Having a short break from the TV at the moment so I'm posting an update on what I suppose I ought to rename as "The Shrine of Aphrodite", but firstly -- a wee backstory.
These are a few pics of the first diorama I ever built way back in the dim mists of time. I called it "Iphigenia in Aulis" and it depicts the gist of a poem written by Arthur, Lord Tennyson, in which he imagines her thoughts in the final moments when she was sacrificed by her father, Agamemnon, to placate the anger of the Goddess Artemis -- which would in turn allow the becalmed Achaean fleet to sail off to Troy.
I was pretty pleased with the final result and believed I'd done a good job...
...but as time went by and I gained more experience building these scenarios I began to feel that it wasn't as good as I initially thought. Aye, self-aggrandizing hubris has a great habit of eventually catching up on you...
For a start, the action appears to be taking place in a swamp, instead of on the beach at the Ancient Greek Port of Aulis.
And I had also fallen into the trap of having
Far . Too . Much . Going . On.
The focus ought to be fully on the argument between Agamemnon and Achilles -- who had just discovered Iphigenia had been lured to her death by the lie of a betrothal to the most fearsome of the Greek Heroes.
In addition, the figure I'd chosen as the doomed victim, (yet another excellent casting from Phoenix), looked older than the picture I had of Iphigenia in my mind's eye.
So anyhoo, these are the reasons why I eventually decided to revamp this particular diorama then use it to depict some other event in due course -- and use a few of the original figures in the new scenario I'm presently working on.
Phew, okay where was I?
Well, the Romans were removed from the basic diorama base this morning and the indentations caused by the figure bases filled in with fresh celluclay.
And once more static grass was shot onto the groundwork -- I realized I'd screwed up, as I want to depict something from the Brad Pitt "Troy" movie -- so the groundwork needs to feature more sand than grass...Doh...
Still static grass is cheap and I've got plenty of it, so no big deal despite the poor planning.
I then began playing around with figure locations just to get a feel for things. I do like those three First Legion figures at the right hand side but that "Achilles" figure from El Veijo Dragon standing next to the Apollo statue is going to need a fair amount of work to get him up to scratch. Actually, now I think about it his pose isn't all that animated so I'll most likely re-use the Achilles figure from the original diorama.
In fact, all the old figures will need a bit of TLC before I locate them in the new scene...
...and that's where I left things at lunchtime today. I'll leave it overnight while the celluclay and glue is drying out and have a think about what to do with the original diorama base which is now looking a bit bare of figures.
Meanwhile, the "Houses of the Dragons" effort with the additional winged beastie is pretty much finished now so I'll shoot a few new photos and post them up in its own thread sometime tomorrow.
Oh...and PS...
IPHIGENIA
I was cut off from hope in that sad place,
Which yet to name my spirit loathes and fears,
My father held his hand upon his face,
I, blinded by my many tears,
Still strove to speak; my voice was thick with sighs,
As in a dream, dimly I could decry,
The stern black-bearded kings, with wolfish eyes,
Waiting to see me die.
Arthur, Lord Tennyson 1809 - 1892
Cheers
H
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