Stollen, stollen, stollen. . .

Here's another old image of Santa Claus/ St. Nick/ Father Christmas for you. Oddly, his coat seems to have a distinctly rose hue to it in this illustration. It seems General von Tschatschke was the start of a discernible trend. . . even in non-military circles!

Fresh, crumbly Dresdner Stollen, hot coffee, and some time to paint soldiers. It was a lovely weekend indeed! Yes, the Grand Duchess baked one of her famous stollens yesterday evening, and we enjoyed a few still warm slices along with fresh black coffee late in the evening as we watched a bad romantic comedy (aren't there a lot of these?) on DVD while Young Master Paul dozed between us.

Yesterday afternoon, I had a few hours to myself -- the Grand Duchess and son attended a ladies only pre-Christmas beading party -- to begin work on the remaining cuirassier figures. So, it was faces, hair, green bases, and another black undercoat for the horses. If time and child permit today, the horses will get their dry-brushing of dark blue and leather colored girths and then maybe the tiny metal bits on their halters and martingales. Thanks for the spelling help, Jeff!

Anyway, keep your fingers crossed on the time/painting plans. Realistically, it will probably take two evenings to do all of this. Not that it's really a huge amount of painting, mind you, but free time is a scarce commodity these days here at Stollen Central. Now, if you'll excuse me, it's time to return to the kitchen for another slice or two of you-know-what!

Comments

Bluebear Jeff said…

Stokes,

I'm not a "horsey" person, but the word is spelled "martingale".

Enjoy your stollen!

-- Jeff

12:50 PM

Poacher said…

Lovely stuff, and great picture too.

As for the little ones, you soon get used to working around them!

But beware; once they become mobile, all paints and stuff have to be carefully guarded!!

I had to paint in the loft room for almost fours years! :-)

1:18 PM

tradgardmastare said…

Does the Duchess have a good recipe for leibkuchen by any chance- family off from Friday and I feel they are itchig to bake...
Alan

11:56 PM

WSTKS-FM Worldwide said…

Hi Alan,

I'll ask her.

Best Regards,

Stokes

10:50 AM

A Little More Brushwork. . .

A little more brushwork on the first batch of (my version of) the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment yesterday (Saturday). Taking a different tack this time and addressing many of the details first before the white coats and other larger areas of uniform. The eagle-eyed among you will notice that I've painted the (dark) red stocks of the enlisted men. Always a difficult and frustrating item to paint, it made sense to paint from the inside out as it were and get that particular detail out of the way first rather than try to paint it in later after much other painting has been accomplished. Trying to reduce the need for later retouching of other items on the figures you understand. Hopefully, I will be able to get back to these later today after a second trip back to the Apple Store for help with a couple of new iPad issues and, following the return home, some revision of Google Slides for tomorrow's meetings with my students. -- Stokes P.S. And according t...

Basic Reds Done at Last. . .

S till quite a way to go with the current batch of 20 human figures and a horse (of course), but they're actually starting to look like something after all of the red distinctions. Quite a bit of painting in hour-long sessions the last week as and when time has allowed. Mostly applying the basic dark red to facing areas and turnbacks followed by the inevitable touch-ups to clean up wobbly edges and those misplaced, minute splotches of Citadel Khorne Red. They're looking like so many Austrian infantry regiments of the era at this point, but the eventual flags will turn them magically into the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment, more or less, of the AWI period. But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. One frustrating point (ahem) of sad discovery. I've started trying to use those Winsor & Newton 'Series Seven' brushes (#1 rounds) purchased last spring, and the blasted things simply will not keep a point. Very frustrating since I have heard over the y...

It's Early Days Yet. . .

M aking some early progress with Batch A of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment over the last several days/evenings. Nothing terribly exciting just yet, but the basic black, brown, and flesh areas are done as are the green bases, and gray undercoat. The latter two areas needed some careful retouching early in the week. Next up, the neck stocks. I might just do these in red for the enlisted men although some of my source material suggest they were black, but I always look for an excuse to shake things up a bit. Any errant splotches of red (or black) can be covered with another application of light gray before I move onto the next step. "Giddy up!" as one Cosmo Kramer might have said. -- Stokes

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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