Brown.
I first gave the whole thing a coat of the darkened green, then painted on the brown pattern. I then washed in the shadows with the black brown, then built up the highlights for each patch of colour separately, getting lighter as I went along. The hardest part is where there are large areas of exposed camo (eg the arms and back) as you have to watch that the pattern reads properly, but also modulate the tones .
I would normally try to finish the camo in one session, but my eyes and the light defeated me, stopping me getting further. Still, just the lower part of the jacket to do now, and as most of that is covered with equipment, that shouldn't be as time-consuming.