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| While much painting remains to be accomplished, the final third of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment takes on a pleasing appearance with the addition of highlights to the black and red areas of the miniatures. |
Except for Tuesday evening, I've been spending 45-60 minutes a day, maybe a bit more, carefully highlighting the black areas and now the reds on the current and final batch of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment. Almost finished with the latter this Saturday morning.
By the way, for these highlights, I have used my usual 'Charcoal' by Ceramcoat and Vallejo 'Red.'
Sadly, our quiet Spring vacation is coming to an end, which means I need to spend some time today organizing a few things for next week when classes reconvene. And some (at least) of the students return to campus for class on Monday morning, although any break seems to accordion out in either direction to be almost twice what has been officially designated by the university and put on the calendar.
Which means that we don't see some students for close to three weeks although Spring Break is just five days with a weekend on either end. Of course, these are the students who will send emails very late in the term, usually about Week 13 or 14, to tune tune of, "I need to talk to you about my grade in the course!" Another favorite includes, "Is there any extra credit work I can do to make up for my absences and/or missed assignments?"
Um, right.
But let's return our thoughts to more interesting pursuits, shall we? My plan is to return to the painting table this afternoon to wrap up the red highlights and then take care of the hair and queues along with a few mustaches before starting the white highlights.
For these, I like to paint from the outside in, more or less, and begin with the breeches, waistcoats, and waist belts before moving to the shoulder belts and coats themselves. I use a relatively small brush (a #1 or #2 round with a good point) and multiple thin, but not watery, applications of white for a nice, subtle blend between the Quaker Gray undercoat and the white areas.
Most of the time, the technique -- if we might use that highfalutin term -- produces a pleasing result I can live with.
Of course, we know that in many (most?) cases "white" uniforms were more ivory or very light gray in reality, but some artistic license is called for and perhaps even necessary when it comes to toy soldiers. Stay tuned for further updates as we speed toward the middle of March and my self-imposed deadline for this final batch by month's end.
I am already thinking ahead to that monster Austrian hussar project that I hope to start in April.
But in the meantime, I must show the Young Master how to use his new Phillips-Norelco rechargeable shaver later today. Paul has finally decided that a shave once or twice during the week might be in order. Now almost 16.5, and already a pretty snappy dresser in a casual sense, he has been looking a bit ragged for the last year or so, but until now resistant to this ritual male grooming milestone. Paul was, to his credit, actually the one who mentioned the need for a shave yesterday afternoon following his return from school.
Once again, "Bad Dad" (his nickname for yours truly) to the rescue. On my way to our local big box store to pick up a few things already, I returned in less than an hour with the requested entry-level rechargeable razor among the purchased items. It's currently charging on the counter top in the bathroom upstairs.
My suspicion is that there must be a young lady at school whose eye the Young Master hopes to catch with a well-groomed face. My, my. Where does the time go?
-- Stokes
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