Progress....

 

 The Saints Again...

I had some Extra time off from work last week, Dear Readers, and was able to give the Saints my undivided attention for a couple of days! Above you can see the last two on the front half of the ceiling looking just as they have been for years. They both looked "almost" done, but in fact needed a great deal of work. I began with Luke because I was copying him from a Medieval original, and therefore it was easier to know what was needed. His paintbrush, the portrait of Mary he is painting, his robe, his halo, all needed work. The most obvious part was his arm which holds the picture frame, it was not bending in a natural enough manner... so I started there....

 

In order to make the wrist and arm align in a more natural way, I had to shift the outer edge of his "stole" so it fell closer to his body.

Then I repainted the robe and elbow. Of course, I neglected to take a lot of pictures.

Here you can see I have started to paint the floor under Bridget's feet.

I felt she needed to be better "grounded".

There had always been a need to make Bridget look more "medieval".

 She was one of the Saints that had no original painting to copy.

Even though she looks lovely as she is, 

I needed to make changes to her face in particular.

 

I changed the shape of her head covering and added heavier outlines.

One of the things to remember is that these paintings

 are hard to see in place... subtlety is lost completely! 

But meanwhile, I had also added more details to the other Saints...

Saint Lucia and Saint Nicholas still had many details to complete.

I got carried away with embellishing the floors...

I indulged my love of patterns.

Not that you can really see it when it is in place... 

but I will know it is there!

And the ground under Saint Cecilia

 also needed some softening with details...

So I painted blossoms...

Which you can see here.

And along the way I also completed Saint Nicholas' Croizier,

 and added layers to the Hunters in the border.

And I suppose you want to see it in place in the Castle Great Hall...

 

 It is really difficult, even with the flash,

 to get a picture of the entire ceiling in place!

At least this one sort of shows the floor details!

Well, Dear Readers, I made a lot of Progress

 painting the Saints.

And they might even be nearly Finished!

Talking Turkey....

 

 

 Thanksgiving At Last...

I Hope you are not surprised, Dear Readers, to learn that Sally May is thinking about Thanksgiving dinner. She is determined to gather with her loved ones this year, and she has been baking pies. "The pies are almost done, Annabelle," she says, "and as soon as they cool enough we will go over to see Gramma and Grampa and Great-grandma and Great-grandpa and have a feast!"

 

 Everyone in her immediate family was vaccinated, so it should be safe enough to get together. Well, almost everybody, she reminded herself. Annabelle was too young to get the vaccine. And her in-laws, Chip's parents had refused to be vaccinated. Yes, they are that sort of independent crusty old New Englanders. And I hope you will not be too surprised to learn that Chip was not entirely sure they should go. He wasn't sure his folks would be welcome, and didn't want to leave them home by themselves.

"Are you sure about this, Hon?" he asks Sally May,

 (not for the first time!)

"Darling," said Sally May in her sweetest voice, "we've been over this already.

You know what I think , and why. I'm not changing my mind."

"Even if my folks can't come too?" he asked.

"Whether your Folks come or not is up to them." said Sally May bluntly.

"Just like whether or not to get the vaccine is up to them." 

she added with just a touch of annoyance.

"I am taking Annabelle to Feast with her other relatives,

 and I hope you will come too." she said quietly.

 

Meanwhile, over at The Lovely Old Dollhouse, 

Joanna has learned that Chip's parents are not vaccinated

 and she is sharing this news with Helen and Charles.

"It seems that they refuse to get the vaccine!" declared Joanna.

 

 

"Sally May says she is not sure if they will come to dinner," she added.

 

"Well," said Helen, cautiously, "We have all been vaccinated... 

so it shouldn't matter to us. Should it?" she added uncertainly.

"Well," said Charles, "The medical advice is

 to be careful even if you have been vaccinated! 

But, I think it is unlikely that we would

 catch the covid virus from them..." he added hopefully.

"We will only be together for a short while."

"And they have been careful."

 

And way up in the attic of The Lovely Old Dollhouse, 

Arthur and Pollyanna have been doing their favorite thing.

 Some call it hanging out while being creative,

 and some call it hiding from the Family.

"I think we will need to go downstairs soon," said Arthur. 

"I hear the dogs barking. Somebody must have arrived" he added.

"And I should be helping with the dinner," added Pollyanna,

 even though cooking was not her favorite activity.

 

Sure enough, the barking dogs heralded the arrival of the Pies!

 

"Goodness!" declared Joanna. "Those pies look wonderful!"

"Bring them on in here!" she added.

 

"I see the main course is here!" declared Victor, laughing!

"They look fabulous, Sweetie" he said to Sally May.

"I'm ready to start eating..." he chuckled.

 

 "You're just in time to help us with peeling

 the squash and potatoes!" said Joanna cheerfully,

 indicating a large basket full of vegetables.

"Uh, sure..." said Chip cautiously,

 "Let me just go greet the 'Grands' first" he added, 

and made his getaway.

 

"I hear your folks didn't get vaccinated!" said Helen right away.

"Will they come to dinner anyway?" she added.

"Well," said Chip, feeling a little defensive, 

"I think they'll come just for the meal. 

