Happy Feast of Stephen!

An unusual old Christmas image that I cam across in my annual image search earlier this month.

Happy second day of Christmas everyone. Or Happy Day After as my late maternal grandfather used to say. We are planning a relaxed day with some light skiing in another nearby park which has trails. Again, just about five minute from the house and later more Christmas goose and all of the fixings. The Young Master seems to enjoy goose and even suggested yesterday evening during dinner that we have it for Christmas every year, so I guess that is that. Otherwise, some time down here in Zum Stollenkeller today, so I can finish tightening up an article to get off to Greg well in advance of the New Year. The online Christmas jazz should help spur me along nicely.

-- Stokes

The Young Master and Dad, Christmas Day 2017.

Comments

MSFoy said…

Ignoramus that I am, I have to confess that I knew St Stephen's Day was sometime around Christmas, but I never realised that it was the 26th. These blog things are educational, no doubt.

When I was a nipper in Liverpool, there was an alternative schoolkids' version of the famous carol. I hope it is not unacceptably sacrilegious:

Good King Wenceslas looked out, on the Feast of Stephen,
When a snowball hit him in the eye and made his face uneven.
Brightly shone the stars he saw, though the blow was cruel,
Then a poor man came in sight, riding on a bandy-legged mu-u-el.

We're probably on relatively safe ground here, since the carol makes no reference to the Nativity, nor anything holier than a good deed.

Today is our day for tidying up and putting away the Premier Cutlery. All part of some ancient ritual...

2:00 PM

And We're Off!!!

Arrrgh! Gotta go back into camera settings on my iPhone to bring all of the frame into focus. Blast! Painting is underway on the 60 or so Minden Austrians, which are slated to become my version of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment of AWI renown. More or less indistinguishable from Austrians of the era really, right down to the red facings and turnbacks, but the eventual flags (already in my files) will set them apart. I went ahead and based-coated all of them over a couple of days lthe last week of August, using a mix of light gray and white acrylic gesso, before next applying my usual basic alkyd oil flesh tone to the faces and hands. In a day or two, I'll hit that with Army Painter Flesh Wash to tone things down a bit and bring some definition to the faces and hands. As usual, the plan is to focus on about 20 figures at a time, splitting the regiment roughly into thirds along with the color party and regimental staff. Depending on ...

Sunday Morning Coffee with AI. . .

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Warboss Green Bases. . .

I t's amazing how something as simple as applying two coats of Citadel 'Warboss Green' (ex-Games Workshop 'Goblin Green') can enliven a unit of figures and get 'em that much closer to glossing and completion. In much the same way that applying fleshtone early in painting process helps bring the figures to life. Just some limited dry-brushing to bring out the manes, tails, and some equine musculature, and I'm calling my version of Saxony's von Polenz Cuirassiers, circa 1733, done and dusted. Longtime visitors to the Grand Duchy of Stollen might recall (the blog will turn 19 years old in September) that I generally go for an old school approach when it comes to unit bases and paint them a nice, bright green. Exceptions include command vignettes, skirmishers of one kind or another, transport, camp followers, and various other civilian one-offs. The approach is not to everyone's taste, but I like the cheery toy soldier appearance once everything...

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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