It's. . . The Final Day of Summer Vacation!

The blue squadron of my composite cavalry regiment with silk bags newly highlighted with Scarlet on top of darker Cherry Red.

Sadly, today is the final day of summer vacation 2018. Classes begin tomorrow bright and early at 8am for yours truly with my Henrik Ibsen and Society course on social problem plays since the late 1870s.

Syllabi have all been revised and uploaded to the cloud where students can access them after 1am Wednesday morning. I've also uploaded various supplementary readings to the respective online course schedules and grade pages. It has been a flurry of activity around here for the last two weeks, which explains the slow-down in painting and related updates here.

However, I have been able to return to the painting table during the last couple of days and pick up where I left off back on August 12th. After finishing the medium-dark gray highlights on the black leather horse tack yesterday, I decided to give myself a break and see to the much easier dark blue coats and red silk bags atop the squadron's bearskins. If there is time this evening, I'll either add the light Royal Blue highlight, or begin the many small silver and brass bits of metal on the horse tack. We'll see how it goes.

The first few weeks of the term are fairly easy as far as my workload goes, so I hope to squeeze in an hour or so pf painting most evenings before free time disappears about Week 5 when the first round of student projects will be delivered. Until then, a few more glorious weeks of relatively free evenings and weekends.

-- Stokes

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!

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!

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...

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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