Architectural Maquette

 I make the archway maquette to the same 1/72 scale as a set of tiny dinosaur maquettes by David Krentz.

The arch is made out of foam core board and mat board hot-glued together, with domes made of Styrofoam balls. I cover the structure with gesso and modeling paste and paint it in acrylic. The wall on the left is made from toy wooden blocks, which cast a shadow on the left of the scene.

I set up the tableau outdoors on a plywood base. It's possible to rotate the whole arrangement until the sun is shining into the scene at an interesting angle. I want to know how the forms are affected by the reflected light bouncing up from the warm, sandy surface in the foreground.

From Imaginative Realism: How to Paint What Doesn't Exist