Classes are over here in the Grand Duchy of Stollen!

What the heck!  Let's have a little more of Saint Nicholas today.  No reason not to, you know.

Classes concluded for yours truly yesterday afternoon, and I have a few easy days before collecting final papers to read next week and determining final course grades for students in my three courses the last few months.  The Grand Duchess arrived home from her final class meeting for the term a little while ago, and already a peaceful December calm has settled over the house.  Ahhhhh. . . 

The Young Master and I spent a delightful morning together today.  Following breakfast, he returned to his room on the second floor (his decision) to play with his Matchbox cars and other assorted vehicles, while I had a second cup of coffee and wrote a bit in my sadly neglected journal at the dining table.  We followed that by bundling up and going for a nice long walk together around the neighborhood.  The day is perfect for early December.  Chilly, gray, and damp.  I love it, and the Young Master is particularly taken with minivans, busses buses (thanks, Jim!) and, dump trucks at the moment, so it was a win-win situation.

After we returned home, and before I fixed us lunch, I spent a bit of time paging through some uniforms books for several specific examples of Prussian generals and officers with regards to facing colors, lace, and the like.  With the current crop of 20 RSM, Minden, and Fife & Drum figures, I aim to provide a visual feast for the eyes despite the preponderance of rich Prussian Blue.

Which brings me to my final point for the day.  I spent a lovely couple of hours last night here in Zum Stollenkeller, applying thinned (with Original Liquin) flesh tone, Prussian Blue, Cadmium Red, and Sap Green Winsor-Newton alkyd oils to said figures.  Still not much to look at, but they are getting there slowly but surely.  "Poco a poco" as they say in Spanish.    And best of all, that comforting aroma of oil paints still hangs in the air this afternoon.  I've included a couple of progress photos below for your perusal.

Two photographs of the current project on the painting table for the December 24th Friendly Painting Challenge deadline: 20 general and staff figures by Fife & Drum, RSM95, and Minden Miniatures.  Funny, but once you start, high quality castings almost seem to paint themselves!