Evening all

I have been a bit preoccupied with the backscene of late. I must admit to getting really stressed doing them. SWMBO is quite a talented artist and has helped with the last two layouts but it very nearly ended in divorce last time...

The plan for Clevedon has always been for a continuous backscene. This will include the town at the Portishead end, pan round including Hangstone Quarry then flatten out to reflect the levels towards Weston.

Originally I envisaged a photo stitched thing but it soon became apparent that Clevedon (despite what some of my friends who live there think) has actually moved on since 1940 meaning the original aspect had been affected by more modern buildings.

So one Sunday, I found myself wandering the streets taking photos of various buildings. Luckily a supermarket car park and a sports field give a pretty good vantage point.

We are fortunate to have Martin Goodall in our EM area group and he has written articles about backscenes in MRJ's 221 & 222. I didn't quite want the Cotswold stone look but an evening watching him demonstrating his painting techniques convinced me I could have a go.

The backing medium is 1700 grade lining paper which is sprayed with a blue and a white Halfords car aerosol (Olympic Blue and some white or other) to get the basic sky pattern.

Buildings were sketched out using the principles of parallel perspective and then transferred onto the paper using tracing paper.

The painting then commenced using artist's acrylics.

The initial attempts were a little 'Costa del Clevedon' with too much terracotta.

Once the blocks of colours had been laid down, the building details were added with watercolour graphite pencils. The applied shading softens when moistened with a paint allowing a representation of windows, cills, bargeboards etc to be laid down.

I've attached some photos of the final results. I wouldn't call myself an artist at all so I'm really pleased with how it's turning out. There's still a bit to do; the green will be lightened to reflect trees and bushes and the quarry will include a bit more detailing. Still, you get the idea.