Skip to main content

Vignettes in Progress. . .

The current crop of vignettes on the painting table, featuring a mix of figures by Minden, Fife & Drum, and one or two by RSM95.

Well, the new college semester is underway, but I'm not quite as busy this time around, which means a little more consistent painting time most evenings.  First off, it's time to clear the decks by finishing these four vignettes, two of which are intended as multibase scenes.  

At the moment, I am at work the various figures in the foreground.  Here, General von Zieten hands a message to an officer on horseback (facings and pelisse fur were done after this photograph was taken) while another officer from the same regiment holds onto ol' Hans Joachim's steed and, nearby, a couple of blacksmiths reshoe a third horse.  After the Grand Duchess' short research trip to Berlin next summer, I'll have a mobile forge from Berliner Zinnfiguren to add to this particular tableux.  

Don't you just love my over-reliance on these French words?  Pretentious?  Moi? Clearly, the spirit of Frederick II and his fascination with the French language and culture has overtaken me today.  Ok, ok.  Time to get a grip, Stokes, old boy.  There now.  That's better.  

Moving right along, you'll see a hussar office and his trumpeter just beyond, who are destined to lead the brigade of Stollenian cavalry, followed by a four-figure vignette consisting of two bases, and finally a few ladies and gentlemen on foot.  These four figures will join my band of frolicking aristocrats frolicking in the great outdoors and the musicians who provide their soundtrack, all of which were completed last winter and spring.  And THEN, it will be time to order those baggage carts and wagons and get started on the pontoon and powder wagons already in the pile of lead courtesy of the Grand Duchess and Young Master this past Christmas.  It's a busy time here in Zum Stollenkeller this winter!

-- Stokes

And here's a shot of my waxy palette paper with various blobs of oils that have been thinned way down with Liquin Original.  The thinner you get your paints, the easier the pigment runs off raised ares on each figure and settles into recessed areas, providing instant (and subtle) highlights and shading.  What could be easier?


 Finally, a random mix of RSM95, Minden, and Fife & Drum  mounted figures, all of which will become singly based Aides de Camp.  Taking my cue from the late Paddy Griffith's Divisional Level Game in Napoleonic Wargaming for Fun (1980), it makes good sense to include a few couriers in my future games.





Comments

Springinsfeld said…
Looking very promising, I look forward to seeing them finished and on the table. Nice little dustbin lorry too.
2:27 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Here's an RSM Painting Update

Here's a picture illustrating my (S-L-O-W) progress with the second company of Stollen's Leib (Grand Duchess Sonja's Own) Grenadiers. You can see I'm doing things a bit differently this time, altering the painting process to keep it interesting basically. This evening, I'll do the white gaiters and, if that goes reasonably quickly, and time allows, the red breeches. Still lots to do, but I like the way these fine fellows are shaping up along side the completed 1st company that's standing in formation just off camera, to the left here. Until tonight then!
3 comments
Read more

Presenting the Anspach-Bayreuth Kuirassiere!!!

Here they are, with the rearmost nine figures still drying, three squadrons of the Anspach-Bayreuth Kuirassiere, now in the service of the Grand Duchy of Stollen. And now, it's onto that artillery!
14 comments
Read more

Having a "No Day". . .

  F or the almost 20 years that she lived in Mexico, one of my late mother's Irish friends frequently mentioned having a "No Day."  A day with no social obligations, chores, tasks, or other work that interfered with whatever personal interests took one's fancy on the day in question. Since today -- a gray and chilly Saturday -- is Mom's birthday, the Grand Duchess is out with friends, and the Young Master is ensconced on the sofa in the TV room with a cold, yours truly is taking his own such No Day.  I think Mom would approve of my decision to make the world go away, as the old Eddie Arnold song intoned, even if only for a little while. So, I will spend Saturday afternoon focused on that first squadron and small regimental staff of Eureka Saxon cuirassiers.  These have stood waiting  untouched over on the painting table for almost three weeks while we skied and otherwise gadded about with snowy, winter outdoor activities. I hope to share a painting update Sunday...
3 comments
Read more