Back To The Garden....

 

In Pursuit of Radiance....

It is hard to believe, Dear Readers, but it is already a month since I left you with the "re-made" Adam and Eve panel in the Chapel in all it's Ocher glory, and with the new awareness that it was still not going to look right when I over-painted that beautiful rich ocher with the darker antique gold paint. I was as certain of that as I could be. Even using the lighter brighter gold that I had not used before was not going to lighten the ocher to make that "radiant glow" I was hoping to achieve. So I set it aside and worked on other things (as I always tend to do) while I pondered this dilemma. What to do? I still wanted to under-paint the gold paint. I just needed the right color. And as I was enjoying the beautiful midsummer morning light in my garden, it occurred to me to try the brilliant yellow of buttercups... it would be toned down by the over-painting of gold... but how much would it change the color? Time for another test swatch to find out!

 

Here you can see the test swatch held up to the painting for comparison. 

On the far left I tried the "traditional" under-painting

 for gold leaf... a cadmium red,

 then in the middle I applied the two layers of ocher paint

 that are currently the painting's background,

 and on the right I painted the brilliant cadmium yellow. 

The over-painting at the top is the "antique gold" that I usually use, 

and at the bottom is the brighter "thalo gold" I am not so familiar with. 

And Lo and Behold...! 

The two layers of thalo gold over the cadmium yellow

 combine to make a similar shade as that of the ocher by itself,

 but it is also iridescent! 

 

But to get there we need to start with a white background.... again!

 

I have stopped counting the times.... 

but it is painted white again 

(for now, I am only working on the Paradise panel....)

And then we begin to add the bright pure yellow! 

 

Yes, at first it is a shock to the senses... 

that brilliant yellow! 

 

Because we in the North have become so used to 

the drab browns and faded grays of the world.... 

this color seems outrageous! 

But perhaps that is part of the truth of the Fall... 

we cannot really imagine or understand 

the brilliant Perfection of Paradise....

 we can only strive toward that dream...

 

 

Here you can see the pigments..... 

the white, the yellow, the rich, light gold.....

 

 

Which I have begun to apply here.... 

at the top behind the branches and the apples... 

but it is nearly impossible to tell... 

the difference is so subtle.

 

 

Here it has been added to the upper portion

 of Adam's side of the panel....

it just creates a slightly more ocher tone...

and tames the brilliant yellow just a little bit...

 

Maybe at this angle you can see more of the iridescence....?...

 

 

Here the entire background has been over-painted with the gold... 

but only one coat!

 

 

Two layers will probably make the right difference... 

the bottom corner of the sample swatch 

has two layers of the gold.

 

 

 Here the whole panel has the two layers of the bright gold... 

I tried to get the angle of the light right to show the iridescence... 

but I think it has worked!

The "too brilliant" yellow has been toned down a notch... 

replaced by the "glowing gold" radiance I was hoping for!

But Alas, outside of Eden, it has once again made me aware

 that those scenes now need to be revised... 

the dark ocher as rich and lovely as it is, needs to go.

 

 

Surely, what we have lost the most is that rich, warm brilliance....

 

 

Outside of Eden, it is a hardscrabble life....

 

 

And because I don't know exactly 

where we are going.... 

it is a tentative path... Dear Readers, 

but step by step we will find a way 

 in the Search for this Radiance... 

or the nearest thing we can find

 outside of the Garden! 

 

The Chapel Floor.....

 

In The Beginning.....

I Hope you don't mind, Dear Readers, being given a glimpse of the Distant Past when the Chapel was just in the early stages of construction. This picture was taken in early 2011, about a year after I had begun building the Castle Dollhouse. I know it is a dim and moody picture, but it shows clearly how much of the Chapel design was already well defined and well under way. With the exception of the ceiling painting, the back altar section of the Chapel has seen almost no alteration since this was taken. The wall murals have been given their initial painting, the stained glass windows are done, the painted rock walls and floor are in place, the electric candles are shining and even the window and ceiling edge trim are already in place with the beginnings of the "ceiling angels" already painted. Over the next couple of months I had finished the other stained glass windows (The Peter and Paul window on the side wall) and the Noah's Ark and Nativity murals as well as begun the ceiling painting. But then my focus shifted to completing the Great Hall Floor tiles and beginning the Lord's Council Chamber. And soon after that I fell deeply into the Tree House Project and didn't return to working on the Chapel until two years ago. I am sure some of you long time readers might have wondered if it would ever happen! So when I did return to the Chapel my focus was quickly on completing the ceiling painting... the largest unfinished task. And in all this time there was no thought given to the floor.

