For a while now I've had a few trees half finished above the workbench. In the spirit of the New Year I thought it worth finishing them up. I also had a modelling night to attend a week ago, and the trees are something I can work on without much fuss whilst talking to the rest of the people that attended.
The trunk and branches are finished in the same way as previous trees, so I won't go over it again. I spent a bit of time painting the trunk and branches with a few darker brown colours, and then highlighted some deeper bark markings with a diluted black wash. It didn't take too long to do. I am finding that I tend to take too long procrastinating about a finish. This time I attempted to not go overboard on the finer details that no one can see anyway. I'm quite happy with the result, let me know what you think.
Here I've finished the painting and I've applied a layer of flock to the branches with some matt fixative spray. The fibre I use for foliage is sprayed and the flock applied to it. Then I sprayed the tree and applied the foliage to it. A fair bit of trimming with scissors occurred then a final spray to seal it all together.
The finished tree is here. I have been looking at the photographs of willows that I've taken, and I'm not all together happy with the final colour. I've purchased some green acrylic to air brush on. I'll post some photos when I've completed the spray.
You can see the difference in colour when you compare the model to the actual tree colour, below.
As always I welcome your thoughts,
have a great week,
Oorroo!
Geoff.
Hi Geoff. Another ripper, I do like the technique you use.Must have a go myself. Pete
ReplyDeleteHi Pete! Great to hear from you, it gets easier to use the more you have a go. I had some fun straightening the postiche for this one! Looking forward to seeing how you go
DeleteGeoff
ReplyDeleteBiggest issue with Willow trees is getting the right colour match with the foam, as there is so many variations in the greens that are seen, the real one must have the first main full leaf after the bare dormant season.
Trees are really a love hate thing, as you know I had a heap lot of trees, now my layout is devoid of them as I look to fixing them, and a lot have gone to the bin. Willows are to me the hardest to get right, but what is right with a tree or what is wrong?
I have yet to see a tree that is the same as another one near or next to it, even willows appear similar but are also very different, the colours of the leafs also change.
From what I have seen of the finished willow, only thing I would try to do is perhaps add a touch more green foam and see how it looks. If the trees not permanent placed take it out and put in a plastic wash basin don't use spray glue at first rather just cover the branches with some more and stand back and have a look, shake or tap off any excess foam into the basin, then hit the tree with the spray glue to seal it.
Colin,
DeleteThank you for your comments. The colour of the trees is still something I'm working on. Maybe a future post, with some more trees, in a different shade of green