Painting Up A Storm!

Dreaming of Spring in the Depths of Winter.....

I hope you can forgive me, Dear Readers, for showing you a whole lot of Half Finished work this week, but I could not wait to show you the Progress on the Tree House Bedroom! I have been "Painting up a Storm" (which simply means painting a lot!) as I work on the Chinoiserie murals, but progress is slow, so you are going to have to use your Imaginations! These walls are a Long way from done! But Unlike the Huge Snowstorm we have just survived here in New England, the murals have Nothing to do with cold, white Frozen worlds.... however beautiful those can be... but are the most Ideal portrayal of Perpetual Springtime that I know of! And you are going to have to forgive my crude attempts to render this deliciously delicate style of wall decoration in miniature on my Tree House walls.

I am afraid the trees are ending up a bit stockier than is ideal..... 

I started by under-painting with white where the trees would go....

And then painting the dark gray base coat.... but I think the white under-painting was not necessary in this case and ended up causing the tree trunks to be stockier than I had imagined them being. But I think it will be okay that way... each part that gets added changes the entire balance of the composition....

Here I am beginning to add the secondary plant forms.... 

the lacier trees that twine with the darker ones...

And adding layers of gray to define the trunks better....

And filling in the Ground and adding the "planters" ...

and under-painting where the birds will go....

I apologize for the lousy pictures..... 

it is really difficult to get the colors to show well...

Here above is a closer view of one of the planters partly done....

This is on the outer door of the Room which has been removed for painting....

And here above is the Dressing Room door..... 

painted as one with the wall to make it invisible....

And then I added another planter to balance the first one....

These are SO difficult to photograph...!

 And they are SO Far from Done!

But I wanted to show you my progress!

On the left above you can see the Dressing Room door in place in the wall...

Where it will be almost invisible!

But that is not all I have been painting, Dear Readers! 

You may remember that I had started to build the bed for this room...

Well, I decided that it was not the right shape at all!

So I started over with more delicate spindles for bed posts....

And added a decorative "Fret-work" headboard....

Made from cut off slices of woodsies...

(left over from making the library books!)

Which then just needed some painting.....

And then I confess I got carried away with this project...... 

and decided it really Did need a Pagoda Roof for a canopy....

 This is made from manilla file folder paper and a delicate gold braid trim...

And I forgot to take pictures of the next dozen steps......

Ta da!!!

I know, it IS a Trifle Over The Top....!!!

But it is Not unprecedented.... 

the inspiration came from the Bed made for the Duke of Beaufort

in 1754, as seen below...

So you will have to forgive me for trying to copy such an Iconic Bed....

In such a small scale!!!

It barely fits in the room!!!

So even though Spring is a Long way off, 

and my Mural is a Long way from done...

I have been Dreaming of Spring....

And Painting up a Storm!