It would be the first detail seen when one entered the room.
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| We needed a place for
our cemetery. |
The corner
of the future city scene was ideal. It would be the first detail seen when one entered the room. |
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| Like all proper projects,
this one needed a carefully crafted set of blueprints. |
Cutting extruded polysyrene
foam to approximate size |
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| Glueing down the foam |
The foam does NOT have to be perfect.
It gets covered with structolite. |
| I used a product called
structolite to create the landform. This product (AKA gypsolite) is a brown
coat plaster containing peralite for grit and light weight. It is wonderful
for sculpting landforms, particularly when the mix water is tinted with
a small amount of latex paint. Scratches look like grey dirt - not white
plaster. You can also use plaster of paris, plaster cloth, ground goop or whatever other method you prefer. After two days drying time, I painted the surface with my gerneric brown dirt paint made from a mix of two free gallons from my lumber supplier. Onward to the backdrop ... |
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| Oops, I forgot to photograph application
of the plaster and ground paint. |
First I scribbled some tree trunks on the backdrop
using brown and grey. |
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| While this was drying
I dug a half finished grave to proper 8' x 3-1/2' scale size. |
Next I added some
greenery by dabbing with a 1" fan brush. Leave lots of blue showing through.
trees are not solid objects. |
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| Touchup with two more
similar shades of green and better lower trunks. |
(Washed out by flash).
I added some ground foam bushes and lichen trees. |
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| Then an
very old and broken stone wall. |
Here I am testing
placement of the mausoleums and tool shed. |
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I created the dirt road out of sifted sand from the prototype cemetery. |
Then I added grass.
Apply, adjust placement, wet with 70% isopropyl. Glue with a careful dribble of diluted 1:4 matte medium. (it's still wet here). |
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| While the grass was drying, I added
a few trees ... |
... then the three buildings. |
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| Michael the gravedigger and his
assistant. The dirt is used coffee grounds and there is some at the bottom
of the hole too. Fresh dirt is darker than dry dirt. |
The fencing came next. The tombstones
are not yet glued in place. Their exact location (and a few more) will be
determined after the fence is complete. |
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| The last section is ready to be
glued into place. |
After which come the monuments.
The dress pins hold them upright (or nearly so - it's an old cemetery) while
the glue dries. |
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| The main part of the scene is nearly
complete. |
Let's add a couple of neighborhood
children supervising the work. |
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| The northwest corner of the graveyard
has a spring and shallow brook. |
Working on the slope. First paint
earth color. Then pick out stone outcrops. |
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| Apply a wash of 10% india ink in water. |
After the ink has dried. |
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| Wet with alcohol & diluted matte
medium, then add grass. Bushes come next. |
The view from the rear. |
