Thank you both! I’m learning a lot. The reason I couldn’t finish the background was because I had the detail too high. I’ve found that when sculpting very large background objects in constant detail it pays to take it all the way down to ‘1’ and work up as detail is needed. Fortunately for me the set from which this scene was taken was fairly lumpy / low detail to start with so it didn’t take much to get a close approximation. Also, the original scene appears to have been sculpted with gray plaster or foam (which took on a purple hue from the rear stage lights) so the only painting I’ll have to do is the gate itself. I plan on taking that up after I’ve finished my project for week 4.
Kent: I wish I would take credit for the composition, but all I’m doing is trying to stay faithful to the set as it was shown. This is the ‘Guardian of Forever’ from the original Star Trek season 1, ‘The City on the Edge of Forever’. As it is likely I’m the oldest person in the class (I’ll be 51 this year), and having a penchant for very strange and obscure references anyway, I’m showing my age on this project. 😉
