Scenic distraction

I've been meaning to create some new hedges and undergrowth for a while as current stock was looking a bit tired. Painting tends to take precedent but some inspiration from the garden set me off on a creative tangent.

Would you believe that it occasionally gets a bit damp here in South Wales, it was a shock to me too. Well one hitherto rather useless by product of that in my garden is moss growing up the fence and shed. In clearing things up I peeled it away and thought I'd see whether it could be of use. Given that there was no soil beneath it most of it came away in large pieces and it dried overnight.

I tend to use scenic lichen and bits of scatter to break up scenery boundaries and to obscure where it meets the table for a realistic effect but at times it looked a bit artificial and lacked variety but this natural stuff seems to work a bit better, what do you think?

I also created some new hedgerows; These started as 180 x 25mm strips of wood with 4mm depth. holes of various diameter were then drilled along the length, about four to a piece using 3 different drill bits into which I placed twigs. To be specific dead thyme plants trimmed to size for the small to medium pieces and cuttings from old lavender plants and roots as the trees, all thoroughly dried out prior to use.

For extra strength I generously added wood filler and then tile grout along the length of each piece. At the base I added steel wool before then spraying with matt black. The trees and bushes were then spray / scatter painted using a toothbrush and various colours before then applying spray adhesive and various clump foliage and/or scenic scatter.

All of the above then makes for added depth and interest for photographic backdrops and compliments to the gaming table.

It was then rude not to have a play around with some set ups, hope you enjoyed this scenic interlude - I'm not procrastinating honest !

Bye for now

Stuart