Okay, here I am back and would like to start with the project I started last weekend. After Alan finished the figures and base I could go on with my job. As you can see the idea is based on a painting from N.C. Wyeth. It is a very romantic piece and the historical accuracy is of course secondary. So therefore it is not a historical piece.
We got that idea from a collector who also will get the piece when it is finished.
In the first steps I would like to explain how I did the groundwork with the waterfall.
Water is always a very tricky thing and not all of us are a Christian Petit ! That was also a point I was very worried about it because I never did such a big thing before and to get it right
was a real challenge.

In the first picture you can see the base I got from Alan and the first thing I was doing gave it a wash with Sepia oil colour. I left the whole thing dry for a couple of days.

After that was set I took some acrylic paints like stone grey and beige also some white and dry brushed the whole thing very carefully.

The next Stepp was to give it a whole wash with glazing coloures. For that I was using smoke, transparent green, tan and transparent black like shown in the next picture.

These coures I was using and they are very handy for that typ of painting.

Here I added a bit more green

After everything was dry which didn’t take long because they were acrylic colours I started with adding some little branches which I just found outside our home.
You can use what ever you find in the nature and think that would look good.
The rest was some moos from Woodland scenics which work perfectly for adding it on trees or stones etc. Also some small leaves you all know.
For sticking on I used this time an acrylic matt medium from Windsor &Newton. You can also use another label. This medium is like thick white glue and when it is dry it gets matt.
For the final touch I glued on some Silflor grass taps and some other green stuff.
When you work with Silflor grass I would recommend to paint it first slightly and then stick it on. After it is dry I always give them a matt varnish coat with Model Colours matt varnish.
This way I am sure that I got rid of all that shininess what artificial grass is causing.

Now the real fun started with creating the waterfall. Because it had to look a bit frightening like on the original picture I wanted to make sure that I got it right. For that reason I was studying Christians great article in the Spanish magazine even with not understanding a single word . But at least I could look at the pictures and see what he was supposed to do.

As you can see on that image that was the material I was using. I was cutting some of that we call angel`s hair because it is so thin and stirred it in some water effects stuff from Woodland.

After everything was covered with that stuff I gave them different shapes and let them dry on an old plastic folder.

The next step was very imported because now I gave the shape to the waterfall. First I took every piece I prepared before and laid it on the area. This way I could check which fit where. Important is that you look at it and your eye tells you that looks good or strange. I just went on with that procedure till I got everything in the right place. After that I took that Water effect stuff and covered everything very thick with it. Of course always keeping in mind to go with the water stream and form it that way.

This an angle from above. The whole thing had now to dry for at least a day.

After everything had dried a bit over night I cut away the residues of those bits and pieces I glued on before. Now I repeated the whole step again and made some more of these I don`t know how to call them .I gave them about 15 minutes time to dry then I glued them in several places to create splashing water. It is better when you make smaller pieces and tear them apart. Then just take a piece and see where it fits in. At this point you have to be very patient and take your time to do it. It took me several hours to build them up.

I also used some cotton wool for making the white streams in the water. I took a little bit and stirred it in the water effect stuff again. Then I put them carefully in the desired places like shown in the marked picture. At that point you have to make sure that the cotton wool goes with the stream of the water because you can`t see it as long as it is wet. When it is dry you can see if it is right or if you have got some odd shapes .If necessary repeat it till you get it right.

The next day I went on with adding some more little water splashes and some water foam. The splashes were done quite easily .I cut some very small pieces of angel`s hair and laid them directly onto the final place. Then I put some UHU glue on them and stirred them carefully with a toothpick. You have to work quite fast because the glue sets very fast and if you miss the exact time to stop creating the shape you will get a mess on your toothpick.
If it happens just start again I did the same.

When we went bow shooting last week at the local archery club I found some foam ( from the foam "wall " used as a backstop behind the targets ) on the floor and I thought that could maybe work for my waterfall. And indeed it turned out really well.
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I pulled of some small pieces with my tweezer and stuck them on where I wanted to show foaming water like in the centre or coming down the rock. After a couple of minutes I covered the foam with enough water effects stuff and after it was dry it luckily turned quite opaque .

That is now the finished base and I think for my first attempt it turned out quite well. It is of course not perfect and if I do another project like this in the future again I can do much more.
But for my first attempt I am very pleased with the learning experience. If some of your have some suggestions or advices please let me know.

The next phase will be painting the figures.