Monday, February 27, 2017

Painting Details....




And A Little More.....

The Problem with Details, Dear Readers, is that one can get Lost in the never ending pursuit of just One more Tiny, perhaps unnoticeable little addition, that just might make All the difference! You will undoubtedly be bored by looking at more of the not yet completed progress pictures of the Castle Hall Ceiling Painting! But I put a lot of Time into the Tiny people adorning the borders of the ceiling, and every time I thought I was "done" with a figure, I would notice something else that needed adding, a little tiny touch of shadow here, a little bit of highlight there, some pattern here, and then those hands! Twenty six little people's worth of hands! No, don't do the math, because Not every person has two hands Showing! It took me Days! But here, let me show you....

If you like, you can even play "spot the differences", 
but I warn you, even I have not kept track!
In the above two pictures the figures have all received their basic colors, 
but their faces are mostly not detailed.

Here you can see that most have their faces rendered.
Yes, it is hard to see the details, 
each figure is about one and one half inches tall!

Here is a closer shot.... 
I was amazed that the camera would focus in so well...!
The Lovers are nearly done.... even their hands!

The chess players have their faces rendered, 
but the musicians do not.....

These figures are mostly done, except for their hands....

And these too....

And while we are doing close-ups... 
here the Diners are mostly done.... 
except for their hands!

And this end of the table too.... 
notice I have added a pattern to the cloth.....

And then Finally.... 
a Day spent working on the hands.....
But please do not judge them too harshly.....
The hands are very small....
hardly anyone will even think to look up
 at the Ceiling of the Great Hall....

These figures are mostly done.....

And these too! 
At least done enough for me to begin the borders 
on the other side of the ceiling!

The panels on this side I wanted to portray the labors of the seasons.... 
and of the common folk...
But I am beginning with the central panel which shows 
the Noblemen going Hawking and Hunting...
Here I have only done the white under-painting. 

This panel shows the Peasants plowing with oxen, 
Sowing the fields, and Reaping the barley....

And the final panel shows a Maiden milking a cow, 
Shepherds with their flocks, 
and the Grapes being harvested.
I spent hours combing through my manuscripts 
to find images that would be suitable for these panels!

The next step is to outline all the figures with black,
 defining their stance and character.
This is where I rely heavily on the original Medieval paintings 
to get the costumes and attitudes of the figures 
to look "Medieval" not modern!

It is actually rather difficult to try to "unlearn" 
what you know about perspective 
in order to show it the way the Medieval artists painted.

At this point I have to be careful not to think of these as "sketches" 
but more as "cartoons" because the lines will really define the figures.

I am Nowhere near as good at it as the Medieval artists were....
but I am at least following in a long tradition of copying images, 
and inevitably making them my own style.

That is as far as I got, Dear Readers, 
but I consider it to be Huge Progress 
on the Castle Ceiling!
And yet, there is still such a long way to go!
More than half the Saints are not yet finished!
But I will leave that for another post!
And meanwhile, Dear Readers, 
Because it is my Birthday, 
I indulged myself and bought another Little Treasure....

She came in a Beautiful Box.....
 But she absolutely did not want to stay in the box!
A Beautiful Little "Jumeau" style Dolly 
made by Sandra Morris of Tower House Dolls...

She says her name is "Floralinda",
and Clearly, she has a mind of her own!

She is so beautifully made and lovingly dressed.....

Surely she Must have a "Girl" to keep her somewhere!

But so far, no-one seems to have noticed her....

She is simply going to have to explore!

Its a Large Castle.....


Welcome to my World, Little Floralinda!
 I So hope, Dear Readers, 
You were not too bored 
by all the Painting Details, 
And the Little bit More!


Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Progress....




Big and Little....

I was absolutely Determined, Dear Readers, to make Progress on the Teeny Tiny Garden before I did anything else this past weekend! All that was left to assemble were the tables and chairs and some "refreshments" and decorative planters. All the pieces were carefully sorted in teeny tiny plastic bags and the instructions were very straight forward. It didn't take too long to make the tables and the two planters with "flowers" in them. Both are in place in the above picture, but you might need to poke the picture before you can see the details clearly. The flowers are standing next to the fountain. Then I needed to assemble the "refreshments" to sit on the tables. These consist of bowls with colored beads in them, and tiny "glasses" cut from a straw!

Can you see them?
Yes, they are very tiny!!!

Maybe you can see them better in this picture...
And those are the chairs off to the side...!
But then I decided that the pond also needed 
some "koi" swimming in it.....

Can you see them?
Tiny orange specks in the pond?

Here you can see the chairs have been added too...
I swear this garden is getting "smaller" with every minute!

Lady Virginia arrived to enjoy the Garden Party....
I guess she will have to wait for her sisters!
( I can see I will have to make a bigger Tiny Garden
 if they All want to come for tea!)
The Garden kit came with some "paper doll" style ladies...
 but I am going to keep them for another day.
But I have to show you the Tiny Garden in the Morning Sunlight.....
 

Surely the best moment to visit the Garden!

Rather than Leave you there, Dear Readers, with so little to see,
I will show you several other Projects that I worked on over the weekend!
It was a Long weekend for most of us, and I am also having a Vacation week, 
so I have decided to tackle several larger unfinished projects.... 
and another Teeny Tiny New one...

