Skip to main content

Bit by Bit. . .

 

My usual cheery place holder until I have opportunity to share new photographs of the current figures under the brush.
A pleasant 45 minutes or so in the painting chair yesterday evening following the evening meal applying Army Painter flesh wash to 15 faces and 30 hands.  In a day or three, I'll use a small brush to retouch a few high points in these areas with the original flesh tone.  Black neck stocks and scabbards this evening, however, with possibly basic dark brown for the musket stocks depending on how time goes.  

A photo update will follow in the next post, not so much because it is necessary, but because I am simply tickled pink by the sharpness and depth of field possible with the recent iPhone update.  Why not?  Suddenly, near professional looking photographs are within easy reach, so it seems a shame not to include another in-progress photograph or two.  

But right now, it's time for another mug of coffee before showering, shaving, and dressing for the day.  Online office hours for students (should any turn up) at 10am followed by various and sundry work-related tasks until 4pm when I'll call it a day.  

We are slated for appreciable snowfall here, or so the weather forecast maintains, so more local skiing could be in the cards during the next few days.  But I am also planning a solo weekend "up north" as we say here in Michigan during February 21st-23rd with the blessing of the Grand Duchess.  A trip to our favorite Nordic Center outside of Fredric for 2.5 days of exploring trails and working on skate skiing technique (with a lesson), something that is relatively new to me.  

My classic technique (diagonal stride) is finally coming together according to the ski coach I've been working with the last couple of years.  And after only a quarter century.  As an adult learner, it has been surprisingly hard to commit to transferring my weight to and balancing for glide on one foot while kicking to the rear with the other foot/leg for propulsion and moving forward over varied terrain.  

Even on groomed snow, there are various imperfections beneath the set tracks and corduroy to contend with on a moments notice.  Lots of little things to keep in mind while schussing over hill, dale, and through the Northern Michigan woods, but everything is apparently coming together, or we might say "falling" into place, at last.

But I digress.  In the meantime, watch this space for a painting update.

-- Stokes

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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...
8 comments
Read more

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...
3 comments
Read more

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
2 comments
Read more