The next element of the layout I wanted to work on was the riverfront. The flats and the marshes lie near the River Thames, and I wanted to replicate the look of the river.
My first decision was to avoid the use of too much blue when painting the river. The Thames is a tidal river, and when seen from a distance it appears to be grey with flecks of green and brown. I started by painting the river area using neutral grey acrylic craft paint (Daler Rowney Neutral Grey No.084). Before the grey paint dried, I lightly touched the surface of the wet paint with green paint (Reeves Oxide Chromium Green) which naturally blended in with the grey paint to produce the look of shallow, tidal water.
Once this had dried, I painted the river area with a lighter grey acrylic paint wash (Reeves Medium Grey) to which I had added a single drop of light blue (Boldmere Cerulean Blue). The end result was a murky grey river that had a tint of blue and green.
I then finished it off with four coats of polyurethane gloss varnish.
Whilst I was varnishing the river, I varnished the inundated parts of the marsh.
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Looks very good to me Bob. The Avon by Bristol is tidal and quite far inland too, varying in colour from mud/silt brown after heavy rain, through to steel grey when stormy clouds gather, to the classic bright blue of a reflected Summer sky.
ReplyDeleteSteve J.,
DeleteCheers! The problem with trying to reproduce water on the tabletop is the fact that it is actually colourless and what you see is either what is on the bottom of the river/lake or suspended in the water or a reflection of the colour of the sky or a combination of all of these.
I've seen all sort of ways to reproduce rivers, but in the end I opted for the simplest method I could find ... and I think that it worked quite well.
All the best,
Bob
Nice work Bob, it really looks the part, hard job to produce a realistic river but I think you have achieved it.
ReplyDeleteDonnie McGibbon,
DeleteMany thanks for your kind comment. My next step will be to deal with the riverside part of my layout.
All the best,
Bob
You have captured the look of the Thames I think rather than the sky blue rivers beloved of wargaming .
ReplyDeleteThe Good Soldier Svjek,
DeleteCheers! I’ve lived in and around London for most of my life, and I don’t ever think that the River Thames has ever looked anything other than a dirty grey/green at any time.
All the best,
Bob
Bob,
ReplyDeleteThat section of stream looks a very verisimilitudinous, belike the great grey-green greasy Limpopo River, which is as deep as the sea, and bordered with fever trees. No doubt that having passed through London, the Thames has much the same tinge of topsoil runoff, algae and silt.
Cheers,
Ion
Archduke Piccolo (Ion),
DeleteUntil relatively recently (we’ll, within my lifetime), anyone who fell into the River Thames had to be taken to hospital to have their stomach pumped and given a course of antibiotics to prevent any possibility of the person becoming ill because the river was so polluted.
Luckily, it’s a lot cleaner nowadays!
All the best,
Bob