I decided to go over the pier with some light gray. I used Anita’s Quarry Stone to go over the pier one more time. I then had to use some light weight spackling to smooth out the area where the pier was to be placed. While the spackling was drying I attached the pier and smoothed out the ground.
Excellent work! I especially like the step-by-step tutorials on the highway bridge pier (I could scratchbuild one myself using your pics) and the RR pier (the different colors used, how much and in what order). Useful stuff, keep it coming!
For coloring the talus I dabbed different colors of paint on the talus with a brush. The order of the paints that I used is: Folk Art Clay Bisque, Folk Art Burnt Umber, Folk Art Raw Umber, and Folk Art Amish Blue. I did this process twice in the same order. After the paint was dry I went over it with a Raw Umber Wash (5 part bbwsf:1 part paint).
I am not totally thrilled with the color. I feel it is darker than I wanted but talus stains differently than plaster of Paris or hydrocal. I think I am going to hit them again with at least one lighter color was mostly likely Raw Sienna and maybe a light gray wash. The last was will be a Black wash which will bring out the cracks and crevices in the talus.
Since I did not like how dark the talus looked I decided to go over with a wash made from Folk Art Raw Sienna (1 part) and blue windshield washer fluid (5 parts).
Now I need to hit the talus with a black wash and then the turf can begin.
Using Woodland Scenics Fine Leaf Foliage, Clump Foliage, and Foliage I added some more ground cover. For the tree trunks in the stream I used twigs I found in the front yard.