They won't stay too long." he added.

"Well, I'm just glad you got the vaccine!" declared Helen. 

"That's one less thing to worry about!"

 

 "I am so glad you came!" said Joanna to Sally May and Annabelle.

"We just don't get to see enough of you!"

"And here's Pollyanna, just in time!" Joanna cried.

"It feels just like old times... I have both my girls here!"

"It does seem so strange" said Pollyanna, 

"to be so near and yet spend so little time together!"

It didn't take Arthur long to join the folks in the Living Room.

Helen was enjoying all the attention of

 her Son-in-law and Grandsons-in-law!

The time flew by and before anybody knew it,

  Pollyanna was calling them to come eat!

Sally May and Joanna spread the food on the table.

They would have to eat buffet style... 

there wasn't room for everybody around the one table.

"Do we have everything...?" asks Joanna.

"I do hope Chip's folks get here soon.." said Sally May. 

"I will feel awful if they don't come after all!" she added.

"Well," said Joanna, "It's up to them. So don't feel badly."

 "I'm just so grateful you are here!"

 she said smiling at her younger daughter.

"And here comes the crowd!"

"Oh, My!" declared Helen, leaning close. 

"That has to be the biggest and best Turkey ever!"

"Do you see it Charles?" she added. 

"I don't think we've ever had such a grand turkey before!"

"Great job, Ladies!" Charles replied enthusiastically.

"You've outdone yourselves this time!" he added.

 "We'll all be as fat and round as that Turkey

 before too much longer!" he said with glee.

Just then there was a sound of voices in the Hallway.

"Halooo there!" called Blanche. 

"Anybody here...?" she added hopefully.

Chip came to greet them.

"Did we miss anything..?" asked Blanche.

"I hope we're not too late for the Turkey! declared Ernie.

"Nah, you're right on time!" said Chip.

"Come on in!" he added.

"Come right on in!" said Victor, making room.

"Now we're all here!" said Helen with relief.

"Let's get started" she added. 

"I am So Thankful for all this food!" she declared.

"I am Thankful we have such talented Cooks in the family!" declared Charles.

"I am Thankful we have a Turkey to eat" said Arthur.

"I am Thankful my sister loves to cook!" said Pollyanna smiling at Sally May.

"I am thankful we are all here and healthy!" said Joanna.

"I am Thankful we are hungry, but not too hungry!" declared Victor.

"I am Thankful we have roofs over our heads." said Ernie.

"I am Thankful our son married such a 

wonderful Family!" said Blanche, blushing a little.

"I am Thankful for my wonderful Family" said Chip, feeling very self-conscious.

"I am Thankful," said Sally May... spreading her hands with no words.

"I am thankful for Everybody!" shouted Annabelle excitedly.

"Can we eat now?" she asked.

Everybody laughed and Ernie said "Amen!"

And Victor sliced the Turkey...

Well, Dear Readers, I hope you are all

 enjoying a wonderful Thanksgiving Feast
 if you celebrate the Holiday.

And if you don't celebrate the Holiday, 

I hope you have much to be Thankful For

 and find time to give Thanks!

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

More Progress...

 

 It's All In The Details...

I know it has been a few weeks, Dear Readers, since I showed you the Carpet stitching. I have been working on it as often as possible because I am so eager to see how the design looks when the colors are in place. All I really have for a color guide is a blurry small picture of a completed carpet (this is a very old kit) and the printed on canvas, where you can see the colors are not accurate. So it is being a delicious voyage of discovery as each section and color of the design is added. In my haste, I have made a mistake or two... and only realized it when it was too late to unstitch the mistake. But they are small errors and can be counted as "authentic carpet variations" according to the experts on RL carpets!

I am loving every bit of the discovery!

But the main area of progress I want to show you

 is the painting of the Saints on the Castle Great Hall Ceiling.

I remembered to take a few "before' pictures this time!

Here you can see Saint Cecilia and Saint Mathew

 the way they have been for years as I dithered.

Saint Cecilia doesn't appear to need much... 

but I have never been happy with her appearance.

There are extremely few Medieval renditions 

of this Saint that I have been able to find. 

So I had to invent her.

 I am afraid I have failed to make her look Medieval enough.

(It is very difficult to paint in a more primitive style

 than the one you have been raised to know!)

It is mostly in her face...

 the expression is too modern... too personal... too something!

So I redid a lot of the expression.

 

I am not sure this is the final version... 

but I think she looks more intense.

Certainly she looks more serious.

Whether she is "medieval" enough I still haven't decided.

But I moved on to Mattieu.

He needed lots of details.... hands, feet, clouds above, footrest, robes...

Lots to fix!

The difficulty I have had with this one has always been

 that the original painting I am using as my reference

 is only a black and white photo in one of

 my older books on Medieval Art.

 

I know... my version doesn't hold a candle to him... he is so beautiful!

This is an illumination painted around 800 AD

 probably in the court of Charlemagne.

And the real challenge was to try and determine the original colors...

 or something that would "work" in a similar way.

The large areas that appear to be black are probably red 

(red photographs as black in a black and white picture)

but what were the other colors... 

the delicate contrasting colors of the rest of his finely folded clothing?

