John Long

Meanwhile, Up the Street

Photo by Bob Sarnowski

Photo by Bob Sarnowski

“Meanwhile Up the Street” is a companion piece to the cigar-box gumshoe I titled “Waiting and Watching.” The idea is they are both in the same neighborhood and perhaps involved in the same caper; I leave that part up to the viewer. In both pieces, I was going for a film-noir feel. In this one, I created parted Venetian, as I feel they lend well to the mood. These were a pain to create, but worth it. I used several strategies before I came upon one that actually worked. (More on this if you like; email us here!) The building across the street is an HO scale railroad facade. To add some interest to the building, I added a sign above the doors. After struggling with how to label it, I decided that would be a fitting place for my signature, so the business across the street is “J.H. Long, Ltd.” I added plastic card for the windows and the portion of the interior that’s lit was done so with yellow LEDs. The general lighting was done by scavenging an old LED flashlight. I tried to create a night-time look by blacking out portions of the LEDs. The room that our Femme Fatale occupies was created by kitbashing some Mini-Art building pieces and plastic card and strip. The rug is a Reality in Scale item stiffened with Future floor acrylic, then cut to size.