That meant we could apply the glazes today. The painting crew worked in teams, liberally applying the brown and dark grey glazes and then judiciously wiping them off. This process takes advantage of and highlights the textures and cracks. The plain grey instantly turned into believable rock.
Certain areas were left very dark or even second coated to make them look deeper.
Once the glazes were done and dry it was time to go back and apply even more magic. Lighter colours were dry brushed on highlighting the tops of the rocks and the deep texture. Then we sponged on various shades of greens, greys, tans and oranges to create believable looking moss. More dark glazes were brushed on to create streaking and aging. And some various colours were flung on with wet brushes to create more texture. The process looks pretty random but it takes a lot of practice and skill to get it all looking right.
As soon as the rockwork was dry it was time to take off the upper sections. We have to build stands for all the pieces. Next week they will be stuffed into containers and sent off to sea for their journey to the middle east.
