2012 Winds Down at the GD of S. . .

A mid-19th century Currier and Ives print. Where I grew up in southeastern Pennsylvania, there was a family nearby with a couple of ponies and a sleigh, which always came out whenever we had heavy snows, which were a regular occurrence in the 197os and first half of the 80s.

Well, 2012 is winding down quietly here at Stollen Central, and I can't seem to stoke (ha, ha) the painting fires, or get my rear end into the setting up mode, to resume Neu Sittangbad. The rest and relaxation of the last few weeks has simply been too much, I tell you, too much. I can't go on. Really, I can't!

Never fear, however. Somewhat more normal operations and procedure will resume here in Zum Stollenkeller in the next day or so as the 2012 Christmas Season fades into our memories. In the meantime, look for a retrospective of the year gone by right here on New Year's Eve.

And here's another seasonal Currier and Ives print. I went ice skating with the Grand Duchess (who enjoys speed skating, once. It was one of the scariest things I've experience. Ever.

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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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