Suren Suttleresses in Progress. . .

The three ladies in question, currently under the brush.

All of the various bits and pieces of my pontoon and supply train have been finished except for the remaining groundwork for that red caisson and it's four-horse team. Watch for some Kodak moments here in the coming days.

Otherwise I'm taking a small diversion during the long Thanksgiving Weekend and painting up a few of those Willie (Suren) female figures ordered last spring, along with a small supply and provisions tent and table -- plus various bits of sustenance and a few trunks, crates, and barrels -- before moving onto the Minden pontooniers in the background and then that 80-figure composite regiment of RSM95 infantry, which will be painted up as a unit of Ernestine Sachsen infantry and a conjectured battle flag.

Anyway, I am basing the colors of the attire worn by the three suttleresses above on the following painting of Frederick II exchanging some sore of interaction with, presumably, Prussian peasants.

So far, so good. The painting on the one test figure in the middle went quickly, and the Willie figures really lend themselves to painting with thin washes and stains. Lots of deep folds for the runny pigments to settle into I might even be able to wrap up the other two gals this evening after supper and the Young Master's bedtime. Tune in again tomorrow for an update.

-- Stokes

Frederick II talks to potato growers, the painting I am using as a guide for the colors of the suttleresses shown above. I can just imagine ol' Fritz speaking to the farmers and field hands in some variety of Low German, since I believe I have read somewhere that he detested the German language in general and preferred French. Perhaps, I'm wrong.

Comments

Unknown said…

I think they'll look tremendous when finished and old master pieces are such a good idea for inspiration. I do the same for ADCs.

Simon

4:40 PM

Mad Padre said…

That must have been an awkward conversation.
"And that, is that a potato?"
"Yes, sire."
"And they grow like that, just on the ground?"
"Yes, sire, pretty much."
"Amazing And how long have you been a potato farmer?"
"All my life, sire"
"Ah. You must enjoy the work, then."

Those three ladies look very ... buxom. Nice figures.

12:17 PM

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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