Only -6 Degrees Fahrenheit in the Grand Duchy This Morning. . .

The view from our front porch a short while ago this afternoon at about 1pm. A high temperature of about 16 F. is forecast for today, almost 30 degrees warmer than yesterday, so the three of us are headed out to ski later this afternoon once the Grand Duchess and Young Master arrive home.

Frigid winter weather provides the perfect excuse for extra time at the painting desk. After all, one can hardly be asked to go (ok, 'sent') outside to clean out the gutters or engage in other kinds of domestic husbandly pursuits that, if we are honest, many husbands/male partners would rather not do. So, I too have been plugging away with the 30 or so grenadiers in the composite battalion currently on the table.

Most of my efforts the last few days have gone into getting the facings and turnbacks started with a dark red -- Citadel's Khorne Red -- which will then get a dash of Evil Sunz Scarlet applied very sparingly atop that. I've also started to clean up figures here and there as I have gone along, trimming in edges and touching up adjacent areas. Still lots of small things to paint, but they are starting to come together. I hope you'll agree once I popt a photo update or two this evening. Stay tuned!

-- Stokes

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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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