Enjoying Painting Once Again. . .

Not much to look at so far, and I've violated my "Fleshtone First" step, but I am very pleased with the Charcoal Gray highlight on the black areas. Not too much, but just enough difference from the straight black.

A wee bit of painting progress the last week or so on the first platoon of eight privates, a few drummers, and a couple of officers. This time around, I am playing with the order in which I do things and trying to resist the urge to apply too much highlight color to the blacks, blues, and reds.

On that note, I've found a very nice dark 'Charcoal Gray' acrylic that seems to provide just the perfect highlight for black leather and cloth of various kinds. Less silvery than the Zinc used in the past. See what you think.

On the technical end of things, I've been using larger #4 round brushes for much of the painting so far. Another one with a not so good point and a new one with a very good point where more precision is called for.

Anyone else find that the longer you paint figures, the less very tiny brushes have been necessary? The last few years, much of my brushwork has been done with #4 and #6 rounds with #1, #2, or #3 rounds used for very small details like buttons or decorations on the chests of mounted officers.

Of course, it could just be that I'm painting nominally 30mm figures now instead of the true 15s of years gone by, but even so.

When I was a young, callow figure painter 40 or so years ago, I thought that teeny-tiny brushes were the thing. And, of course, that meant that painting even a single figure took forever. But it need not be that way!

The figures are, of course, slated to become the Schaumburg-Lippe-Bückeburg Infantry.

If I am not too worn out after a day putting down new mulch, trimming missed spots around several beds, and taking care of a few other things outside for The Grand Duchess, I'll get back to these this (Sunday) evening and take care of the red neck stocks and fleshtone before possibly moving on to the facings and turn-backs.

-- Stokes

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!

And It's the End of September!!!

Saxony's Ploetz Cuirassiers, an illustration lifted from the Kronoskaf website, which has thus far guided my spectacularly glacial painting of 30 28mm Eureka Saxon cuirassiers purchased all the way back in October 2016. A gray, cool Saturday here in Mid-Michigan with rain in the forecast. The Grand Duchess is away at a conference, so it's just "The Boys" here at home. The Young Master (almost 15) has retreated to his room for something or other following breakfast while I have stolen back down here to Zum Stollenkeller (masquerading as my office) with a second mug of coffee and both cats comfortably ensconced nearby. Enjoying the late morning and still in my pajamas! Not much planned for today beyond designing a couple of promotional flyers for workshops my department is presenting (small parties we will throw?) in October and November. With maybe a bit of on the next podcast script. More important, I am toying with the idea of returning for an hour or...

Happy September 2nd!!!

T his weekend, the question of what, precisely, constitutes an "imagination" came up in an online forum of which I am a part. To be fair, the issue originates from further afield in a Facebook group that I am not a member of, but I weighed in with my own view. The following was in response to the question posed yesterday (Sunday) morning by an exasperated member of my own rather more gentlemanly town square, who had been met with a strident response to information he shared about his (admirable) hobby activities on said FB group. Here is, more or less, what I wrote: To my mind, the concept of imagi-nation(s) is a broad one. It can range from historical refights or what-if scenarios/battles/campaigns between armies of a particular era, to completely made up combatants operating in a quasi-historical setting, to the rather generic red and blue forces of the Prussian Kriegspiel that examine a particular tactical problem, task, or exercise. ...

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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