M North 9 Finished

I've finally finished this piece. I added more foliage to the foreground, and darkened the areas around each ape to create more contrast.

The glass casing was carefully cleaned. The edges of the diorama were trimmed to fit neatly within the case. Previously, I had tried to wedge in cardboard strips along the entire box frame but this only served to distort the box, as it was made out of thin plywood. This time, when I fitted the frame over the box, I added stout cardboard strips only to the corners to wedge the box firmly against the inside of the frame. The box was very securely fixed to the frame, and there was no further need to add a layer of masking tape along the sides. The frame was fitted with hooks and wire and is now nicely displayed on my wall.

Here are a couple of pics showing the unlit diorama in a lit room.

M North 8

I have been spending so much time on my other activities, so have not posted for some time. I finally made some headway with this scene.

I fitted the usual LED light, not as bright as a fluorescent light, as this is supposed to be a moonlight scene.

As the lit-up scene is a little dark in the foreground, I have since painted in more foliage into the scene, and have further highlighted the apes, to brighten it up.

 Taken in the day - sorry about the fuzzy pic

 Scene lit up, taken in a darken room. The lights can be seen through the cardboard frame. I have since pasted a layer of dark paper behind the frame.

Close up of the lit-up scene

M North 7

Some putty was added to smooth the transition of the background pieces to the foreground. This was painted in black with acrylics. Further cutouts, brass-etch foliage and twigs were also added to the background pieces to aid in visual transition.

M North 6 Painting and Attaching The Apes

I finally painted the apes. These were then placed against the diorama for composition. Once I was satisfied with their positions, I removed the bases and glued the apes to the diorama.

M North 5

The background was painted over in oils. The mountain was pasted onto thick cardboard pieces and fixed to the background. Some of the foliage scenery pieces were also fixed in place. I checked the composition against the picture frame. I am now working on the apes and more foliage pieces.

M North 4

I touched up part of the background with a little wall putty to smooth over the surface and hairline cracks prior to further painting.

Meanwhile, the foreground pieces were carefully painted. The mountain was delineated as to its form and the foliage was given highlights. It's starting to look promising.

M North 3

Finally got round to painting the scene. I've spent quite a bit of time doing 3D modelling that reorientating into the virtual 2D world takes some getting used to.

The proposed night scene is based on one of M North's paintings to which I will add some flats.

The undercoat is in Jo Sonja Acrylics but I will overpaint with oils.