Just Enough Time to Draw a Breath. . .

The desk of an 18th century gentleman. I like the absence of a keyboard and computer screen although the three-cornered hat might take some getting used to.

Although summer vacation began for the Grand Duchess and I with the close of May Term last Friday, May 31st, things have been rather busy here at Stollen Central lately. Soldier painting has taken a backseat for a few weeks, and I've been hard at work churning out a couple of articles. Finished the first one this past weekend and sent it on to the parties concerned. Now, it's time to begin the next, a working draft of which must be done and sent off for consideration by midnight this Saturday the 8th. Whew!

And then there is the translation project. . .   which I plan to do during our upcoming three-week visit to Mexico since the publisher would, ideally, like it finished and submitted by July 1st. Keep in mind, I've been asking for months to have the materials forwarded to me and about a deadline, but it wasn't until very recently that I was sent the documents in the original language (Norwegian, of course), and almost as an afterthought, the July 1st date dropped in my lap. Why in the heck didn't they send me this stuff back in December or January like we discussed originally? So now, it looks very much like our vacation will be a working vacation of sorts. Isn't that the way?

No matter. It will still be nice to visit with good ol' Mom and enjoy the sounds of Spanish all around us in the city, delicious Yucatecan food, and trips to the coast for late lunches. And then there is the swimming pool at Mom and Step-Dad's home Casa de Mariposa. So, I suppose I shouldn't complain too loudly. We leave on June 11th and will be away until the end of the month. And by then, I should be seriously ready to paint some more figures.

Especially since the recently shared photographs over on the Fife & Drum Miniatures blog of French artillery by Minden Miniatures and some Valliere 4pdr. cannon by F&D have given me the itch once more to pick up a paintbrush. Haven't decided what I might tackle just yet, but there's plenty of time in the interim. And plenty of unpainted metal and plastic here in Zum Stollenkeller. Not like I need to purchase anymore of THAT for the time being. See you in a few weeks everyone!

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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