Three Brand New Vignettes. . .

Hot off the painting table, here are the latest three miniature scenes to take their place in the Grand Duchy of Stollen collection.

Most of the day free today! One of the fringe benefits of it still being very early in the semester. Fear not however. I'll get my comeuppance in a few weeks once things become more, and then exceedingly, busy, which is always the way. Still, with the Grand Duchess on campus most of the day, and the Young Master happily engaged building his version of Stonehenge, why not wrap up a few things at the painting table?

'The Thrown Shoe.'

So, here are the three latest vignettes, all using 1/56th Minden figures and mostly painted with my usual Winsor & Newton alkyd oils thinned way down with Winsor & Newton Liquin Original. Smaller details and some limited, fine lining with dark brown have been done with Citadel hobby acrylics as is also routine. I'm also getting a slightly better grasp on photographing the finished figures using my home-made foamcore lightbox from last month, three 100watt daylight "bulbs" (actually those ugly corkscrew looking "green" thingies) bouncing diffused light around the inside of the large box, and my Sony Cybershot camera.

'A Suitor Refused?'

Still not perfect photographs, but better still. The trick seems to be to back off beyond Macro range and shoot from between 8"-10" away from the subjects instead of getting as close as possible to the figures (Thanks for the tips Jim and Henry!), which throws some things out of focus in each shot. I then cropped and finally enlarged today's pictures using Photoshop Elements, whose virtues my artist/photographer mother in Mexico has been singing for several years. Still much to learn and perfect, of course, but I'm reasonably pleased with these photographs.

'Von Zieten Sends a Missive.'

What's next in the vignette painting queue then? A mounted Minden Austrian cuirassier officer shouting to a nearby RSM95 infantry officer on foot, Hans-Joachim von Zieten's horse and a dismounted horse-holder (both Minden) in a uniform similar to the one above, another mounted Prussian general (actually a Fife&Drum figure of General von Knyphausen) shouting to a dismounted Minden hussar officer, and finally a Minden Prussian hussar officer and his trumpeter at the gallop, presumably leading a charge.

Then, there are eight singly based Aides de Camp -- consisting of various RSM95, Minden, and Fife&Drum figures -- and at last the decks will be clear for brushwork to begin on the pontoon and wagon train, which should take much of the rest of 2014 to complete. . . Provided the college semester and life do not interfere in the meantime of course. Oh, and I've also just committed to teaching a short summer film appreciation course to high school kids in June or July, so there is some planning for that. But, both the Grand Duchess and I have pledged not to let work overtake our lives during 2014. Let's just see how long we are able to hold on to that lofty ideal.

-- Stokes

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

Der Alte Fritz said…

The piccies look good and in focus. Nice coloring on the civilians.

Jim

5:48 PM

WSTKS-FM Worldwide said…

Thanks, Jim! Learning how to take better photographs is a fascinating sidetrip.

Best Regards,Stokes

6:23 PM

Fitz-Badger said…

Agreed, very nice work on the figures/vignettes and the photos of same!

6:36 PM

Andy McMaster said…

Those are lovely little vignettes.

1:40 AM