Merry Christmas from The Grand Duchy of Stollen. . .

A vintage feline-themed Christmas card that tickled my heart when I came across it two weeks or so ago.

Well, just over three hours left of Christmas Day. We had a delightful one with gifts (some new soldiers too), far too much food, treats, a dusting of new snow outside, telephone conversations with distant family members, and a long walk for the three of us around the neighborhood mid-afternoon.

The Young Master has been tucked in for the evening, the Grand Duchess is having a few minutes to herself, and I have brought my second mug of after dinner coffee down here to Zum Stollenkeller for a break before we reconvene in the living room a little later. There, The Grand Duchess and I will listen once again to this year's Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from the chapel at King's College Cambridge.

Before the day slips away, allow me to wish you a Merry Christmas! Wherever in the world you are, I hope you have enjoyed a day of calm, good company, and a light mood. Remember, the season lasts longer than one day. Let's say no to the cycle of hyper sales driven retail whatever and its after Christmas and New Year's sales. Instead, let's hang on to that spirit of good will just a little while longer. Surely, there can be no harm in that?

-- Stokes

Comments

Rob Young said…

It was an excellent Xmas for us too; to you, Merry Boxing Day.

3:00 AM

marinergrim said…

Hope you had a great day

3:58 AM

Anonymous said…

Merry Christmas to you Stokes and Family. I'd love to see that "Dusting" of light Snow...here in Sydney- Australia -out in the West some 60km from Sydney it will be 35Deg C to-day followed by a predicted 41Deg C tomorrow....yes, Snow and Cold Days sounds very appealing as I sit here in my Air-Conditioned Study typing away- hoping to get out into my Workshop for some modelling when things cool down a little. Cheers. KEV.

8:15 PM

Millsy said…

A Jolly Christmas to you too sir and all the best to you and the family for 2019.

4:15 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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