It's Getting to Be That Time. . .

No, not quite a painting update on The Heroes of Boucharde, but rather the second of several seasonal images. Long-time grand Duchy of Stollen visitors -- and it is now over 11 years since this blog began its rather circuitous route. . . ostensibly a blog about wargaming plus the soldiers and scenery that go with it, but covering an awful lot of non-hobby territory in the meantime -- might recall my fondness for Victorian, Edwardian, and Wilhelmine images of Father Christmas/Santa Claus. I'm getting into gear a bit late this year, but with only ten days to go until the Christmas Season starts in earnest, there's no time like the present. As usual, pun unintended. Ask the Grand Duchess. I cannot seem to help myself.

At any rate, I am especially fond of depictions that feature Father Christmas in robes that are not the ubiquitous red. This blue caught my eye instantly as I was wasting time last week, avoiding actual work here at home, by scouring the web for suitably Christmasy images. Funny how that happens.

Fear not! Another Heroes of Boucharde painting update to follow later today after breakfast at our favorite local quick-n-greasy breakfast place, skiing around the corner from the house at an area park (we had quite a bit of snow here in Mid-Michigan on Wednesday), followed a hot shower. It's Friday at last. Happy Weekend everyone!

-- Stokes

Yours truly earlier this morning on the way to our local breakfast haunt with the Grand Duchess. Eggs, ham, and hashed brown potatoes that are to die for along with a bottomless cup of coffee. And now I will ski some of that off.

Comments

Fitz-Badger said…

I thought you were going to say "that time for St. Lucia buns". Or has that already come and gone?

5:16 PM

Chris Gregg said…

When do we get the seasonal smell of Stollen cooking on your blog?

8:45 AM

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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