Has it been three years already?

Today is the Young Master's third birthday! Bells are chiming in the capital city Krankenstadt this morning, and the Grand Duke Irwin Amadeus II (with the help of his trusty valet Hives) has declared a national holiday throughout the Grand Duchy of Stollen, which will be marked by a large parade of troops through the downtown area mid-afternoon and an opulent costume ball at The Residenz this evening.

Here in our little neck of the woods though, where in the heck has the time gone? It seems like just yesterday -- and at the same time like it has been forty years -- that the Grand Duchess was wheeled away into the delivery room for preparation at an extremely early hour, and I was handed some scrubs to don before following to hold her hand throughout the procedure that brought us young Paul. How funny and strange the passage of time is, and nothing makes one realize that like having a child and watching him or her grow up.

We are off to an area zoo today since our weather is bright, sunny, and cool. A wonderful autumn day! Lunch at a Middle Eastern restaurant will follow since the Young Master loves hummus and pita bread. After the return home and a couple of hours of the usual "quiet time" in his room with a few books in bed, we'll enjoy some pizza (another Paul favorite) with chocolate cake for dessert, and the opening of several gifts to Paul from us and his grandparents. An hour or two of play will follow before pajama, toothbrush, and story time. A full day indeed, but a much needed respite from the frustrations of Monday through Friday life.

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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