 

I had originally thought I would use mosaic tiles for the floor 

(this was before I knew about sculpey)

 but they were glass and would be difficult to cut and shape. 

(I was thinking of the famous abalone tile floor of the 

bathroom in Colleen Moore's Fairy Castle... 

I wanted an iridescent effect).

But when I returned to the Chapel two years ago, 

I was thinking I could make sculpey tiles the way 

I did for the Great Hall and The Lord's Chambers. 

So I started baking a bunch of sculpey in

 various shades of gray and silver

 (I had decided by then to keep the color on the floor to a minimum....

 it shouldn't compete with the ceiling.)

 

Sorry for the darkish picture.... it was taken in February two years ago! 

But it shows the glittery gray sculpey I had come across 

and wanted to test in the Chapel.

 

Here you can see the tiles being tested in the Chapel... 

shown with the flash,

 which gives an unrealistic picture of the actual look...

 

Which would look more like this. 

Yeah, I know it is really hard to tell with just a partial covering...

 

Here is a closer view showing the sparkle in some of the tiles.

 

 Perhaps with more tiles...? 

Unfortunately, the lighter gray color 

which I liked best had been a limited supply... 

and when I bought more of the "same color" 

it wasn't the same color but gave

 that marbled effect you see to the front. 

Clearly, the pieces were not coming together as I had imagined. 

And the more I looked at it the less I liked

 the whole grid effect of a tiled floor. 

What I really wanted was the ancient 

bare rock surface of an Old Chapel Floor. 

Nothing fancy. Just big solid pieces of rock. 

More like what the walls were made of.

 Like the lowest floors in the Castle... 

the Kitchen floor and the Stables and the Dungeons...

 

Well, here is a picture of the Entire Castle 

opened and with the flash on.... 

taken a couple years ago while I was debating the floor issue.... 

see the lovely floor in the kitchen with Belle and Old Meg? 

(You might have to poke the picture to see it at all!) 

That was the effect I was wanting. 

 And the only real problem was that to make it 

required using the plastic "bondo" material,

 a two part polymer you have to mix and use very rapidly 

because it hardens quickly, and it is mandatory to use 

with good ventilation because it is toxic and it stinks! 

So the project went on the back burner (this was in October!) 

until the temperatures could warm up enough to

 leave all the windows open for several days and nights.... 

a tricky season to find around here! 

But three weeks ago I saw my opportunity coming... 

we had just suffered excessive heat for three days and nights, 

and it was going to cool down and stay cool for three days and nights..... 

So I got started! 

And there was no ability, Dear Readers,

 to mix, smear and shape the stuff fast enough

 to also have time for taking pictures!

 

I had all the doors and windows open, 

but the stuff stinks and you have to work very fast. 

The smearing to shape the floor was very

 rudimentary and uneven, and I also had to

 try to score a pattern of the rocks also very fast! 

No time to ponder anything just apply it and let it go. 

Then after twenty minutes you can start 

to rough sand the material to smooth the worst of the ridges. 

 

Suffice it to say, at this stage I thought I had ruined everything. 

It looks awful, it stinks, and the rock pattern if there was one 

was an unrealistic mish-mash... 

I had to walk away and leave it overnight.

 

The following day I decided I needed to give it a chance.... 

work on it and see what I could manage to achieve. 

So I made sure the rock outlines were clearly defined 

(it is chisel-able and sand-able when hardened) 

then I applied the first coat of primer.

 This only made me more aware of the

 "unrealistic" nature of the textured surface... 

(a sweeping valley that crosses over several rocks...

 not realistic at all!) 

But I carved down the worst of the ridge and

 figured I would camouflage it with paint in the end. 

 

The first layer of "stone gray" paint... 

the same color used everywhere on this castle.

 

Then the darkest gray in all the grout lines.

 

And some "texturing" with the dark gray

 just to add "depth" to the eventual coloring.

