No Body Is Perfect....

 

I Wasn't Listening....

I was On a Roll, Dear Readers, charging ahead with the Next important part of The Chapel interior; the painting of the Temptation in The Garden of Eden. The space was laid out, the subject was well defined and all I had to do was be decisive and start! As I have mentioned a time or two on this project, I am trying to keep the style of my paintings to an early era, not quite primitive, but not entirely naturalistic either. I have found surprisingly few examples to use as my guide, and I am afraid that my creative "impressions" are colored by later more well known versions. Most of the representations of this scene are tucked in with the Creation scenes... the next sequential events in the history of humanity, and are therefore tiny and difficult to use. But I did find one good example that would be my main guide.

Here, you can see it in the bottom right hand section

of this manuscript illumination from the thirteenth century.

Mind you, this is not large... 

the image is about one inch square and difficult to see details.

But it shows the stance and lay-out of the scene

 that I wanted to try to capture.

 

And for good measure, here is a larger, similar one

 that clearly shows the standard elements of this scene.

The Tree with the serpent in the middle 

and Adam and Eve naked on either side,

and the "sharing" of the fruit.

 

And as usual, 

I apologize for the dark picture...

As I said, I was charging ahead with the painting...

first inking the design and then as quickly as possible

 beginning the painting of the figures...

And again... just taking the next steps....

But really, I was Ignoring that little voice

 that had big misgivings.....

(it doesn't look right...)

(they are too "bulky")

And I will not bother to show you more images

 of the failed attempt....

Suffice it to say that at a certain point I stood back 

(a little hard to do with a painting inside the Chapel...)

and realized that it just would not do!

I am Terrible 

at Body Proportions!

(I know this.... 

I have to work at it all the time....)

Yeah.... No Body is Perfect...

Buuuut...

There are accepted "norms" used

 in artistic representations....!

 

"Aaarrrggghhh....."

 

It was clearly "make-over" time.

And as usual... 

I neglected to take pictures of the process.

Lots of white paint in strategic places...

lots of "slimming" and "lengthening"

(Even a lowering of the picture frame!)

But most importantly, 

shrinking their heads.

Adding the flesh tones...

Redoing the outlines....

adding the hair....

I am still not at all convinced that it is fixed...

I may have to redo the redo.....

(that even sounds terrible!)

But I am Not rushing it....

This is as far as I have gotten, 

and I'm going to leave it here for a while....

while that little voice

becomes a little clearer.

No Rush!

Yes, Dear Readers,

No Body is perfect...

but Especially not my rendering

 of Adam and Eve.

A Little Bit of This....

 

A Little Bit of That....

I Left You, Dear Readers, with the Creation of Adam and Eve barely begun as I waited for the ink to dry before painting could begin. And the Very next day I did begin the painting process for that Roundel. I have included that inked-only photo above, because when I began to paint I didn't take any good enough pictures of the process to show the beginning part. These ceiling panels are curved so the camera sometimes focuses on a part of the curved surface leaving the rest out of focus. I will include the blurry shot anyway, but I wanted you to know why!

Here you can see I began with the flesh tones for Adam and Eve.

Then I forgot to take pictures for a while!

Because I was jumping around.

Here you can see the ceiling propped against the opening wall

as close to its correct position as I could put it.

 I wanted to see how the ceiling scenes looked

 in relation to the windows and the two wall sections.

I have penciled in the areas that will have a scene painted. 

Between the windows will be The Annunciation

 and on the right will probably be The Tower of Babel.

And as I was lining up the frames, 

I noticed a missing detail on the Ceiling panel!

 

Here you can see I am adding two 

"Golden Rays" from the head of God,

 directed to the place on the opening wall

 that will tie them to The Annunciation 

and Saint Anne (who will be in one of the windows.) 

And because there is a lot of waiting

 for small amounts of paint to dry,

 I am jumping from place to place...

The Rainbow in The Judgement scene was calling to me...

And then as I turned around... 

I noticed the sunlight shining into my house 

and striking the Peter and Paul Window in the Chapel!

It only shines in at this angle for a brief spell

 in the Fall as the Equinox draws near...

But Oh My Goodness it fills the Chapel 

with such a beautiful light!

But it only lasts for a moment or two and then is gone.

And I return my attention to the opening walls...

Here I am showing the "pillars" which will be

 attached after the windows are constructed.

I needed to have them available so I can

 position the ceiling arches in the right places.

And here I am trying to get a sense of

 the Judgement scene's relationship with the wall...

This is with the arch sections in place...

 trying to see how the demons from Hell

(on the bottom at the right)

look when viewed from "inside" the Chapel.

(As if you could stand in there!)

It seems to me I need to adjust the way

 the "ground" slants to the arch below.

But before I figure that out.....

I decide to add the "cloud" shadowing

 in the borders of the Roundels.

I think of these as like those "thought bubbles"

 in modern cartoons...

 revealing the idea in image not words....

Here they have all been added.... 

don't worry... 

there will be more details eventually!

