@Steadfast, yes! a guy can learn a lot from model railroaders. I have seen the work of Boomer Diorama, and it is very good, and presented in a helpful/useful way. -And as I mentioned, the models of Chuck Doan, if you are interested take a look at his work, as it's also very inspiring to see. The Boomer also suggests using cooler shades of grey and blue than I used on other dios, which are 1) lt grey, 2) barley grey, and 3) anthracite, which are warmer tone. The results are that the cooler shades seem to be a bit crisper, which is nice for this, as the buildings are various shades of white.
Another source of ideas, which may sound a bit out there, comes from chatting with folks working at the local art store. They introduced me to various acrylic mediums - which was quite a revelation as they can be sued to make such a variety of textures. As they use these materials for their intended purpose, they have provided all sorts of general guidance on their uses/process and properties - same with the idea of blending India ink with Isopropyl Alcohol for washes, and using grounds from pastel sticks. All cool stuff, but not things I intuitively stumbled across. That said, with some basic knowledge, it's not hard to see other opportunities for things to try.
As far as the project, I continued to ponder the appearance of asphalt, so while riding on the bike, I took some more photos, illustrating larger areas of cracked asphalt:
I should have thought of the street directly above sooner, as I ride it about four times a week, every week, and I can tell you with clarity, it is awful to ride on. This is not the worst stretch of this miserable 1.25 mile ride of rattle and bounce, even on a chromoly frame, with front shock, and big fat, fast rolling tires - it's awful. And a couple more images:
Riding around, things like low quality, rough road surfaces are easy to spot - lol - hard to ignore actually. There are road sections I genuinely dislike riding, but they are part of the routes I ride, so there you go. Bad for cycling and good for dio ideas and building. And a few images of the pavement in the dio, from similar (scale) eye-level perspective:
@Steadfast, I can't remember if the Boomer Builder uses cork for the base or not (see above a few posts)? I like using it because while it provides some depth, you can also cut areas out, and rough it up, allowing the use of coarse pumice gel for making really rough spots that are not taller than the surrounding road surface (as it is installed below the top of the asphalt)
A few more views at eye level, which I like. You can also see in the foreground of the lower picture, some perimeter landform. This is rigid, pink insulating foam, cut to form little hills and ground form irregularities, then coated with gesso, and various pumice gels, and various acrylic washes. I used the foam in this subtle application because I want a permeable surface, that I can stab clumps of grass into, yes, like hair plugs!! 😄
What do I mean you ask? well:
As exciting as watching the grass grow??? 😄 not yet - I can make bundles of 45 or so at a time before I need to do anything else. Still making grass
Cheers
Nick