All Quiet on the Midwestern Front. . .

Happy Easter from the Grand Duchy of Stollen!

Just a quick note to say hello to everyone who routinely visits and/or follows the Grand Duchy of Stollen blog. No, I have not fallen from the edge of the earth or anything given the weeks of relative inactivity here. Just a lot going on at the moment.

Over on the painting desk, the Minden hussars wait patiently while a couple of hobby-related projects have taken precedence since our return from Mexico a month ago. Can't really say anymore about this right now, but keep your eyes and ears open for further developments in the months to come.

What else? Well, factor in a new film course that I've been developing with a colleague, the end of the spring semester, plus the usual family things, and it's been rather busier than I would like these last several weeks. Sadly, as I discovered at 20 when I went to work full-time, managing the dairy department in a large supermarket -- Just try to picture a very thin, long-haired Stokes doing that! -- there aren't enough hours in the day to do absolutely everything.

Fortunately, there is still a bit of time now and again for music, and thanks to the understanding and support of the fair Grand Duchess, my amateur rock and roll band, The Indras, continues to practice once a week and play out two-four times a month for pretty decent money these days. A related activity that has taken up some time the last few weeks has been the design of our new website, by yours truly, along with getting it online and fine-tuning everything. Just click on our name above to be transported, via the magic of the internet, to the website in question, which explains everything in greater detail. I'm the guy in the black turtleneck and glasses on the left, playing a vintage 1963 Hofner bass!

A special thank-you to my followers, who now number 99! I know from my statistics page that there are quite a few more of you who drop by every few days, so a tip of the hat to you as well. It seems that I have written something like 835 entries here since starting the Grand Duch of Stollen blog in mid-August 2006. Hard to believe there is that much to say about things like family life, skiing, bicycling, travel, music, teaching, table manners, and, oh yes, wargaming. Anyway, here's to at least a few hundred more posts before the ol' fingers drop off.

Finally, please do continue to check in here during the coming weeks. I'm teaching a May Term film course, but things should calm down and return to normal before long, which means a little more time for soldier painting, wargaming, and nattering on about it here. Stay tuned. Have a good day everyone, and Happy Easter to those of you who celebrate!

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

tradgardmastare said…

And a Happy Easter to you and your household from all at the Duchy of Tradgardland.
Alan

12:51 PM

Fitz-Badger said…

By coincidence I used a similar title for my latest post at the Soweiter League, as I've also been busy with "real life" and had little to report in the gaming world.
Hopefully we can both find a little more time for painting and gaming and such in the coming months!

10:30 PM

Mosstrooper said…

May I take this oppertunity to nominate you for 'The Stylish Bloggers Award'

10:38 AM

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

Search This Blog