No photos of the young George Michael and Andrew Ridgley here!

A rather plain version of good ol' Saint Nicholas, but the image is attractive in ay case.

Just a quick post this morning, so I can get to that last batch of student papers, submit final course grades for the semester, and then maybe some painting later on this afternoon or evening. Very close to finishing those first two officers, a drummer, NCO, and standard-bearer. Just some final touch-ups to address and then the standard itself, which should be really eye-catching if I can pull it off free-hand. Tune in tomorrow (evening) to see how things have gone.

At the top of today's entry, a nice representation of Santa Claus/Father Christmas albeit a bit on the plain side by modern standards. Still, he cuts a dashing, if slightly subdued, figure. His colors nevertheless have a certain something that appeals to my eye. Hmmmm, brown and red (or is it crimson?) with brown fur trim might be attractive colors for a future hussar regiment, or maybe a company of Croats.

Oh, and the title of today's post refers to that old Wham! tune that has become a Christmas staple on the radio this time of year. Of course, I'm referring to Last Christmas, a tune that first made the charts in December of 1984. I actually enjoy hearing the original version of the song, however you can have the covers that have been issued more recently by country star Taylor Swift, the cast of the American TV program Glee, et al. Puh-leeze!

Comments

CelticCurmudgeon said…

My Dear prinz Ulrich,

Have you heard "Christmas Without You" sung by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers? The video they made came out at least ten or fifteen years ago and it was a real soldiers video set in a WWII USO in the UK. Kenny Rogers played a WWII pilot who was spending the holiday alone and Dolly Parton played a USO performer who invited him on stage to join her in singing the song. I choke up every time I see it thinking about all the young men and women who will be on foreign stations serving their country.
With the best of holiday feeling,
I remain very truly yours,
Gerardus Magnus
Archbishop of Han-gover
(A/K/A Jerry Lannigan)

12:39 PM

marinergrim said…

Sorry can't stand the Wham singe. Mind you it is better than "Rob Halford sings Chistmas" (big fan of Rob and his heavy metal style but he should leave the Christmas stuff alone!)

1:08 PM

WSTKS-FM Worldwide said…

Jerry -- I'll look up Dolly and Kenny's video for this tune on Youtube.

Paul -- Classic Priest with Rob on vocals can't be beat. Agreed. But he can't be any worse singing Christmas tunes than Isaac Hayes was with 'You, the Mistletoe, and Me.' Unbelievably bad. And that's being kind.

2:21 PM

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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