Saturday 16 March 2019

Kingston Plains Backdrop - Substantially complete?


Following on from my previous post about two months ago, the backdrop at Kingston Plains is now substantially complete. There is a method in  this bit of pedantry. By telling myself it is substantially complete, it allows me to get on with other projects without too much of a guilty conscience. What it actually means is that the painting apart from a few foreground trees has been completed, all of the selected building photos have been located and glued to the backdrop, and the 'low profile' road bridge installed.





The painting continued the processes described in previous posts with the addition of nearer distance trees, fence lines and power poles. The latter two were drawn using a pencil with a ruler to assist the perspective and alignment. The painting process was slow and I now appreciate why major art works take so long to complete - it's so boring!! Sorry if this offends dedicated artists but I usually managed little more than half an hour before losing interest and looking for something else to do.

Two more photos of buildings were glued onto the end section of the backdrop to represent houses on the road leaving the village. The process to select and print these was outlined in my last post and they are probably a better perspective fit than the houses glued to the back of the township area. As noted previously, the township houses look right when viewed from track level but less so when viewed from normal operating eye level. However, they'll stay until I invest in a drone and can photograph more appropriate images.

The low profile road bridge was tied into the end section with the construction of a part embankment and painting the backdrop to simulate the remainder of the deck and fencing. The orientation and perspective of the image is optimised to be viewed from the other end of the module where I usually stand to watch trains entering and leaving the module. The image opposite shows a closer view of  the integration of the low profile structure and painting. 




I mentioned that I still have a few more foreground trees to paint and these will be complimented with additional trees on the module when I can pick this years crop of sedum . I am thinking that I will add a paling fence behind the milk bar to help conceal the join between the module and the backdrop. Finally, I'm still not happy with the road junction in the village so I'll probably fiddle with it a bit more when I get motivated.


As the work on the backdrop has progressed, I was also installing a stock yard at the far end of the module so the fencing in particular could be integrated with the backdrop . It too has also been completed although the fleeces on the sheep look very clean, so a bit more work is required there. The stockyard will be the subject for another post.




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