Before I paint the backdrop...

[Anonymous]

Lee,

Check out theses pictures:

http://backdropwarehouse.com/SkEastMtHillsGrp.htm#137C

The top picture in the group is taken from Skyline drive in Virgina.  Others are from Cades Cove in Tennessee a bit further south but they all fit together well and will give you a feel for what you are wanting.  A "smokey" outline for the hills in the distance is all you need.

Light blue for the sky; blue-gray for distant hills; second coat closer hills with blue-green for trees. 

1. Go to the craft store and pick up a number of the two oz. bottles of (flat) acrylic hobby paints in the colors that you think are close.
2. Pour some in a dish and thin a little with water.
3. Test paint on a scrap of whatever.
4. Paint the hills using "splotches" - not strokes.  That is dab the paint on not brush it smooth.
5. Try again until you get the effect you want.

If you have a large area to cover then you can get the paint store to custom mix a quart to the final colors you choose.

Good luck,
-John

[loathar]

Flat house paint works fine. Those 2oz bottles of craft paint are good for the scenery too.

 http://cs.trains.com/forums/1252782/ShowPost.aspx

This thread might give you some ideas. Jarrell did a fantastic job on his. 

[kasskaboose]

I thought to just use one shade of blueish-white paint for the backdrop.  Not being an artist, I don't really want to fiddle w/ different shades of paint.  I think that backdrops shouldn't focus attention away from the operations, but do want to give the imrpession of 3-D.  Here are my questions:

1. Should I get latex flat paint?

2.  How to easily convey hills or the Appal. mountains?  I want to depict a spring day in Soutern VA.  Anyone who is from, or visited there, knows it gets somewhat hazy.  If that is easy to do, great.  Otherwise, I can just stick w/ the one shade of light blue.

Ideally, I want to do the backdrop once and move onto other things!

Cheers,

Lee