 

And the light gray again.... "dry-brushed" over the surface,

 trying not to cover the dark grout lines.

 

And a couple of days later deciding it all needed some "dirtying up".... 

it is supposed to be old... and worn....

 

Showing the whole Chapel.... 

to see how it is "shaping up".....

 

And adding many more paint layers.... 

all those colors I used on the Folly Rocks last summer.... 

coming in very handy!

 

Sometimes it is difficult to know when to stop.... 

when in doubt I give it a couple of days to rest 

and come back with fresh eyes.

 

And deciding that yes, I did need to add 

the white grout lines between the rocks. 

If I didn't like it, I could always paint it over again!

 

And this does help "unify" these rocks with the 

purely painted version in the Altar area. 

 

And suddenly, Dear Readers, I am reassured... 

I have Not ruined the whole thing! 

These rocks are pretty nearly what I had been hoping they would be.... 

They may get a little more paint at some point... 

but for now I am holding steady. 

For the Chapel Floor it's a good beginning!

 

Stitching....

 

 The Background....

I don't know about you, Dear Readers, but I have been aware for quite a while of the immense amount of time it is likely to take to complete The Chinese Dragon Carpet. It is eight by ten inches for the finished size, stitched on 40 count silk mesh. There are 1600 stitches in every square inch! The detail it allows is wonderful, but the sheer volume of stitches is a bit alarming to contemplate. And as I take my time with dithering about certain design elements that I need to re-design because I have made so many changes to the original chart... it only becomes more daunting. With that said, I know how much can be accomplished when one does a little bit every day (the lilac blossoms, for example) and so I decided my best course of action was to just start stitching on that endless white background. It would probably help me to make the other design decisions to have the white background "in the picture" so to speak. So I got started. You can see in the above picture, I am basically working from the central medallion toward the border. I am using the basket-weave stitch for the most part because it has less liklihood of distorting the material and is less wasteful of thread while providing good coverage. It is the recommended stitch and I find it easy to manage. It is worked along a diagonal path, I think of it as going up and down the "stairs" of the thread grid.... you can turn back whenever you encounter an obstacle... (already stitched motif) or just because you think the area you want to cover should be in smaller "chunks". I try to stitch at least one "thread's" worth each time I stitch, although I am not being strict. If I only stitch three stitches, that is sometimes enough!

 

The goal is to stay focused on the tiny area I am working in

 and just not worry about the whole thing!

 

It really doesn't matter how long it takes... 

I don't have a "deadline"....

 

Of course, there are days when I can't get to it... 

and that is okay too! The object is not to sweat,

 but to enjoy the process however long it takes. 

 

And along the way, I made a discovery! 

I had thought I needed bright light to stitch this mesh size... 

but when working with white on white...

 it is actually easier on the eyes to stitch in slightly low light! 

In the above picture you can see how difficult it is to see the mesh threads

 and what has been already stitched, while the previous picture,

 taken in low light, shows the mesh and the stitched area clearly!

 

 

This discovery expanded the available stitching hours to make use of... 

evenings and rainy days are sometimes more ideal than sunny mornings!

 

And remembering to take some pictures of the progress made

 is sometimes a fun and encouraging task.

 

This picture above was taken the same day as the previous picture.... 

yeah, progress is slow... but it is progress!

And in case you were wondering about the Medieval Tapestry stitching, 

Dear Readers, never fear, I have been stitching it too!

 

I have been grabbing it at odd moments 

and adding a row or two of the background... 

and forgetting to take pictures. 

It is looking as wonderful as I had hoped it would!

And of course, it is much faster to stitch, 

being only 20 count cloth. 

 

I had decided at the last minute to add a few more

 flowers to the lower half of the tapestry. 

Mostly just more of those tiny white ones you can't see

 until the background is in place.

 

It only makes sense to me that the flowers 

should be thickest at their feet!

 

 

I will resist the temptation to show daily progress....

 such a boring thing....

 

This amounts to a months worth 

of stitching a little bit at a time!

 

And the Tapestry is nearly finished and ready to be hemmed!

 

While the Dragon Carpet has a ways to go. 

But making a start, Dear Readers,

 is sometimes half the battle! 

Don't waste time fretting about the time it will take!

 Just stitch the background and it will get done!