First of Four Summer Projects Almost Finished. . .

My particular treatment of the Eureka Miniatures 'Ooh, You're So Awful!' vignette. The current English ambassador to The Grand Duchy of Stollen, the libidinous Lord Hawthorne Rumpee de Pumpee (he is of Huguenot stock), takes liberties with a handy kitchen maid while his long suffering wife, Lady Thalassa and a disapproving Stollenian bystander look on.

Things are almost finished with the first of my four proposed summer hobby projects save for two or three of the invariable touch-ups and the sparing application of a few clumps of Woodland Scenics coarse foliage here and there to enliven the circular bases. These figures will join my rather large group of frolicking aristocrats, servants, and a painter, who bears a startling resemblance to the Italian model Fabio ("I can't believe it's not butter!"). A few of you might recall this bunch of figures from when they were painted back in 2012 or 2013.

Of course, as luck would have it, I seem to have misplaced the blasted bag of coarse foliage since last I used it. There are only so many places here in Zum Stollenkeller that it can be, but no luck tracking it down yet.

In the meantime, I've been carefully applying glossy Liquitex acrylic varnish to the infantry standards painted up last winter, so that these can join their regiments before I turn my attention to those 30 RSM95 horse grenadiers in bearskin bonnets, which were started last July before my painting mojo simply dried up as the summer wore on. Maybe I can make some headway and get them finished this year? Keep your fingers and toes crossed!

Finally, don't look too closely, or you will spot the lone piece of cat fur that floated in from somewhere and became stuck in the tacky gloss varnish after I finished a couple of evenings ago, switched off the lights, and went upstairs to bed. Insert very choice words here. I'm not sure how to attempt removal without harming the paint job at this point, so I suppose it will have to remain. Lesson learned? Always, always, always have some kind of dust cover to place over figures in progress better to prevent such annoying developments.

-- Stokes

Comments

Ross Mac rmacfa@gmail.com said…

You have nicely captured that ceramic look with these.

Now, on to those Fighting Horse Grenadiers!

6:07 AM

Conrad Kinch said…

Those are magnificent Stokes. Did you ever read a short novel called UTZ by Bruce Chatwin? It's about a fellow who collected porcelain, your stuff is definitely putting me in mind of it.

4:54 PM

Phil said…

Splendid and atmospheric vignettes, well done!

11:41 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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