Our First Snow of the Season!!!

Wish we had a scene like this one in our backyard. This is very similar to the woods in Norway, about five minutes from where I lived in Trondheim, where I learned to ski ten years ago.

Relax. Just a dusting. Maybe an inch/25mm or so, but it was beautiful when I peeked through the blinds at the still dark street (it's just after 6am here) a little while ago. Just what we need to kick off the week here at Stollen Central.

Speaking of which. I had a serious talk with the Grand Duchess yesterday and laid down the law. Told her I surely wouldn't make it to Christmas without some of her delicious Dresdner Stollen. So, I finally was able to extract that most important of promises from her. . . Stollen baking to commence next weekend. Hurrah! The clouds lifted and I retired to bed a happy man.

On the soldier painting front, I took a wee bit of time after dinner, while Young Paul slept close by, and began work on the flamboyant General von Tschatschke. So far, a chestnut horse, pink coat and breeches with purple waistcoat and saddle cloth. Still lots to do, of course, but the good General looks stunning already. Have a wonderful day everyone!

Comments

guy said…

Every time the main weather report and map comes on the BBC they always show a slice of Norway and for the last week or so it seems to have been snowing constantly. I'm sure the skiing will be good there this season. We normally head to the Alps but the girls are now at different schools and v inconsiderently their school holidays do not overlap to a reasonable degree so we are still at the planning stage.

regards,
Guy

5:04 AM

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

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 ...

The Eventual Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment. . .

The Anhalt-Zerbst regiment musters in the drill square to sort themselves into platoons and companies during the coming weeks Fall maneuvers if you will. A large dose of real life the last few days with the start of classes next Monday, various preparatory meetings, and finishing up a few other things this week. But, I managed to sort out 60 or so Minden Austrian infantry from the pile and get 'em stuck to temporary painting bases. Must carefully drill out the hands of several NCOs for flagpoles and pole arms this weekend before the usual basecoat. I'm thinking of mixing the usual white gesso with the usual light gray to kill two birds with one stone so to speak. Applying both base- and undercoat in one fell swoop as my grandmother used to say. In the meantime, the recently finished squadron of Saxon cuirassiers has been placed carefully in one of the clear acrylic boxes on my shelves until I have the suitable flag to affix. -- Sto...

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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