Bogged Down

I've had a bit of a hobby slump after Salute, in parts due to painting fatigue but mostly because of Real Life intervening in its usual way. However, over the last weeks I've started to get back into things. To get me going, I painted up a couple of terrain pieces I picked up at the show.

These marshlands are by Trevor Holland Design, sold by Magnetic Displays. Nice and cheap resin pieces, really versatile stuff, that can be used in virtually any time and setting – from ancients to moderns; from fantasy to historical and even sci-fi.

After priming the pieces black, the earth parts were dry brushed with some dark to mid browns, with some olive green in-between, to get a muddy look. Then the water parts were washed with a mix of dark green and dirty brown. Finally I glued on various scatter/flock and tufts, washed parts of these with brown to tone them down a bit, before spraying the whole thing with cheap hairspray and Army Painter Anti-Shine spray to seal the flock.

The water was done with Vallejo Still Water. I mixed in the same dark green and dirty brown washes I had used before, and poured a small amount in each depression.

This was my first time using a water effect product, and it was an ... "interesting" learning experience. I had read some reviews and tutorials on using the Still Water, so I knew what to expect and was careful not to do too thick layers. However, despite being very careful I still found the this a very tricky product to use and, as you can see from the images, the results are far from perfect. After doing three pourings, and growing increasingly frustrated with each of them, I pretty much gave up – they will have to do as they are!

I have another set of three pieces in the works, which should be more than enough for my current needs. These pieces will be slightly modified to make them look less like the first ones. And the Still Water will get another chance before I give up on it all together.