We need a litte cold and snow in the Grand Duchy!

Here is a picture of Santa Claus/Father Christmas in fur-trimmed purple robes, whch make his look magical and almost wizard-like.

Lots of people moan about winter weather, but I love it. Winter is my favorite season, and my ideal day is about 20 degrees Fahrenheit with 7-10" of fresh powdery snow on the ground. Ideal for Nordic (cross-country) skiing even without groomed trails. Sadly, we have so far had a pretty balmy December here in Central Illinois. Sunny and 45 degrees Fahrenheit today and warmer tomorrow. There have been times in recent years (though not in 2011) when is was bitterly cold with snow on the ground by now. And pre-Young Master Paul, the Grand Duchess and I have even enjoyed skiing locally and in Southern Wisconsin by now. Sigh. Yes. We need some cold and snow right this very minute, to paraphrase the song!

On another note, I've tinkered with the GD of S blog format again, opting for a rather more dynamic appearance that has yet been the case. It's certainly more eye-catching, and even busier, but I am aware that old black design with white font was not easy for everyone to read. Hence the new look. I hope you might like it.

Off to school in a little while to collect my last batch of undergraduate papers. I hope to have all of my final grades submitted by Saturday or Sunday this weekend, so I can work on my own things for a while. And, true to pre-Christmas form, it's a busy time here at Stollen Central. Friday evening, I play my final gig with my amateur rock band The Indras. We've had a good four-year run, but it's time to either move on or reconfigure the band. Of course if I could find guys who would reliably practice and not take months to learn a handful of new tunes. Sigh.

On other fronts, the Grand Duchess and I also have a small party coming up here at Stollen Central on Saturday, and we plan to decorate the Christmas trees next Monday. And then, it's fairly quiet sailing on into Christmas Week and the end of the year. And in the meantime, I'll keep plugging away that those 18 remaining Minden and RSM95 staff figures.

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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