As I mentioned before, Dear Readers, 

 I am trying to get an idea of the overall color balance

 among all the parts of the ceiling...

And The Judgement was way behind in execution.

Fleshing out the naked bodies...

Adding the purple robes of Christ..

The coffins that have floated to the surface

 like so many boats on water...

And I keep testing it in place....

 

I wanted to shift the Demons a bit lower onto the wall...

Holding the arch section in place to try to line up the edges..

Adding details to Christ and the angels....

Wings, halos, hair, trumpets....

And then circling back to the Creation scenes...

Here I have added details to the water....

and the trunks of the trees....

And Hair for Adam and Eve...

And lots more plants.....

And changed my mind about Eve's hair...

 it was too dark...

And going all out on a richer bluer sky!

Once the background is darkened these will stand apart as lighter.

I wanted the birds to stand out against the sky...

And I Love what it does to the Moon!

And I need to see it in place again....

It is night again... so this is with flash...

which distorts the contrast...

But I feel like I am making progress!

Here I have added details to Adam and Eve...

and bright red flowers to the landscape.

 

 Here... you can see a little closer...

Some days this is all I accomplish...

And others....

All I add is structural framework...

Here the frame for The Garden of Eden

 has been painted.

And on the opening wall I have added 

the blue portions to the walls.

Starting to paint the arches...

These are really just underpainting to get the positioning correct.

Eventually there will be some "three dimensional" arches 

to go above these windows... just like on the rest of the walls.

Except that these have to fit around the opening doors...

which will be a challenge when I get to it!

And with the pillars in place...

You can start to get a feel for how this wall

 will look in relation to the ceiling.

Then I changed my mind about

 the framework for The Annunciation....

I want it to mirror the Framework of 

The Madonna and Child over the altar....

on the opposite wall of the Chapel.

And with the pillars and the ceiling propped in place...

I think I am starting to get a feel for this wall.

As you can see, Dear Readers.....

I am hopping all over the place...

But a little bit of this and a little bit of that 

Adds up to a Whole Lot of progress!

 

Creation....

 

A Slow Process....

When Last I showed you the Creation scenes, Dear Readers, I was lamenting the slooooow progress necessitated by the very high humidity in my RL environments. I was a bit untruthful when I blamed it all on the humidity. Truth to tell, I am slow at Creation! It is one thing to faithfully copy an image.... that is so straight forward! But to have an image in your mind you want to bring onto the surface... and to have it be a medley of conflicting original images you are "inspired by" so that you have to sift out the pieces you want to use and somehow make them coherent.... that is another thing altogether. I have mentioned that I have many books full of reproductions of Medieval Manuscript paintings.... (I Love the original ancient images!.....) and that I have pored over them trying to distill them into my own versions on my ceiling.

Just to give you an inkling of what I am talking about...

This picture is part of a very elaborate illuminated initial.

This is from the Bible of King Wenceslas probably,

 illuminated around 1390, which is quite late for my uses.

But it shows the incorporation of the designs

 into "roundels" which was quite common.

This is another, much earlier version of the Creation scenes,

 probably painted around 1240.

(Sorry for the glare.. it is hard to photo from the book!)

The right hand page is an enlargement of the

 left hand page which shows more scenes.

And another version...

painted around 1400....

And another.... from the Bible of Robertus de Bello,

 painted around 1250.

I could go on, but I imagine you get the picture! 

Endless variation on a theme...

so many similarities, so many variables.... 

Where to start???

Well, as you know, I started with the Roundel

 as the defining structure.

And arranged the six circles as best they fit

 into the triangle of the ceiling.

And borrowed a few specific images 

from still other versions...

The Hand of God reaching from the cloud...

With the Dove of The Spirit on the Wand tip....

Drawing forth the Creation from Nothingness....!

And Day by Day....

Or in my case, it seems more like week by week...

Inking a new image into a Roundel.... 

letting it dry at least 24 hours....

then adding the paint.

Here I have started the painting of

 the separation of the Land from the Waters

 and the creation of the Plants.

And you can see the sketching of the Birds and Fishes.

Here it is closer....

with more paint on the land and water.

And inking the Birds and Fishes.

The painting is just the initial base coats... 

there will be much more detail later.

And here I have begun the painting of the Birds and Fishes.

Part of the reason for my slow pace is that

 I need to be able to see how the roundels look

color-wise in relation to each other and the ceiling as a whole.

Manuscripts were painted on vellum... a light tan color.

This ceiling's background is the deep blue.

Land and water by themselves tend to be

 green brown and blue in varying shades...

It's a balancing act... 

and I don't feel in control of the balance!

But Day by Day...

Week by Week...

Another one inked...

The Creation of the Beasts...

Adding paint to the Beasts....

And finally...

Inking the Creation of Eve from Adam's Rib.

And maybe as soon as Tomorrow 

I will begin to paint Eve...

Day by Day I am making progress.

But I can assure you, Dear Readers,

 Creation is Not done in just a Day!