Painting scenery HO scale model railway

From the beginning of this project, some 18 months ago, I have felt at a primordial level that the colour I paint the town's streets is going to be crucial in determining the atmosphere of the layout. I've mentioned this before in this blog: I want the layout to have a murky, urban, Maigret feel. The skies are to be full of foreboding; the sun, if there at all, is to be watery. The colours of the street are to reflect that.

Hence, I picked up my box of acrylic paints:

And got cracking with black, white, ochre and maroon.

I made prominent the brush strokes so that they suggest the movement of traffic.

The job will have to be done in at least two instalments to allow the shifting about of the buildings, but you get the general idea.

************************************************************************************
Currently listening to:

The Fall's Mark E Smith and the Inspiral Carpets: "I want You"


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmEQztuvURc

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Last night's dinner:

Forgot to take photographs, but I chose Rabbit for my main course. I remember as a child having rabbit quite frequently before the Myxomatosis outbreak in the late 1950s.

Prepared and served at Wee Lochan, Crow Road, Glasgow - another stupendous meal>

While I was waiting outside for an old friend to join me, a couple eating outside under the canopy spoke to me:

Husband: "Excuse me, my wife would like to speak to you."

Me: (Confused and slightly annoyed and turning towards them) "Sorry?"

Husband: "My wife thinks you look awfully sad."

Wife: "You look awfully sad."

Me: Thinking, "Mind your own bloody business."  "I'm waiting for someone I haven't seen for years - almost decades and thought they might be lost."

The conversation fizzled out.

Cost per head including a couple of glasses of wine and ludicrous conversation: £32.00

Cost per head stats for the past week:

Sunday:  £7.00
Monday:  £10.29
Tuesday:  £6.50
Wednesday:  £4.00
Thursday:  £6.50
Friday:  £2.75
Saturday:  £32.00

Average cost per head for last week: £9.86

Average cost per head for previous week: £5.71

Average cost for first 10 weeks of this analysis: £5.30

Conclusion: I'm getting a bit extravagant and undisciplined again.

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
Currently Reading:

Have just finished reading:

Extremely surprised to have extracted any pleasure from The Italian Girl, but I did and hence started to read An Accidental Man.

I used to loathe the novels of Iris Murdoch but since re-reading and being impressed by her book on Sartre, I thought I'd give her novels another chance.

Her prose style does not compare to Evelyn Waugh's, in my opinion, but it is passable.