The Missing Gulyás. . .

The until recently missing figure, known henceforth as Goulash the Shirker.

Sounds like a lost episode of Wallace and Gromit, eh? Sean the Sheep might want to keep his head down though.

Just returned from another extended ski weekend sans the Grand Duchess and Young Master, it's Spring Break Week, and time to get myself back to the painting table to maintain some forward momentum. There's a skate ski reference in their somewhere given my work on V1 and V2 Alternate technique the last few days. But I digress!

I've decided to name this particular figure Gulyás the Shirker because, well, he is something of a sad sack who manages to avoid his duties, delay following orders, and go suddenly absent without leave. Sort of a Balkan Beetle Bailey who gives his sergeant fits and, as a result, is more or less on permanent KP duty. Or at least anywhere the action is not.

The moniker seems rather fitting for a misplaced figure that has managed to escape my painterly attention thus far in the ongoing efforts to paint this final company of mid-18th century Croats. Once back from the optometrist later this morning, base-coating with white gesso and painting proper will commence. I'll come up with some special coloring or markings to help him stand out on the table once he joins his fellows.

To conclude on a cross-country skiing note, I have finally achieved that holy grail of the sport and can balance on one leg while moving swiftly forward on flats and down hills. Balance and weight shift from one ski to the other and back again. Still much to learn and perfect next season, of course, but things should begin coming together rather more quickly than has been the case for the previous quarter century. Hurrah!

-- Stokes

Not sure which one of the instructors took this particular photograph, but I like its unaware, unposed nature.

Comments

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

And We're Off!!!

Arrrgh! Gotta go back into camera settings on my iPhone to bring all of the frame into focus. Blast! Painting is underway on the 60 or so Minden Austrians, which are slated to become my version of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment of AWI renown. More or less indistinguishable from Austrians of the era really, right down to the red facings and turnbacks, but the eventual flags (already in my files) will set them apart. I went ahead and based-coated all of them over a couple of days lthe last week of August, using a mix of light gray and white acrylic gesso, before next applying my usual basic alkyd oil flesh tone to the faces and hands. In a day or two, I'll hit that with Army Painter Flesh Wash to tone things down a bit and bring some definition to the faces and hands. As usual, the plan is to focus on about 20 figures at a time, splitting the regiment roughly into thirds along with the color party and regimental staff. Depending on ...

The Eventual Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment. . .

The Anhalt-Zerbst regiment musters in the drill square to sort themselves into platoons and companies during the coming weeks Fall maneuvers if you will. A large dose of real life the last few days with the start of classes next Monday, various preparatory meetings, and finishing up a few other things this week. But, I managed to sort out 60 or so Minden Austrian infantry from the pile and get 'em stuck to temporary painting bases. Must carefully drill out the hands of several NCOs for flagpoles and pole arms this weekend before the usual basecoat. I'm thinking of mixing the usual white gesso with the usual light gray to kill two birds with one stone so to speak. Applying both base- and undercoat in one fell swoop as my grandmother used to say. In the meantime, the recently finished squadron of Saxon cuirassiers has been placed carefully in one of the clear acrylic boxes on my shelves until I have the suitable flag to affix. -- Sto...

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

Search This Blog