Carry on and Keep Painting!

The squadron of Wurttemberg horse grenadiers as of late last (Tuesday) night.

Things are progressing slowly but surely with the current batch of cavalry figures here in Zum Stollenkeller Mk II, bet we're getting there. Though I finally had to quit last night about 10:15pm after making a second or third mistake. These flubbs with the brush were fairly easily corrected, but it was time to stop and head off to bed for some reading.

I'll leave highlighting until just about everything else is finished. I've also decided on black reins, bridles, and straps this time around with some sparing dark grey highlights ala Doug Mason's work. And I'll attempt to add some cavalry carbines last of all when everything else, including a white colonel's standard (presumed), has been added. Horses will be mostly bays with a chestnut or three for variety plus, of course, the grey ridden by the regimental trumpeter near the lower right-hand corner of the photograph.

The second squadron of the composite regiment, just visible at lower right, will have dark blue coats and will be based on one of the German heavy regiments in bearskins that fought for the French during our era, that is the mid-18th century.

Last of all, a closing thought on the will to keep painting.

It occurred to me several days ago that so much of our craft involves painting straight or curved lines. Many, many, many times over. While highly impressive in appearance once everything is finished and varnished, you'll at once grasp why so many of us -- Guilty as charged, your honor! -- struggle with painting from time to time. In other words, it's not always the most exciting thing to sit down and do. Tedious and repetitive come to mind. It's far more fun, sometimes, to sit down a look at the pretty pictures in our books and magazines isn't it? But if you manage to keep a stiff upper lip, switch your mind to autopilot, and just get on with it, the end results speak for themselves I think. Just my two cents on the subject.

-- Stokes

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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