I
actually finished the diorama in time! Granted, it required taking off
work on Monday afternoon to make up for losing Saturday afternoon to
complete my taxes. I placed the finished piece in the of hands of my
friend, Oko, at 10:30pm Monday night, and it is now on its way up to
Chicago. What a relief!
I'll be chasing after it on Thursday, when I fly up. I still have so much to do to get ready for the trip. Which is a good thing -- otherwise, I'd be going crazy from anticipation.
One thing I still need to do for the diorama is make a little sign for the title of the piece. I'll make that tonight and/or tomorrow night, and I'll bring it with me and glue it on when I get there.
I'll be chasing after it on Thursday, when I fly up. I still have so much to do to get ready for the trip. Which is a good thing -- otherwise, I'd be going crazy from anticipation.
One thing I still need to do for the diorama is make a little sign for the title of the piece. I'll make that tonight and/or tomorrow night, and I'll bring it with me and glue it on when I get there.
All
in all, I'm pleased with the work, especially given the fact that I
cranked it out in only 3 weeks of calendar time. It's been intense,
though. I don't want to operate that way for future competitions. On
the other hand, this quick succession of competitions forced me to
practice, practice, practice. And I tried out a lot of different
techniques and experiments in the process. It helped me learn nuances
for some techniques, which I would probably only learn by continual
back-to-back
sessions, rather than taking breaks for weeks at a time.
So
while the piece has some good moments, it certainly has its share of
flaws and unfinished/unrefined elements. It's probably about 90% of
what I want it to be. But despite the imperfections, I think I did
justice to the models. These models are among my favorites, so that's
saying a lot! I think I'm finally skilled enough to paint my
back-catalog of Rackham models.
So here's a game we can all play. Below is an obfuscated view of the entire diorama. Visit the Crystal Brush photo on the day of voting and see if you can pick out all of the sneak-peek characters. The piece is entitled, "Border Dispute". Decide if the central character is an arbitrator for the dispute or if he's saying, "Get it on!". Let me know which one you think it is.
I'll
post a link to the photo of the entire finished piece, when it comes
time for the public voting. Hope you can toss a vote my way!
Now I am glad I never had to compete against you. Darn fine work. Good Luck!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the kind words, Bob!
DeleteThe Crystal Brush entries will put me to shame, I know, but I'm proud of this piece enough to show it in the company of those world-class painters. That level of satisfaction was my sole aim for this piece - just the opportunity to show something intriguing and competent, and not be embarrassed!