Starting a new (group) project

When we were about to finish our first group project, we'd talked about what we wanted to do next. Deciding on something all four of us like is obviously less easy than with just two persons, so we've agreed on doing an outdoor scene again, but each of us has chosen a different theme for it.
Jolinda is going something Greek, with lots of steps and pottery and the characteristic blue colours. You might want to follow her project on her own blog as well :)
Wil, as a big reggae fan, want to to a Jamaican beach scene, with a little shop with surfboards or something. Her theme is the reason I'd made her that Jamacain drum for her birthday swap.
Monique hasn't decided on a definite theme, but wants to make a garden on a flat surface, that she will be able to draw up to a dollhouse.

I liked Jolinda's idea very much, but I alway felt more for Italian scenery, and so that's what I've chosen :) My inspiration has come from photo's like the next ones, I've found on Pinterest.

 

Of course it wouldn't be very convenient to make the framework during one of our monthly meetings, so that's something we'll work on in our own home and during our own time ;)
I had this cardboard doll house on a shelf, only gathering dust because the scale is not one I'd prefer, so that's what I'd use.

   

I cut pieces away and added others, which I all taped together. The idea is (the exterior of) a little Italian bistro with a room/house above. A staircase going to a small gallery and maybe a roof garden terrace a the right, above an semi open space where I might make a little shop/market with Italian food. The focus will be on the outdoors though. On the tables with Italian food and the many, many plants and flowers and greenery, on the mountain top, the terrace, on the gallegy, in lots of planters and outside the bistro.
Oh my ;)

  

I glued strips of tin foil to the card board, using the same technique I've done earlier on the tree house (a)

 

Then I covered the tin foil with paper machè like Sharon Ojala's tutorial shows. 

  

Next I sat down, and took time to think about the front of the bistro and made a 'wall' from cardboard to see how that would fit.

  

After that I started painting everything. I mixed grey structure paint and bird sand with a variety of orange, yellow and white acrylic paint for the bistro/house side. Started dry brushing after the first layer had dried, mixing more white paint for every new layer. I like the effect it got from the extra structure due to the bird sand.

On the mountain side I mixed the grey structure paint and bird sand with brown acrylic paint, and added darker brown when I started dry brushing.

Of course I haven't forgotten about the cottage. As soon as the framework is done, and I can more easily continue with making smaller items during the monthly meeting, I'll put the mountain aside to focus on the cottage again ;)