How to Have Fun at 11 Degrees Fahrenheit

Totally unconnected to the Grand Duchy of Stollen. But as the Duke of Saxe-Bearstein -- Mr. Jeff Hudelson -- has proven during his stage career (he's acted for about 40 years and appeared in more than 200 productions), there is indeed a connection between skiing and the 18th century! Anyway, Sonja's and my jaunt earlier this afternoon was too much fun not to share a few photographs of our ski tour around the Illinois State University golfcourse in Normal, Illinois. 4"-5" of fresh, cold powder fell today, and it's supposed to remain cold through at least the weekend, which means more Nordic skiing later in the week. It doesn't get much better than that.

Comments

marinergrim said…

we expecting a cold snap over here too with temperatures as low as -8°C in Scotland and snow across the UK. Somehow I don't expect to be having much fun with the weather though - work gets in the way! And when it does get cold and snow and after you've built the snowman what's better than a warm room overlooking the garden with a hot mug of chocolate and marshmallows whilst painting toy soldiers?

2:01 AM

Bluebear Jeff said…

Just to let you know, it wasn't just a "one-time acting career".

I've been acting (on stage -- not film) for almost 40 years (well over 200 productions).

On another matter, do my eyes deceive me? or is that figure in dark teal the delightful Lady Sonja?

-- Jeff

3:26 AM

WSTKS-FM Worldwide said…

Jeff,

I stand corrected. Please excuse my oversight. And yes, the teal-coated figure is The Grand Duchess Sonja herself.

Best Regards,

Stokes

5:12 AM

Giles said…

Indeed, we will be seeing snow in London tomorrow; second time this year which doesn't happen often. We won't be able to ski though, just watch the public transport system grind to a halt...

8:47 AM

And We're Off!!!

Arrrgh! Gotta go back into camera settings on my iPhone to bring all of the frame into focus. Blast! Painting is underway on the 60 or so Minden Austrians, which are slated to become my version of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment of AWI renown. More or less indistinguishable from Austrians of the era really, right down to the red facings and turnbacks, but the eventual flags (already in my files) will set them apart. I went ahead and based-coated all of them over a couple of days lthe last week of August, using a mix of light gray and white acrylic gesso, before next applying my usual basic alkyd oil flesh tone to the faces and hands. In a day or two, I'll hit that with Army Painter Flesh Wash to tone things down a bit and bring some definition to the faces and hands. As usual, the plan is to focus on about 20 figures at a time, splitting the regiment roughly into thirds along with the color party and regimental staff. Depending on ...

Sunday Morning Coffee with AI. . .

A rmed with a second cup of fresh, strong coffee, I messed around a bit this morning with artlist.io using its image to image function in an attempt to convert my hand-drawn map from September 2006 to something that more resembles an old map from the mid-18th century. And just like my experiments with Ninja AI in June, the results are mixed. The above map is pretty good, but Artlist keeps fouling up the place names and has trouble putting a faint overlay of hexes across the entire area. Hexes, admittedly, are not likely to be found on any genuine maps from the era in question, but there we are. Frankly, I prefer the appearance of the Ninja map, but there were problems getting it to correct its errors. Grrrr. As is the case with so much having to do with the various AI's out there now, the output generated is a direct result of the prompts entered. For text alone, and when you develop a lengthy, highly detailed prompt, it is...

Warboss Green Bases. . .

I t's amazing how something as simple as applying two coats of Citadel 'Warboss Green' (ex-Games Workshop 'Goblin Green') can enliven a unit of figures and get 'em that much closer to glossing and completion. In much the same way that applying fleshtone early in painting process helps bring the figures to life. Just some limited dry-brushing to bring out the manes, tails, and some equine musculature, and I'm calling my version of Saxony's von Polenz Cuirassiers, circa 1733, done and dusted. Longtime visitors to the Grand Duchy of Stollen might recall (the blog will turn 19 years old in September) that I generally go for an old school approach when it comes to unit bases and paint them a nice, bright green. Exceptions include command vignettes, skirmishers of one kind or another, transport, camp followers, and various other civilian one-offs. The approach is not to everyone's taste, but I like the cheery toy soldier appearance once everything...

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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