Creative Paperclay (CP) is a great material for creating landscapes. If you are making a diorama, a theater set design or need a setting for your sculpture, you may want to consider creating a landscape. The landscape surrounding a finished sculpture will add atmosphere to reflect or contrast the mood you are creating. A well-made landscape can stand on its own as a finished sculpture.
In this series of articles, we will put together a complete landscape utilizing three basic elements by building a base, a tree and rock. We will then look at ways of incorporating our landscape with other sculpted pieces.
ROCKS
The easiest way to add rocks to your landscape is to glue some pebbles to your base, but if you want larger rocks, like boulders, then the easiest thing to do is take a piece of paper and crumple it into a ball and shape into a rock.
Use masking tape to help hold the shape.
This sounds too easy, but it works well as a simple armature for building rock structures.
The paper adds bulk without using up your clay.
When you cover it with CP, you can add interesting shapes, cracks and texture by following the crumpled edges of your armature.
After you have a rock or two that you like, you can decide where to fit them into your landscape.
Glue or tape them in place and start adding CP to your shapes to tie them into the landscape and add interest.
Perhaps you can have the tree roots wrap around your rock, or have it partially submerged in water along a shoreline.
WATER
An easy way to add a water feature to your landscape is to place a piece of cardboard under the base.
Cut the edge of the cardboard into the shape you want for your water, then smooth on CP to cover it.
Make sure the CP adheres to the base.
You can make the water smooth, rough or wavy.
To contrast the land with the water, use a flat paint on the land, and a glossy paint on the water.
COMPOSITION
Once your landscape has the base, tree(s) and rock(s), possibly water, you may feel like it is complete on its own, or you may have created a setting for adding another sculpture.
If you have several pieces you are working on, you can try putting different ones into your landscape.
By trying different pieces, the same landscape can have a dramatic to a comical effect.
For instance, when I was working on "The Highwayman" I had created the figure, but was not sure what setting I would place him in.
When I was finishing the landscape for this tutorial, I felt he fit in well. BOOM!
In the next series of articles, we will create a still life sculpture and look at some alternative techniques for creating objects using Creative Paperclay.
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