Its been a while hasnt it! Like many things, hobbies come and go as interests change. This time its been a result of the change in weather and my attention has turned towards the continuing conversion of my van into some sort of camper type thing. Its been ongoing for a number of years now and its really time it was finished off. The warm weather has once again given me the ability ot get outside and do some more bits and pieces to it. Anyway I digress....
Work hasn't stopped on the layout. The previous post showed a small forest which had appeared towards the front of the layout, the following problem was an appropriate floor around the area of the trees. After quite a bit of thinking I made a plan to use some chopped up plumbers hemp purchased from Pendon museum on one of my sporadic trips to the place. This was PVA'd in place and coloured with a small selection of acrylics to give a more realistic tone to it. Once I was happy with the overall colour the whole lot was blended in with the adjacent field bit with a collection of various static grasses.
I am very happy with how its turned out, especially as I kind of made up how to do it on the layout and tweaked it throughout until I was happy with the result. Sometimes you just need to experiment and have a play to get a feel for colours and textures. Please let me know what you think....
Julia :o)
Hello Julia,
ReplyDeletethat looks great, very realistic forest floor, colours seem spot on.
Alex.
Thank you Alex. Its good to get your approval on things like this.
DeleteJulia :o)
Hi Julia stunning work as usual the whole scene is lovely
ReplyDeleteJohn
Thank you John. The aim is to try to add little bits like this to hopefully persuade people to 'explore' different views and angles of the layout and not just to look at it as a whole.
DeleteJ.
Well your certainly achieving that it really does look very good
ReplyDeleteRegards
John
Thank you John :o)
DeleteGood to see you posting - I was beginning to think that the smiling pasty might have been up to no good!
ReplyDeleteAs others have said, a very natural looking forest floor but I think the lighting helps a lot, too - the dappled shade is very realistic.
Its good to see that traditional materials still have their place, amongst all the new-fangled 'electrostatic' stuff.
Mike
Thank you Mike.
DeleteAs with most hobbies and pastimes I guess interest comes and goes. For me I have been trying to convert my VW van to a camper for about 4 years now and its really time it was done, when the weather turns for the better my attention seems to change back to the van.
I like the lighting too, unfortunately the photos above are not done with the layout lighting so fingers crossed I can get the same effect once its installed. As per usual I had an idea in my mind on how I wanted it to look and it was just a bit of trial and error until I got something that I was happy with. The plumbers hemp did the job for texture but not colour, it was the closest thing I had that would work.
I always aim for something that has the right texture and colour but if that isnt possible then I go for texture which I can then colour to suit.
J.
Looks very good, Julia - I especially like the dappled lighting in the third picture.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't help but wonder if a little bit of colour might just finish things off - a few bluebells perhaps?
Good luck with the camper van as well - bit of a VW nut myself - two Polos, a Derby, a Golf and a Beetle so far!
David
Thank you David. I need to try out the layout lights now the trees are planted and fingers crossed I can get the same effect. I cannot see why they wont but you never know. I remember discussing something like Bluebells with someone previously and if I remember correctly the idea was dropped because they might be a bit out of season. You are right though, they would add a nice bit of colour to the area.
DeleteYes you are a VW fan! If you are anything like me you love them but they are an absolute pain to look after!
They're great until they start to go wrong!
DeleteMust admit that I'm not an expert on bluebells or any other type of flowers for that matter - I have an arrangement with my next door neighbour and she keeps an eye on my garden in exchange for wine - but I would have thought that you have something or other peeking through the undergrowth and would add that little bit of colour.
You've also got me thinking about something I was going to try out - all about shadow and shade. Always been fascinated by shadows of clouds passing across the landscape and wanted to try and find a way of modelling it ... and then inspiration struck when I was watching an imitation coal fire. You know the sort where there'a a mobile piece of metal that gently spins round above the bulb - was wondering if you could rig something similar up on layout lighting. Must do some experimenting!
Hi David.
DeleteI know what you mean about adding something. While browsing images online about all I could see were plants like ferns and smaller trees so it might be worth adding something like that sometime.
In reagrds to the moving clouds, its something I have been pondering over for a bit too. The only conclusion I came to was it needed to move the clouds in a linear movement along the length of a layout so that ruled out a spinning disk. Maybe a light with a roller on each side and a continuous 'belt' cloud stencil type of arrangement?
J.
I have had a "mist" of bluebells amidst the coppices on Cotstart East for years - so long in fact I'd almost forgotten their presence (you can only see them from the front of the layout). Although I have thought about a conflict of seasons I choose to ignore it - the vista just reminds me of my driving along country lanes in Kent years ago. The beauty of a fictional location is I can incorporate whatever takes my fancy from photo albums of the area. Whatever I select to model I always source a drawing (or take numerous photos if it still exists) to ensure it looks right.
DeleteI've never yet been challenged on anything out of place but I do know myself somethings are not quite right. I will quietly modify the offenders one day if I can do so without damage to their surrounds.
Hmm ... that could work but you might need to diffuse the light a bit somehow else you'd get very strong shadows ... and maybe a strip light with a clouds on a conveyor belt type arrangement underneath it - could add or remove clouds as the fancy took you depending on how overcast a day you were trying to create.
ReplyDeleteAs for the undergrowth, this is the sort of things I was thinking about - not so much a carpet of flowers but a scattering - http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4n4CAqJZOg0/Tbk6u93YHuI/AAAAAAAAAFM/rQqpC_KW4Yo/s1600/bluebell.jpg