Now that things are back on track. . .

A snowy pre-Christmas Market scene in Bolzano, Italy. This is a part of the world I have yet to visit, but one day we will. A few years ago, I tried repeatedly to convince the Grand Duchess to chuck it all and move lock, stock, and barrel to the city. A place in the north of Italy where German is the second language with mountains (for her) and snow (for me), plus the cafe culture we both love, and at least two universities for employment possibilities. And the opportunity to learn Italian on top of that. What could be better? My efforts thus far have been, sadly, for naught.

Let's finish the run up to Christmas this year with a few carefully chosen, quiet seasonal and Christmas-related pictures, a December tradition of long standing here in the Grand Duchy of Stollen. The Grand Duchess informs me that her authentic Dresdner Stollen will be delayed by a bit this year given the interruption in our lives caused by the move to Michigan from Illinois last June, hanging around in space since then, and our just-this-Monday move into the new house finally. However, with any luck at all, there might -- just might -- be a fresh stollen baked by the Grand Duchess (assisted by the Young Master) by Christmas Eve or during Christmas Week.

-- Stokes

Comments

Unknown said…

Sounds like you're settling in well. I bet the Grand Duchess' Dresdner Stollen will be particularly delicious this year.
Best regards,
Simon

2:28 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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