How does Saint Nick do it all in just one night?

Why, with his team of special reindeer of course! And in honor of those reindeer, here is a long overdue illustration of these magical animals. I imagine that the team of elves in charge of logistics is making sure that Dasher, Dancer, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, Prancer, and Vixen -- oh, and that young upstart Rudolph -- are well-fed and ready to go at dusk tomorrow evening.

Meanwhile, over in Shipping, another team of elves is surely making final adjustments to this year's cargo of toys and goodies before they are loaded onto the sleigh. Loading a sleigh is never an easy job, and every inch of space must be utilized somehow while still leaving room for the driver and several fur robes to go over his lap. This year, I've read in Mechanics Illustrated that the elves in the Technical Division at North Pole, Inc. have finally added a GPS unit to the sleigh, to track progress and help streamline the journey a bit. The Board of Directors at NP, Inc. decided earlier this year that it was high time for the operation to enter the 21st century.

Over in Production, the rest of the elves are working double shifts to fill remaining orders. And of course, at the head of it all is the big man himself, the head honcho -- Saint Nicholas -- who is making a final check of his famous list in the main office. Yes, I'm sure it's an extremely busy time at the North Pole just now. When I close my eyes, I can just about picture it. ;-)

Comments

Captain Brummel said…

Dear Stokes
here's wishing you a very happy christmas, and lots of stollen.
thank you for the hours of pleasure your blog has given me over the past year.

yours
Adrian
Muenster, Germany.

4:09 PM

littlejohn said…

All the best Stokes! Your are an inspiration to us all!

5:50 PM

old-tidders said…

Looking forward to following your blog over the coming months.

Merry xmas and a happy new year

-- Allan

6:12 AM

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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