An innocent enough looking mug of Constant Comment orange-flavored tea,laced with two-teaspoons of sugar, a healthy dollop of clover honey, and a shot of Knappogue Castle 12-year old single malt Irish whisky. It worked wonders and, oddly, did not taste that bad. I'll have another before bed this evening.
The curative powers of uninterrupted sleep are amazing. While I don't feel tip-top today, the nine or so hours I enjoyed before waking at 9:05 this morning were, in a word, delightful. As was the hot shower shortly thereafter. I feel, at least, human again and will sit down for a couple of hours early this evening after the Young Master's bedtime, for some painting. Incidentally, the hot tea laced with various 'medicinal' ingredients really worked and cleared my head and throat considerably as I sipped it at the breakfast table. Our forebearers were definitely onto something in the days before over-the-counter cold medications that leave you feeling decidedly strange even if they help nasal and head congestion.
The presence of our cats always helps too, especially the greetings we get each morning after feeding. Onyx, our neutered male (picture below), is especially affectionate and would sit in my lap all day if I let him. I really think the spirit of a dog inhabits his body, though, since so much o his behavior seems more akin to that of a cuddly lap dog than to a cat. He spent much of the day yesterday camped out beside me on our bed, purring loudly as I slept and wheezed. Both cats like me a great deal, as indeed do most cats I have met throughout my life to this point, but Onyx has clearly made me his human since we adopted him and his sister Gunnlaug in August 2012.
The Regal Onyx enjoying the Saturday morning sunshine during breakfast today. Had I been a bit quicker with my little Sony Cybershot, I would have a photograph of Onyx standing up peeking over the edge of the breakfast table in his daily quest from something else that might taste better than the usual Purina Cat Chow.
In other news, one of my informal group of wargaming friends and acquaintances scattered around the globe has suggested a painting challenge for the month of February, to help several of us out of our post-Christmas painting doldrums. My group of pledged figures is shown below and includes: 20+ RSM95 and Minden figures which will make up the third batch of that 80-figure regiment I began at this time last year as well as the color bearers and colors themselves. The entire 80-figures unit is based on the Ernestine Saxon infantry as outlined on the Kronskaf website and will include various contingents from smaller Saxon territories that were, if memory serves me correctly, part of the Reichsarmee. More or less. This particular contingent with have white breeches, gaiters, and coats in the Prussian cut with red facings and turnbacks.
In addition, there is a large group that consists of an upstanding Black Hussar Lutheran pastor in the midst of saving the Naughty Lola and her girls from a continued life of moral decay as they make there debauched way across mid-18th century Central Europe. The miniature women involved are all 30mm figures from various Suren/Willie ranges. Finally, there are two more 30mm Willie ladies, who will become laundresses once the painting is done, helped in this aim by the addition of two dollhouse miniature cauldrons and a scratch-built balsa yoke along with a couple of spare buckets. There will be another base added to the vignette that will feature a clothesline and some drying laundry thrown over it. We'll see how things progress. Happy Saturday everyone!
-- Stokes
My pledge for the February 2016 Painting Challenge.
A Sunday Morning Painting Challenge Update. . .
Well, I spent just over 90 minutes in the chair yesterday evening carefully applying a very thin wash of Ivory Black alkyd oil thinned with Liquin Fine Detail (very runny) to the shoes and scabbards of those 20 or so RSM and Minden musketeers, officers, ensigns, and drummer. I used a fairly new Cottman #4 round watercolor brush with a good point. My paint when thinned with this version of Liquin flowed like ink and after a couple of early minor glitches, I got the hang of working with this consistency. Nothing to bother photographing and sharing yet, but it seemed to go pretty well without too many mistakes to cover/fix later. So, that's all of the flesh and all of the black parts done.
This evening, I'll begin with the white. I might simply jump to the white crossbelts first, then later in the week the red facings and turnbacks, then eventually the tiny details and finally fill in the large areas let on the coats, waistcoats, breeches, and gaiters with white as the final step before varnishing and taking care of the flags. But my mind has not yet quite made itself up yet on the precise order of things. I did enjoy reading a brief post by Phil Olley recently though about how he tackled a unit of Austrian figures clad mostly in white. Intriguing to say the least. Click HERE to check it out if you have not already stumbled upon it yourself.
-- Stokes
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