July Painting Challenge: Day #17. . .

Belts, buckles, and straps yesterday and today. Whew!

Only two weeks of July left to finish (hopefully) the current battalion of 33 figures and a horse. Of course.

A couple of sessions yesterday on either side of cleaning out the garage and another satisyfing period this morning after coffee before moving on to rehanging several pictures and a few commemorative plates that have been waiting for a year or more since we had some door and wall repairs made in one case, and the Grand Duchess decided to replace an older picture in the second.

Speaking of which, The Grand Duchess and Young Master are visiting grandparents in the Pacific Northwest this week, so yours truly is home alone. Scary, right? I always joke with my wife that my usual group of floozies will pick me up in their pink Cadillac for some fun and games in her absence. The spousal reply is typically something along the lines of "Sure, they will."

In any case, while my time is largely my own this week, I was asked to take care of a few things, and I added a number of others to the list that also need doing. It is indeed amazing what one can accomplish in a short time when left alone for several days to do so. Ahem.

So, after a doctor's appointment this afternoon and a trip to the supermarket on the way home, it's back to the painting table for another go around with these figures. I think it's time to paint and highlight the coat cuffs before moving onto anything else. You know. Before I somehow forget. After that, I need to highlight those water bottles atop the knapsacks of many figures shown above. I think a nice mix of silver and dark brown ought to give the right appearance for what were (presumably) tin items.

Very hot weather on the way for the next few days, so a good excuse to remain indoors comfortably ensconced down here in Zum Stollenkeller until cooler conditions prevail, and I can return to mowing and other assorted yardwork outside.

-- Stokes

For good measure, here is a better view of both halves of my composite grenadier battalion based on a Kronskaf illustration of Wurttemburg's Hausgrenadiers (left) and another by Knoetel portraying Hessen-Kassel's von Hessenstein Regiment ca. 1749 (right).

Comments

The Good Soldier Svjek said…

You are doing very well with these figures , keep it up !

1:18 PM

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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