Sachsen-Hildburghausen Infantry Update. . .

Really beginning to come together at this point through more careful (ok, tedious) painting. You know. To remain within the lines.

I've spent about three hours during the last couple of days plugging away at these 19 RSM95 Prussian musketeers. We're getting into that less than exciting multitudinous tiny detail painting territory now. Sigh. This means lots of straight lines: shoulder belts, bayonet scabbard, hair queues, musket stocks, musket straps, gun barrels, etc., etc., etc. You get the idea.

It's funny what goes through your mind as you zone out during the zen of painting, and why it has never occurred to me before now is anyone's guess. But these items all require the careful painting of dashes and lines of various lengths and thicknesses. Not the most exciting part of figure painting in any scale. Still, things are coming together, and I've managed to accomplish quite a bit in short spurts of activity between cooking tasks yesterday and time, more or less, to myself today although the Young Master and I did have an extremely pleasant father-son walk around the neighborhood late this afternoon for an hour or so before supper.

Still lots of other minute details to take care of, but my version of the Sachsen-Hildburghausen contingent that was part of the larger Ernestine Sachsen Regiment is beginning to come alive. Visually speaking that is!

-- Stokes

Came across this new image of the Sachsen-Hildburghausen Regiment, ca. 1753, this afternoon during a break in painting. He looks rather different from the figure shown below on which I have based my painting.

And here, again, is the illustration I have used as a guide in the painting of my figures.

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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