I could only guess.

 But we do know that the range of pigments

 available back then was very limited.

The colors most likely were pale greens pale blues, ocher (gold) and pale pinks.

Given the need to balance the colors overall on my ceiling,

 I chose green for his tunic and

 a combination of red and blue for the over robe.
 And the rendering of all that pleated folded draped material was a real challenge!

It is easier if you live with this style of clothes and you know how they fall and wrap...!

So forgive my naive attempts...

Alas, I did not take pictures of every step along the way.

For now... Mattieu has his robes completed....

And his feet hands and book...!

And I moved on to Lucia...

Here is the "before" of Lucia and Nicholas.

Lucia is another Saint with very few extant Medieval portrayals.

I thought the one in my "Hours of Catherine of Cleves" 

was a bit uninspired... and made no reference

 to her association with the Light (Candles or torch...)

So I again drew my own. 

I think I got a better "medieval" look this time,

 so she really only needed a tiny bit of ornamentation.

Her cloak, inside and out, needed details!

And her flame needed brightening...

Her seat needed details and her diadem needed color.

I am not certain about her gown....

 I may add a layer of something...

But for now I have moved on to Nicholas.

As you can see from the above picture

 before I added anything to him...

He needed his hands, hair, clothes, seat, gift, crozier, 

and especially his expression fixed!

Again, I did not take many pictures along the way.

My version is somewhat based on the one in 

The Hours of Catherine of Cleves, 

but only so far as his robes and crozier are concerned.

I needed to make his expression a little kinder...

Here I must point out the difficulty I have photographing this ceiling!

It is a curved surface... so the light reflects off the curves in a variable way.

And add in the ribbed folds of the corrugated cardboard.. 

and it becomes almost impossible to get a consistent light.

But perhaps you can see I have added his "gift" the golden coins,

 and added a layer of color to his miter and robe.

But mostly I have changed his expression so he is  smiling.

Here... come closer...

Just a little more shading and

 puckers at the corners of his mouth...

And he looks much kinder!

And that's as far as I got, Dear Readers,

But Progress is all in the Tiny details!

More Painting...

 

 

And Those Patient Saints...

You Might recall, Dear Readers, that I had recently added the paint to the opening doors for the Great Hall section of the Castle. But I had only done the base coats of primer and the pale gray. The arched wall of this side of the Castle had been painted a long time ago, so I thought I had better get the rest of the inside painting completed. This required that I remove the front wall (it has only been screwed in place for this reason) so that I could get the rocks on the two sides of the opening doors to be properly matched when seen from the inside. Not that anyone will be seeing it from the inside very often, as this requires that I get the camera inside through the interior doors to the Great Hall.... but I would hate to have it look wrong on those few occasions! 

The method is the same as that used for the other walls.

First I paint the "courses" of the rocks...

And then I determine the proper spacing of the verticals...

Trying to make them as they would need to be in a real wall...

"two over one and one over two" is the standard recipe.

This means the vertical edges are never supposed to be

 right over the previous row's vertical edges.

And then I added the rough "texturing" of the rocks.

This is meant to be very "sketchy" and not detailed.

And finally, the grout lines are added.

This is when they start to be convincing as "rocks"!

(It surprises me every time!)

But you might also remember, Dear Readers,

 that I have been trying to complete

 the Ceiling of the Great Hall for ages and ages.

And every time I start to work on it, 

I realize something else is needed first.

But I have decided that it would be great if

 I could just get those Patient Saints finished!

So while the front wall was removed,

 I also removed the ceiling and set it up on my "easel"

(really just a chair with the ceiling propped across the arms.)

I had even made a list long ago of all the tiny things

 that needed to be worked on.

Saint Elizabeth was easy... only the floor lacked details.

The grid was drawn for tiles... all I had to do was decorate them!

Of course I had started to paint them 

before I remembered to take a "before" picture!

So you can see the first ones have been given a pink color.

I added a red dot to the center of each pink tile.

That was all I need to do for Saint Elizabeth!

And I neglected to take "before" pictures from them on...

You will have to take my word for it that

 Saint Hedwig needed details added to her seat

 and Saint Marc needed extra layer "clean-up" around his halo.

Mary Magdalene needed only 

some touch-ups around the framework.

Saint John needed details in his hair,

 the eagle's talons, and the writing on his scroll.

And some framework touch-ups too.

The truth is that any number of other layers and trims and 

"clean-ups" could be added as well... 

but they are not "needed" to complete the image.

I did not get any work done on the other half of the ceiling...

But I turned it around so they are now ready to be completed too!

I am sure if you look carefully you will spot some of the missing pieces.

Meanwhile, I finished adding the grout lines.

And I reattached the front wall.

Here you can see the doors open...

(I do apologize for the dark pictures...

 It is so dark in the evenings now!)

And now you can see the Great Hall from the interior...

with the flash turned on... and the ceiling not in place...

Well... flash does reveal all the flaws!

But I think it is starting to look like I hoped it would!

 

So that's what I have been doing, Dear Readers,

 just a little more painting on the Walls,

 and those Patient Saints.