A Little Post-Holiday Lethargy. . .

If it's good enough for the Grand Duke Irwin-Amadeus II. . . Lately, the Saxon-Polish army of the 18th century has been on my mind.

Sigh. I was just saying to the Grand Duchess, in the kitchen upstairs as I waited for the coffee to brew, that I would fold a basket of the Young Master's clean clothing this afternoon. Keep in mind, the basket of said garments has been living in a corner of our bedroom for the last five days or so. But as I explained -- ok, rationalized -- by the time it's 8:30 or so in the evening, and the Young Master has gone to bed, who in the heck wants to tackle folding a basket of laundry??!! Far better to have a second mug of coffee and, mentally speaking, put up one's feet.

Similarly, I have been wrestling with a touch of painting lethargy since just before Christmas when I finished those four hand-made trucks for the Young Master. Oh sure. The desire to sit myself down and paint for an hour or two most evenings is there, but somehow between the late afternoon, supper, coffee, and now syllabus preparation for the coming academic term, which begins on Wednesday the 9th, the will to open a bottle or tube of color and pick up a paintbrush evaporates. And I simply want to lie down with a book and the Voice of Russia on the computer. I used to be an avid listener to shortwave radio, but that seems to be fading as more and more broadcasters have their funding cut and are forced to leave the shortwave bands.

Anyway, Christmas, the New Year, and Epiphany have come and gone now. The syllabi are done and off to the printing office. No related reading to do yet. Or (cringe) undergrad papers to read through. No more excuses. So, tonight, come hell or high water, I'm going to get my seat into the chair at the painting table for 90 minutes or two hours and work on some of those Minden, RSM, and Fife & Drum officers. And I will post a photo or two of my progress here tomorrow. As an added incentive, I give you, loyal readers, permission to jeer, sneer, catcall, mock, deride, and harangue yours truly if I fail to do so. Just keep it clean, please. The Grand Duchy of Stollen is a family place after all. ;-)

Comments

Bluebear Jeff said…

"Mock, Deride, and Harangue" . . . sounds like a legal firm, doesn't it?

-- Jeff

11:31 AM

WSTKS-FM Worldwide said…

That it does, Jeff! That it does. Kind of like the legal firm of Dewey, Cheatham, and Howe.

Best Regards,

Stokes

1:56 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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