Another Seasonal Vintage Illustration. . .

Here is a fun old Christmas card that I stumbled across online somewhere in the last year. Just imagine what this scene might really sound like.

Ahhhh. Nothing like that first mug of coffee for the day. Followed quickly by an eggnog chaser. Fear not however! I am not hitting the sauce this early in the day (9:42am), and the eggnog is not doctored with medicinal substance. Just frothy and cold, straight from the carton and into a large juice glass. One of my December indulgences each year.

Toy Soldiering plans for today include tinkering with that first squadron of red Wurttemburg curassiers from last summer to attached their carbines as I mentioned in my previous post. Then, there is the table to set up for tomorrow's planned solo affair. Finally, if the world, wife, and child permit, I've got some unpainted lead to review with an eye to determining the next unit in the painting in the painting queue. Maybe.

I hope your Christmas Week is equally and as delightfully unstructured. We need more of that these days.

-- Stokes

Comments

Der Alte Fritz said…

Enjoy the rest of your break and have a cold Nog for me, straight, not doctored.

3:26 PM

WSTKS-FM Worldwide said…

Thank you,DAF! Actually, I will do just that in a few moments. Great minds think alike as they say.

Best Regards,

Stokes

3:40 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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