Pontonier Painting Progress Update #2. . .

Here is where things stand this late Sunday morning.

You know, it's funny.  Sometimes it seems almost like figures paint themselves, and that has been the case so far with these Minden pontoniers.  Painting is, most of the time these days, a real chore, especially since free time is such a rare commodity.  However, the ol' brush and painting hand have been fleet of foot this weekend.  Yes!

The next step later this evening after a preschool Christmas presentation, in which the Young Master is singing (hopefully), will involve damp-brushing white on various shins, calves, shirtsleeves, and the exposed chests and tummies of those figures who have unbuttoned vests/waistcoats.  Then, it's onto the boards and oars as well as various smaller details like hair, stocks, buttons, and shoe buckles.

The uniform depicted is imaginary, but my painting has been informed by various Kronoskaf illustrations of Hanoverian artillery and engineers as well as Bavarian artillery.  

For those who might be interested, oil colors used thus far include: Fleshtone, Ivory Black, and London Yellow (Winsor & Newton Griffin Alkyd Fast Drying Oil Colors) and an ancient tube of Grumbacher Manganese Blue that once belonged to dear ol' Mom, along with healthy doses of Liquin Original to thin small blobs of these colors down quite a bit and help then flow nicely over figure surfaces.  Bases have been painted with two thin coats of Citadel Goblin Green (when it was still labeled as Goblin Green).

-- Stokes

And here is today's seasonal illustration, from Sweden this time, depicting 'Tomten' delivering gifts and goodies to (presumably) good little Swedish boys and girls.  I wonder if there are any Holger Eriksson figures in his sack?  The letter J is for 'julgran,' the Swedish word for Christmas tree.  The Norwgians are more straightforward -- some might say characteristically blunt -- and use the more obvious 'juletre.'