Going In Circles....!

Engineering Challenges and a Few Halos....

By now, Dear Readers, I am sure you have realized that the Saints are going to take quite a Long Time before they are finished! I will TRY not to bore you with too many pictures of unfinished paintings.... but at the same time I would like to keep you updated with any Progress that HAS been made! To begin with, above we see the ceiling in place in the Castle Great Hall and now the first row has at least the shadowy under-painting of all its Saints completed. You may wonder why I am working this way.... starting the Next one before the others are even partly done.... and there are actually a couple of reasons why I am doing this. The first is that it is easier to work out the color choices as the paintings develop simultaneously. This way I can make sure there is a harmonious balance of colors rather than discovering by the time I reach the Last Saint that nothing looks right next to the already completed ones! Another good reason is the better use of mixed paint colors when painting more than one figure at a time. I can mix a certain color of shadow for faces and use it on three or four figures before the paint dries out! And the last and maybe most compelling reason is that it is Easier to paint the under-layers and Avoid the careful Tricky parts.... for as long as possible...! So I added the final Saint for this side of the ceiling. He is Saint John the Evangelist.

And since I was painting Some detail on faces.... 

I will show you the more developed Saint Mark.....

I apologize for the blurry and reflection streaked pictures!

The ceiling surface is "ribbed" (the bends in the corrugated cardboard)

which makes painting much more challenging and the lighting almost impossible!

But in the Long run it will provide a layer of detail and texture 

that I hope will add to the realism.

Nevertheless, it makes it hard to avoid the reflections!

On Saint Hedwig I added the altar cloth draped over her arm....

And the Halos of the Virgin and Child Figures she is holding to her breast.

I know, it is really difficult to See these details!

I also added another layer of "gold" to several of the Halos....

Most notably for Mary Magdalene and Saint John with his Eagle. 

So you can see there is still a LONG way to go with the Saints!

Meanwhile, Dear Readers, I have been Wrestling with 

the Engineering of the next floor of the Tree House!

I will show you what I mean....

To begin with, I have closed in the back hallway 

behind the Chinoiserie Bedroom...

Can you even see what I am referring to?

And I have to confess that I threw caution to the Winds... 

and decided to put a Light back there....

Because it made light shine down the stairs 

 and onto the book left in the window halfway down.....

Which I CANNOT get a good picture of, so you will just have to believe me!

And while I was adding lights to places I hadn't intended to put them.... 

I added an Ambient light to the Dressing Room....

And OH! What a Difference it Made!!!!

Why did I think I could go with out Light????

It is just One light added overhead

Before I glued the ceiling in place!

Here you can see the light from above. 

The hallway is at the upper right.

And here is another glimpse of the inside of the Bedroom.... 

with just the Ambient lights!

It turns out that my battery was very run down 

and made the lights very dim!

As for the Engineering Challenge I have been struggling with.... 

that has to do with the NEXT Floor up!

Oh my! Are we ready????

Here is the Tree House as it now stands....

(separated from The Folly so I can build on it...)

And as I have so many times Before....

I started with the Door...!

Making a Circular Window from a large piece of polished glass....

And cutting out the walls to get a rough sense of the space.....

But the Real Challenges are not in the main room....

but behind it with the Spiral Stairs....

There will be a door into the room cut in the panel at the top of the stairs.

The next run of stairs will start just to the left and Spiral up as before....

But I (along with so many of you Dear Readers) 

have been wanting to make a way to 

Open a Door into the side of the Turret.....!

The door would be curved....

But it would need a Sturdy Post to be hinged upon!

And Just HOW to attach the post has been 

Bothering me for a Long Time!!

But I think I have figured it out.....

The post would be a thin strip of plywood....

Which would be attached between the two floors.......

I will probably glue AND Screw the post to both the floors!

It needs to be able to take a lot of twisting without breaking!

When the door is closed it would be the outside of the turret.....

And would swing open to show the Spiral staircase

as it spins up to the Next level...!

But Accomplishing this is

Oh So Much harder than it Sounds!!

I cannot attach the floor until the post is attached to it....

I cannot build all the walls with the Ceiling in place.... 

and I cannot "sandwich" the post between the floors 

without attaching the ceiling...! (Which IS the upper floor!)

Hmm.....!

I think I am going to be doing a lot of "Temporary"

attaching of pieces with masking tape and clothespins while I figure this out!

Perhaps I Will just go back to painting Halos....

I know I will solve these Engineering Challenges!

But is it any wonder I feel Like I am going in Circles?