What's New on the PRR Panhandle Division?

[MurphOnMillerAve]

I like the work on the backdrop. I'm with you guys, I just painted the walls a sky blue. I might add something later, but I ...
Andy

I don't know if anybody will think this is worth a plug-nickle (boy, there's an expression that dates me as antique, huh,) but I painted my skies bass-ackwards; that is, instead of trying to glob clouds in here-n-thee, I painted the walls with flat white, with a roller, and then, with a brush, I painted the blue (after having checked a paintbrush full of the blue I selected held up against the sky above my house) along the wall surfaces until I "felt" a cloud should appear. After the first wall surface was completed, I checked with my wife who pronounced the skies as, "Wonderful, So real."

Well, I don't know about all that, but it was good enough for me, so I continued along all the walls with the same technique. I still think adding a bit of various shades of gray might be good to do at various points, but the days of my crawling over the layout to reach and stretch distant points are long over.
Murph

[E7]

Murph,

It looks fabulous, but there is this one rogue cloud over near the left...........just, kidding, it ALL really does look great! I think you're onto something with that technique. That said, lazy lout that I am, unless I go for one of those photo back drops, the walls will be one color........but if I do relent. I will keep your technique in mind.

Rich

[G3750]

Interestingly enough, Janice (the artist) and I were discussing the logistics for the backdrop for the next incarnation of the PRR Panhandle (that start is at least 18 months away). I don't know what size the room will be (although I have a minimum size in mind), but I do know:

• The backdrop scene will be painted on the wall.
• It will all be one contiguous scene / backdrop.
• It will be completed before any benchwork.
• I will probably do some amount of roughing out the landscape (pencil) and maybe lay down a base coat of paint.
• Janice will finish up the painting.
• The cloud stencils I got for my birthday will be used.

So (long story short), I am reading these discussions around backdrop painting techniques with interest.

I guess I'm doing what I always do: Grab myself by the scruff of my neck and yank myself into the next thing I'm scared of.
(Now there's a visual).

George

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I don't know if anybody will think this is worth a plug-nickle (boy, there's an expression that dates me as antique, huh,) but I painted my skies bass-ackwards; that is, instead of trying to glob clouds in here-n-thee, I painted the walls with flat white, with a roller, and then, with a brush, I painted the blue (after having checked a paintbrush full of the blue I selected held up against the sky above my house) along the wall surfaces until I "felt" a cloud should appear.

Similar to what I have done - painted the walls white and then actually with several brushes (~1/2" - 1", and a couple of shorter bristle 1/4" ones) while the white was still wet went back with several different "blues" - tubes of tint on a palette - let my inner van Gogh be expressed....... Not quite Starry Night, but something that felt right to me,

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Real nice to find we have that basic approach in-common, Rufus. I'm not sure why I am happy abut that, but I am. Gofigger.
Murph

[Rufus T. Firefly]

:D Real nice to find we have that basic approach in-common, Rufus. I'm not sure why I am happy abut that, but I am. Gofigger.
Murph

Safety in numbers and numbers don't lie?

I used to paint and still have some of my oils and pastels as well. Maybe I will return to some of that with retirement,

[MurphOnMillerAve]

I too have my oil paints ("Permanent Pigments," I believe they were called. Still in business?) from my college days in the 60's, stored in a tin fruitcake can, somewhere in the netherworld under the layout.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I too have my oil paints ("Permanent Pigments," I believe they were called. Still in business?) from my college days in the 60's, stored in a tin fruitcake can, somewhere in the netherworld under the layout.

Mine are in my home office in a drawers of a spool cabinet that came from my grandfather's basement; my easel is over in the basement family room with an unfinished pastel on it - it's been on that easel for close to 30 years now........ That muse has been silent for many years.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

I like how you put that," That muse has been silent for any years."
It must have something to do with which amusements still interest us, huh.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I like how you put that," That muse has been silent for any years."
It must have something to do with which amusements still interest us, huh.

Oh, I'm interested (I think...), but when I sit down pastels in hand, nothing happens.

Periodically, this also afflicts my model building wherein I will walk into my shop, turn the lights on, stop, look about, and just feel nothing at all. I turn around, turn the lights out and go do something else. This comes and goes.......

Maybe I just need to play the right music.

[G3750]

I like how you put that," That muse has been silent for any years."
It must have something to do with which amusements still interest us, huh.

Oh, I'm interested (I think...), but when I sit down pastels in hand, nothing happens.

Periodically, this also afflicts my model building wherein I will walk into my shop, turn the lights on, stop, look about, and just feel nothing at all. I turn around, turn the lights out and go do something else. This comes and goes.......

Maybe I just need to play the right music.

This sub-topic regarding inspiration (or lack thereof) seems appropriate right now. After a month or so of apathy and delay, I feel energized. I have no idea where it came from.

Perhaps I have drawn inspiration from my friend's layout (my design). He drove the golden spike two weeks ago and Friday I helped complete its wiring. He successfully ran some test trains. Or perhaps attending the PRRT&HS Annual Meeting re-ignited the spark. Or getting some junk out of the basement was cathartic. Or having the artist work on the final backdrop got me juiced.

George

[MurphOnMillerAve]

I like how you put that," That muse has been silent for any years."
It must have something to do with which amusements still interest us, huh.

Oh, I'm interested (I think...), but when I sit down pastels in hand, nothing happens.

Periodically, this also afflicts my model building wherein I will walk into my shop, turn the lights on, stop, look about, and just feel nothing at all. I turn around, turn the lights out and go do something else. This comes and goes.......

Maybe I just need to play the right music.

This sub-topic regarding inspiration (or lack thereof) seems appropriate right now. After a month or so of apathy and delay, I feel energized. I have no idea where it came from...George

Yes, indeed, George, it took me quite some time to go from here (img3592, 2007) to here (img5405, 2008) to here (img9787, 2011)...
However, I kept reminding myself I was at-play, not at-work, and relaxed and re-crafted when it felt enjoyable.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Or perhaps attending the PRRT&HS Annual Meeting re-ignited the spark. Or getting some junk out of the basement was cathartic. Or having the artist work on the final backdrop got me juiced.

George

Quite probably any of the 3 - I do find that attending something of the category of the 1st tends to invigorate my interest in my projects. Clearing out rubbish, etc., just feels good to get done. The last just puts you in the "no excuses left" position - now you have to get to work.....

[G3750]

Or perhaps attending the PRRT&HS Annual Meeting re-ignited the spark. Or getting some junk out of the basement was cathartic. Or having the artist work on the final backdrop got me juiced.

George

Quite probably any of the 3 - I do find that attending something of the category of the 1st tends to invigorate my interest in my projects. Clearing out rubbish, etc., just feels good to get done. The last just puts you in the "no excuses left" position - now you have to get to work.....

Yes, but there is another factor as well. We are now about 1 year away from retirement (and re-location). I need to get the layout to a practical point of completion - at least to where I can run trains and host an open house or two.

George

[Rufus T. Firefly]

We are now about 1 year away from retirement (and re-location).

Nothing like a deadline to motivate...