I took the largest of the box dioramas and decided to do a scene with the Great Wall of China. I intend to use the Emperor Qianlong set that I obtained from Wilken.
Following on from the Custer diorama, I think that it is possible to create a large outdoors scene whilst keeping the diorama depth shallow. Perspective could be further enhanced from a top to bottom approach.
For this scene, I split the background into two main parts. The upper part represents the sky and an elevated horizon, with the lower part representing the mid-distance and the foreground.
After I had trimmed the lower background piece, I had to add "wings" to the lower corners as the edges would have been exposed by the frame. Each of the wings had to be split to be bent back after being glued into position. I deformed the lower corners slightly outwards so that it would form a smooth transition to the wings when putty was added.
I sketched in the outline for part of the Great Wall and trimmed the upper portion of the background piece to follow this outline. To add further contrast and overlap, I decided to add another mid-background piece, a round hill to the left, between the upper and lower parts. This would further aid in the transition of the Great Wall into the distance.
Background painting was developed to create the main elements, the horizon, the distant background, forests and the Great Wall. The foreground showed that the putty cracked when dried.
More putty was added to the foreground. Very much a work-in-progress.
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