The Grand Duchy of Stollen

A gun crew made up of Minden Prussians in the foreground, who have been painted in Palatinate uniforms, supported by another crew of RSM95 French artillery, painted, more or less, as mid-18th century Saxons. P uttering around Zum Stollenkeller this afternoon, not really doing much, but enjoying myself nevertheless.  It occurred to me that I might get back into the swing of things by shooting and uploading a few photographs of those RSM and Minden gun crews that I've blathered on about (please forgive my rather conscious attempt at British diction here, but I've always loved the word 'blather') off and on for quite a few months now.  So, here they are with the not-quite-finished guns in the background. The figures were finished in March earlier this year, and the painting was done with a combination of oil and acrylic washes over a white basecoat with full strength acrylics used for detailing. When everything was finished, some judicious black lining was added,

  The light, the light!  I can see the light! Ah. . . the summer vacation approaches, and there is a little bit of light at the end of the metaphoric tunnel!  My daily teaching commitments and May Term are finished as of Thursday the 24th!  And just in time for the next 60-day painting challenge, which starts that day and was proposed recently by a loose association of wargaming friends and acquaintances around the globe.  So, besides finally having some time to renew the stalled Neu Sittangbad game with General de Latte, I have pledged to complete (yes, FINISH, darn it!) the painting of two RSM95 cannon -- for an RSM crew painted as mid-18th century Saxons (more or less) and a group of Minden figures painted in rather more somber Palatinate uniforms -- and that 32-strong unit of RSM/Minden Croats, which have been gathering dust over on the painting table since late winter.   As soon as the battery has recharged for my camera, I'll post a couple of photos of the RSM and

When I was about eight years old, through most of 1975, I had a music teacher in elementary school, one Mrs. Kaiser.  She was, even then, a lady of a certain advanced age, who actually taught my class how to dance The Minuet (depicted above).  We absolutely hated it at the time, of course, at least the boys in the class did.  Or they pretended to.  But I wish I could remember the dance now simply as a curiosity piece.  My wife the Grand Duchess, however, might suggest that I am already eccentric enough without adding that to the mix!  Just a brief post to apologize to my long suffering and very patient opponent, General de Latte, for my disappearance these last couple of months.  Real life has me swamped.  Ok, drowning in various details, duties, and commitments that are the complicated minuet making up my life recently.  Sadly, wargaming and related hobby activities have fallen through the cracks.  Besides family life, with all of the highs and lows that entails, I am teaching