Urban Debris

Suber showed off his finished multi-building block a while back, and in commenting on the painting and weathering (which is seriously good, go check it out), I suggested "you could make a mix of paper bits, sand, and some baking soda with glue, and just sort of smear it into the corners and edges."

Now, afterwards I got to thinking.  Was it fair to suggest that he do something to his lovely buildings without first hand knowledge of the results?  After all, I imagined that it would go well, but I had never done it myself.

So, the next day at lunch, I knocked together a little photo background using some super glue and various paper and card found in my office.  I then painted it, and like all projects of mine, it sat waiting for some free time to appear.

Here is the background without the added litter

When that time arrived, I printed out some collected posters and newspapers to mix with some sand, baking soda, paint, and glue to apply to the photo background, just as suggested to Suber.

As it turned out, I did need to repaint the litter concoction, which is why it took me so long to get this posted.  Adding a bit of paint, ink, and pastels on the top of the litter really helped, although I could have probably mixed those in the beginning to save time.

I think that it took about an hour worth of time to build and paint the photo-background (most of that agonizing over the graffiti), and about 10 minutes to do the litter.  I think it adds to the look of the piece though, but what do you think?