"Red skies at night. . ."

“Red skies at night (red skies at night) – Whoa-oh (whoa-oh) – Whoa-oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. . . “. If you remember that cool song by The Fixx from late 1982-early 1983, my hat’s off to you. Why aren't there any groups writing songs like that anymore? Sigh.

Anyway, that’s just what I’m seeing after completing ALL of the red parts of the final batch of Stollen’s Leib (Gand Duchess Sonja’s Own) Grenadiers, during several shorter painting sessions last night, today, and this evening. Everything red – breeches, collars, cuffs, turnbacks, vests, counter epaulettes, and the cloth part at the rear of each mitre cap-- has had a good coat or two of GW Blood Red. In an earlier post, I mentioned that Step #2 was all done. Well, let’s call the most recent sessions Step# 2a. Whew!

For those who are curious about the equipment I’ve used to paint these RSM grenadiers the last few days, I’ve used a synthetic bristle #2 round brush for most of the work, and a smaller synthetic #1 round to finish up the front of the coats. For the collars, I used my sable #001 brush, which has slightly long bristles and holds a fantastic point, perfect for reaching into those tight spots -- like between the left shoulder, upright musket, and left cheek/jaw of these RSM figures.

All colors, except the flesh, are acrylics by Games Workshop, which have amazing coverage properties. Even over a black undercoat. For flesh color, I like Winsor&Newton "Griffin" alkyd color. It's similar to oil-based paints, but dries to the touch in 24 hours. Ideal, in my opinion, for northern European fleshtones. I've had the same 60ml (2 U.S. ounces) for almost seven years and have hardly put a dent in it. I imagine that I'll eventually pass the tube onto the next generation of figure painters in the family. ;-)

Tomorrow, I enter my “blue period” (hee, hee), and it’s on to the light blue coats with the one red coat for the drummer. Then, we’re into the home stretch as far as I’m concerned. See you then!

P.S.

That “Old School” pull (some might call in black magic) is too much to resist! Almost forgot to mention that I’m placing a small order for some Spencer Smith and Holger Eriksson cavalry later in the week, which I’ll have shipped to Berlin for the Grand Duchess Sonja to bring along when she returns home in July.

Comments

SteveI said…

They are looking good, I wist I could see the detail well enough on the RSM figures to paint it in as you have!

Steve

5:00 AM

Snickering Corpses said…

Very good indeed. You've picked out details here and there in the last batch that I didn't even know were there.

6:51 AM

MurdocK said…

A real labor of love going there, should be a fantastic looking unit when completed.

1:08 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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