A Minden Pioneer Update. . .

Almost finished and ready for a coat or two of gloss.  Just in time to get pack up in styrofoam peanuts for the move.

Things have been deathly quiet here at The Grand Duchy of Stollen blog lately what with the coming move and all of the hundreds of little things to do before the packers arrive bright and early on Thursday morning to pack up the household in advance of the moving van arrival Monday next.  Zum Stollenkeller has been packed up -- I did not want to leave that for someone else -- save for the painting table, and it isn't really my space anymore, which is kind of sad.  I've loved this quirky old house and will miss it terribly.  

We have a pleasant temporary three-bedroom apartment lined up in a quiet area on the edge of our new city, but going from a spacious craftsman-style house, built in 1925, with loads of character, into a much smaller generic apartment does not sit well with me, and I must admit to having serious misgivings about it.  Until the current house is sold, and we have some operating funds with which to make a down payment on a new Stollen Central, there isn't really a viable alternative.  I'm one of those annoying people who needs room to breathe and think.  Physical and mental space in other words.  To be blunt, that will be a near run thing in a much smaller space with the Young Master, a somewhat spirited child, and the Grand Duchess, who, for all of her wonderful qualities, does not always understand these things.  

For all of that, I have ,however, managed to find the odd hour here and there the last week or so to return to those two companies of Minden pioneers that were started late last winter before all of this crazy moving nonsense began.  I managed a few quick touch-ups last night, and all that remains now is to give the enlisted men black stocks white cuff lace on the few green coats with a tiny 000 brush this evening before glossing.  If the stars align, and the painting gods smile upon me, I just might be able to snap a bunch of photographs in my makeshift foamcore lightbox one last time for an upcoming article that I'm planning to write while we are in Berlin for July and August.  Hard to believe that it is almost mid-June already!

As usual, I've gone for basic, neat painting, using my usual mix of oils and acrylics, and have adopted a fairly impressionistic approach.  No super-detail attempted beyond buttons, mustaches, a few belt buckles here visible, and bit of white and/or silver lace.  Still, with castings as nice as Mindens, it is hard to do a really bad job in the painting department. Everything ought to look pretty good from three feet away when all is said and done.  Stay tuned for a final photo update or two in the next couple of days before everything is packed up.

-- Stokes

Von Scheither's Freicorps, on which I have based my pioneer uniforms.