Clanking Back into Action. . .

Human and basic horseflesh almost finished. A mix of Minden, RSM95, and Fife & Drum figures. Look closely. Can you pick out the RSM95 conversion?

As predicted some weeks ago, the current academic term is indeed a bear, and it seems like there is always a new batch of student papers to read and grade. Whew! So, finally, three weeks into the current painting challenge, I got off my you-know-what and sat down to the painting table for a couple of hours earlier this afternoon to work on a second round of staff vignettes for the Stollenian and Zichenauer armies. These will be painted, more or less, in Prussian, Saxon, and American Continental Army uniforms.

Anyway, a delightful time was had slopping on oil-based flesh and various browns, which were thinned down with Liquin Original. Now, the real work begins as I take care of smaller details on each base, painting one at a time to completion before moving on to the next. Sadly, we are joining a few friends for supper this evening, which normally would be nice. But, between you and me, I'd rather get into my pajamas after dinner and the Young Master's bedtime and steal away back down here to Zum Stollenkeller to resume painting. You know what I mean?

Later. . .

I was greeted this Sunday morning by the delightfully faint aroma of oil paint and Liquin when I opened the door to Zum Stollenkeller with coffee in hand . The sun is out, the air is cool, and the house is still. For the moment, at least, all seems right with the world.

Comments

CelticCurmudgeon said…

My Dear Heinz-Ulrich,

Everyone needs a calm moment of reflection away from the pressures of society. I, too, love the ability to simply clear my mind and place glorious colors on wonderful toys. And even better is the time when this can be done with a hot cup of coffee on the table. Just avoid repeating my silliness of absent-mindedly dipping the paint brush into the beverage.
My very best for a totally joy-filled autumn!
Gerardus Magnus
Archbishop Emeritus

10:41 AM

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

And We're Off!!!

Arrrgh! Gotta go back into camera settings on my iPhone to bring all of the frame into focus. Blast! Painting is underway on the 60 or so Minden Austrians, which are slated to become my version of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment of AWI renown. More or less indistinguishable from Austrians of the era really, right down to the red facings and turnbacks, but the eventual flags (already in my files) will set them apart. I went ahead and based-coated all of them over a couple of days lthe last week of August, using a mix of light gray and white acrylic gesso, before next applying my usual basic alkyd oil flesh tone to the faces and hands. In a day or two, I'll hit that with Army Painter Flesh Wash to tone things down a bit and bring some definition to the faces and hands. As usual, the plan is to focus on about 20 figures at a time, splitting the regiment roughly into thirds along with the color party and regimental staff. Depending on ...

The Eventual Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment. . .

The Anhalt-Zerbst regiment musters in the drill square to sort themselves into platoons and companies during the coming weeks Fall maneuvers if you will. A large dose of real life the last few days with the start of classes next Monday, various preparatory meetings, and finishing up a few other things this week. But, I managed to sort out 60 or so Minden Austrian infantry from the pile and get 'em stuck to temporary painting bases. Must carefully drill out the hands of several NCOs for flagpoles and pole arms this weekend before the usual basecoat. I'm thinking of mixing the usual white gesso with the usual light gray to kill two birds with one stone so to speak. Applying both base- and undercoat in one fell swoop as my grandmother used to say. In the meantime, the recently finished squadron of Saxon cuirassiers has been placed carefully in one of the clear acrylic boxes on my shelves until I have the suitable flag to affix. -- Sto...

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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