A Little Bit of That....
I Left You, Dear Readers, with the Creation of Adam and Eve barely begun as I waited for the ink to dry before painting could begin. And the Very next day I did begin the painting process for that Roundel. I have included that inked-only photo above, because when I began to paint I didn't take any good enough pictures of the process to show the beginning part. These ceiling panels are curved so the camera sometimes focuses on a part of the curved surface leaving the rest out of focus. I will include the blurry shot anyway, but I wanted you to know why!
Here you can see I began with the flesh tones for Adam and Eve.
Then I forgot to take pictures for a while!
Because I was jumping around.
Here you can see the ceiling propped against the opening wall
as close to its correct position as I could put it.
I wanted to see how the ceiling scenes looked
in relation to the windows and the two wall sections.
I have penciled in the areas that will have a scene painted.
Between the windows will be The Annunciation
and on the right will probably be The Tower of Babel.
And as I was lining up the frames,
I noticed a missing detail on the Ceiling panel!
Here you can see I am adding two
"Golden Rays" from the head of God,
directed to the place on the opening wall
that will tie them to The Annunciation
and Saint Anne (who will be in one of the windows.)
And because there is a lot of waiting
for small amounts of paint to dry,
I am jumping from place to place...
The Rainbow in The Judgement scene was calling to me...
And then as I turned around...
I noticed the sunlight shining into my house
and striking the Peter and Paul Window in the Chapel!
It only shines in at this angle for a brief spell
in the Fall as the Equinox draws near...
But Oh My Goodness it fills the Chapel
with such a beautiful light!
But it only lasts for a moment or two and then is gone.
And I return my attention to the opening walls...
Here I am showing the "pillars" which will be
attached after the windows are constructed.
I needed to have them available so I can
position the ceiling arches in the right places.
And here I am trying to get a sense of
the Judgement scene's relationship with the wall...
This is with the arch sections in place...
trying to see how the demons from Hell
(on the bottom at the right)
look when viewed from "inside" the Chapel.
(As if you could stand in there!)
It seems to me I need to adjust the way
the "ground" slants to the arch below.
But before I figure that out.....
I decide to add the "cloud" shadowing
in the borders of the Roundels.
I think of these as like those "thought bubbles"
in modern cartoons...
revealing the idea in image not words....
Here they have all been added....
don't worry...
there will be more details eventually!
As I mentioned before, Dear Readers,
I am trying to get an idea of the overall color balance
among all the parts of the ceiling...
And The Judgement was way behind in execution.
Fleshing out the naked bodies...
Adding the purple robes of Christ..
The coffins that have floated to the surface
like so many boats on water...
And I keep testing it in place....
I wanted to shift the Demons a bit lower onto the wall...
Holding the arch section in place to try to line up the edges..
Adding details to Christ and the angels....
Wings, halos, hair, trumpets....
And then circling back to the Creation scenes...
Here I have added details to the water....
and the trunks of the trees....
And Hair for Adam and Eve...
And lots more plants.....
And changed my mind about Eve's hair...
it was too dark...
And going all out on a richer bluer sky!
Once the background is darkened these will stand apart as lighter.
I wanted the birds to stand out against the sky...
And I Love what it does to the Moon!
And I need to see it in place again....
It is night again... so this is with flash...
which distorts the contrast...
But I feel like I am making progress!
Here I have added details to Adam and Eve...
and bright red flowers to the landscape.
Some days this is all I accomplish...
And others....
All I add is structural framework...
Here the frame for The Garden of Eden
has been painted.
And on the opening wall I have added
the blue portions to the walls.
Starting to paint the arches...
These are really just underpainting to get the positioning correct.
Eventually there will be some "three dimensional" arches
to go above these windows... just like on the rest of the walls.
Except that these have to fit around the opening doors...
which will be a challenge when I get to it!
And with the pillars in place...
You can start to get a feel for how this wall
will look in relation to the ceiling.
Then I changed my mind about
the framework for The Annunciation....
I want it to mirror the Framework of
The Madonna and Child over the altar....
on the opposite wall of the Chapel.
And with the pillars and the ceiling propped in place...
I think I am starting to get a feel for this wall.
As you can see, Dear Readers.....
I am hopping all over the place...
But a little bit of this and a little bit of that
Adds up to a Whole Lot of progress!
Simply magnificent, Betsy!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you Jodi! And thank you for taking the time to comment! :):)
DeleteI love the bright colors and shapes - You are creating a masterpiece!
ReplyDeleteThank you Troy! I adore color.... especially this Blue! I look forward to the finished Chapel when I will be able to just soak it in! :)
DeleteEs maravilloso!! Betsy,todo lo que tocas se convierte en arte!!
ReplyDeleteBesos.
Gracias, Pilar! I love this chapel and I love to paint. :)
DeleteI will never get tired of enjoying and admiring this very special and of course outstanding work of yours. So good you're able to hop from here to there adding paint to a new spot while another one is drying.
ReplyDeleteAnd this post made me think of another good thing - the advantage of having the blog as a journal about the many steps this project takes. Once all of this will be finally attached in place it will be splendid, breathtaking and overwhelming... but it might become harder to spot all those awesome details while enjoying the whole picture consisting of so many different scenes. But here they still show up... as well as the many steps needed to achieve these awesome results. This is wonderful, outstanding work... and btw I'm already looking forward to see this wonderful, outstanding blue in a starring role on this year's you-know-what-card... ;O)
Hugs
Birgit
Dear Birgit, you are not supposed to be giving me anxious moments about the upcoming you-know-what....!!! I am busily having those anxious moments all by myself without any helpful prodding! LOL! Time is moving much too quickly all of a sudden....
DeleteAnd I am very happy when I have painting to hop around with... adding and fixing, noticing what is needed.... getting inspired all over again...! It is my Favorite thing!
And I agree with you about the advantage of the blog... the record of the process can be quite important as we get older and forgetful! Lol! Sometimes trying to figure out what I was doing can take a while! :) But it is fun to review along the way too. :):):) And it will be especially important for those hard to see corners. :):)
Oh Betsy, this is so beautiful! You're doing an amazing job!
ReplyDeleteThank you Michelle! The subject matter is not everybody's "cup of tea"... but since I was building a Castle with a Chapel... I had to really make it worthwhile! Lol!
DeleteWhat an impressive amount of work you've done Betsy, and it's really coming together, looking amazing. The light coming through the window really does make the chapel look ethereal. How spectacular it will be when it's finished!
ReplyDeleteThank you Shannon! It has been such a great couple of weeks of just devoting my attention to this project... a rare thing! It is still a long way from done... but I am starting to think it will look like I imagined it would all those years ago! :)
DeleteImpresionante trabajo!!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you Isabel!
Delete