I've begun stitching another of Janet Granger's needlepoint kits...
This is an oriental patterned Tea Cosy kit... 
stitched on 40 count silk, using single strand of cotton floss.
It is my first attempt at this count and I am using my magnifier.

I think I'm making good progress so far!
I stitched the darkest blue on Sunday and the lighter blue on Monday.
There is still a Long way to go...
but at least I've made a start!

And that is not all I want to show you....
I also have Finally made a start on 
attaching the Shingles to the Cloud Palace roof!

As you can see from this picture, 
the Palace Main room is not attached to the Towers,
And here it has been cleared of all the furnishings and inhabitants!
Where did they all go, I hear you ask?

Well, they are all temporarily on "Retreat" 
at the nearby SkyTower Pavilion!
It is a bit of a Squeeze.... 
but they are having fun!

And it leaves the Cloud Palace free to have the shingles glued on....
I am using the method recommended by the kit instructions 
which say to use hot glue...
It is slow going!
The back is all attached....


The front will take much longer....
It has so many gables and dormers!
And then it will all need to be painted.....!
And speaking of Painting, Dear Readers....
I have been Itching to get back to painting the
 details on the Castle Great Hall Ceiling....
Do you even remember where we left off?


I had begun the Little borders with the Ordinary People....
Even though All the Saints were not quite finished....
That was .... How long ago???

Here is the central panel border.... it is really only just begun!

And the right hand panel with the dancing figures....
It was so long ago I had to spend hours 
searching all my books for the "originals" 
I am using for my models!

And I am slowly but surely adding all the tiny details 
that make the pictures come alive....

Here you can see my painting with the tiny "source" painting in the book below....
This is a tiny volume of miniatures found in 
the Pierpont Morgan Library in NYC. 
This one was painted around AD 1350 in Belgium.
(Sorry about the glare on the page!)

I spent all afternoon on just this painting!

But now I am very close to finished with this painting!
They all have their faces, but I still have to do the hands, 
which is the hardest part!
And then the other panels....
And then the rest of the Saints......
And the borders on the other side of the ceiling!
Can you believe it Dear Readers?
I am finally making Progress!
Big Progress on the Little Things...
and Little Progress on the big ones!

Monday, February 13, 2017

Winter....




It's Been Snowing....

Winter has been Relentless lately in my Neck o' the Woods, Dear Readers, with one storm after another Roaring through and dumping freezing rain, ice, sleet and snow in great quantity! Every couple of days it seems we are being bombarded with more snow and fierce winds! It makes it very challenging just to get to work and back, as I have a drive of over thirty miles each way and my workplace is up in the Hills to the North of where I live. Yes, the Groundhog said six more weeks of Winter.... and so far we have made it through one of them! It snowed all day yesterday and part of the night, and we woke to a Winter wonderland with snow coating everything and piled deep on the ground! Twelve more inches on top of the nine we got on Thursday on top of the four we got on Tuesday....

Yes, that is my RL garden underneath all that snow!

Is it any wonder that I don't want to have anything more to do with snow?
Not even to decorate the Secret Christmas House
 with a layer of glittery artificial snow?

 
Well, I pulled out my faithful scraps of the "Christmas" snow
 that is supposed to be used in Christmas village set-ups.... 
and quickly added some to the Secret Christmas House.... 
but it is not the permanent decoration for this kit. 
I have bought several different kinds of "fake" snow for this project, 
but I have yet to get the courage to Apply it to the House! 
It seems so irrevocable! I don't want to mess it up! 
I think I need to do some "practice" samples 
to get the feel for how it goes on.
And somehow, rather that testing the snow, Dear Readers,
I found myself digging out another small kit I had bought
 several years ago at the Sturbridge Fair....
A kit for a Tiny 144th scale Garden....!
It is made by Ginger Landon Siegel 
and has all the materials you need to put together 
a mini tea party in a Garden....!

There is a tiny patio area on a base... 
with greenery on all sides....

And a tiny wall with a fountain niche....

Cut from printed paper that you must carefully layer 
and adorn with sand to resemble stone....

 And almost before I could blink.....

Halcyon came to have a look!
It seems I am not the only one dreaming of Tea in the Garden!

She can just imagine.... 
but where are the tables....?
Well, there are still many parts to construct 
before we get to the Tea!

Starting with the hedges which flank the fountain.....

And adding rocks which surround a little pond....

Adding the painted "water"....
(And discovering that the sample fake water provided 
in the kit was too old and dried out to use....)
So I attempted to use a layer of clear gel glue instead.
It doesn't really work...

It just looks like a layer of dried glue.
I will have to try to fix that.....!
There are still all the tables and chairs to construct, 
potted flowers and little trays of tea and snacks... 
not to mention some "ladies" to dress....
 (really just paper dolls with clothes...)
And the ever present temptation to go beyond the kit 
and add a tree or two... or a Pavilion.... 
or more lawn and flower strewn borders....
the possibilities are boundless!

So, No, Dear Readers, I was not playing with the snow.... 
I was far Far away in a Tiny Garden!


Even though Winter doesn't stop....
We're supposed to get even more on Wednesday!
Yes, It's been Snowing!