In an effort to take my mind of this monstrosity of mental moronicism for longer than 5 minutes, I thought I’d tell you all what I’ve been up to. Something even less useful than trying to get tRump to take this seriously, I’ve been arguing with color and light. But first a song to carry you through to the next paragraph.
The model railroad museum I’m building is perfect for social distancing. I’ve canceled all events and locked the front door. Now I have all sorts of time to get projects done without distraction, like these scenes.
This scene shows the effects of yesterdays thunderstorm, where the runoff is muddy and filled up the ditches along the right of way.
It is a lot of fun to work on a project like this, but here’s the rub. It can be really frustrating! See, the lighting conditions are completely different than where I can work and make my messes. My goal is to blend the foreground scenery seamlessly with the images in the backdrop. So, I can judge what needs to be done inside, then go outside and try to get my colors right with regards to the grasses and bushes I make, only to find out that they look completely wrong back inside. Back outside I go and try again. I’m in no danger of growing fat.
One of my issues is that color change when applied to existing colors. I know, that sounds elementary. Still, I haven’t found a way to predict what will happen. I can’t even get two batches of grass to come out the same. This is a problem for larger areas, alas, I have to make my mistakes work for me.
One problem is that I’m using white glue to glue down the grass clumps, one by one. All the fresh glue can throw my eye off. Then that afternoon, when the glue is dry, everything is darker and not what I anticipated. So, I have to either tear up what I did, or put something in front of it, to mask the color. Luckily, the are area that I’m working on is fairly mottled in the background. I have some leeway in what I do. But it’s the real estate that is limited. I better get it right before I run to the edge and have to stop.
Sometimes we all have to keep plugging away, knowing that it’s not our best or even a mistake. We just have to have faith that in the end, it will work out as we desire, or, even be happy with the results.
Stay safe out there folks. I’m pulling for ya.