Patience Is A Virtue.....

Still Dreaming.....

I Bet you cannot tell, Dear Readers, whether I have added any details at all to Saint Bridget in all the time I have been on my "break"! It quickly became clear to me that just managing the essential tasks of each day was going to tax my abilities to their limit. The message was clear. I was going to have to be a "Patient".... and wait Patiently as my body healed! Not easy. Not fun. But necessary. Yet it did not mean I was unable to Daydream.... to add to my wish lists.... to think a thousand times "if only"....! And because everything takes twice as long to do with only one hand, I was really kept very busy... very slowly just getting the basics taken care of. I could not wait to get the cast off.... only to learn how incredibly weak my hand is now! I am slowly (Patiently?) gaining the strength and dexterity in my hand.... but it will take some time before it is as good as new. Even so, yesterday I decided to try to open those tubes of paint... the ones that get stuck tight if they are not opened frequently.... and to my surprise I was able to twist off the caps! I started with the black paint..... it has a large fat cap with a good grip.... and perhaps I could even remember a few places I needed to apply some black on the Castle Hall Ceiling.... still sitting there Patiently awaiting my return!

Ah, the Joy of it!

Perhaps you do not remember me mentioning that 

I still needed to add details to the trees where the hunters are riding.... 

Above you can see it before I added anything.....

And here are the Plowmen, needing details in their clothes.....

And the Shepherds too.... 

the trees and the clothes all need work.

And here you can see I have added black leaf details....

And in the grass I have added some daisies.....

And with the Huntsmen too.... leaves and daisies....

Such a trifling detail....

Here you can see it even closer...

I know it doesn't look like much.

But Oh, it feels like an enormous step!

And yes, I added black to Saint Bridget too....

Outlining her halo, her torch, the church,

 and even the folds of her cloak!

I never would have Dreamed, Dear Readers,

 that so little would feel like so much!

And I am still Patiently Dreaming of all I will be able to do...

as I regain my strength....

Patience is indeed a virtue!

It's All About The Paint....

Layers and Details....

I Hope you will not be Too surprised, Dear Readers, to see that I am continuing from where I left off last week with the painting of the Castle Hall Ceiling! And this requires showing you more of those details and layers and layers of paint in the minutest unnoticeable alterations from one scene to the next.... and I really hope you will not be too bored! Some of you had remarked at the technique of under-painting the figures in white, and so I thought I would explain the reason for doing this. The primary reason is because paint is somewhat translucent and the colors that you layer over another color are affected by the layers beneath. If you want the colors to be clear and bright and true to their pigment, you need to start with white. Sometimes you might want to start with a "ground" color that casts a tone on the entire painting, and sometimes you might only want to under-paint a dark color where shadows will be, but the basic idea is that the layers of color matter in the end! Since I wanted to get the strongest brilliance from my paints, I started with white. (Keeping in mind that I had already painted the "border strip" in the ocher color for the background).

After defining the outlines of the figures with the black, 

(a very Early Medieval style)

 I then start adding the base colors to the figures. 

If you look closely you can see that the black shows through most of the colors.

I apologize for the glaring light.... 

this ceiling is difficult to photograph because 

it is both curved and slightly ribbed, 

making the surface very irregular and subject to light reflection!

I wanted to get the base colors for all the figures done 

so I could get a feel for the overall balance of the composition.

And here is a picture of the overall ceiling with almost all the base colors in place.

There will only be minor adjustments and many many tiny details added.

Starting with the faces!

I added the basic facial shadows and outlines.

You can see in the previous pictures 

that the black under-painting was still visible through the flesh tones. 

I now add the brown shadow layers... 

basically a burnt umber and white and tiny bit of red oxide mixture....

(You will probably need to poke the pictures to zoom in and really see the details...)

Here I would like to point out the red hat on the fellow who is riding the white horse. 

The hat extends into the red border and did not get under-painted in white. 

When I painted it the brilliant cadmium red on top of the

 Alizarin crimson color of the border, all you see is a muddy red.

So I re-painted the hat, first with the white under-painting

 and then the Cadmium Red,

 and now you can see the more brilliant color of the red!

Here's a much closer view!

Meanwhile I have added several layers of white to the horse 

and added his harness amongst other details.

I have also added the black top details to the faces...

mostly for the eyes.

And I have begun to add the second layer of color to many of the beasts...

 and here the cow has been nearly finished.

I am trying to copy the type of details from the Medieval miniatures.... 

in particular the way so many of the animals 

have an almost human look to their eyes..... 

I know it is hard to explain!

And then I needed to test the ceiling in place in the Great Hall... 

to try to see how it will look....

If you get down on your knees and shine a light up at the ceiling....

You can sort of see all the scenes!

I think they look better than I thought they would!

 

Believe it or not, Dear Readers, 

there are still a lot of details to add....

 

The trees have the second coat of green but no leaf definition....

The clothes have no folds or shadows.....

The grass needs another layer.....

The wine-maker needs details..... 

The shepherds need their dogs finished and details to their clothes...

 the calf needs something!

The milkmaid needs details to her gown and coif..... 

and the hands! 

They All need their hands!

And the Plowman too... his tunic needs detail.... 

and the off ox too......!

So you can see, Dear Readers, 

All those details..... 

it's really just Layers and Layers and Layers of paint!

Spring Optimism....!

Progress Is Progress....Even If Small!

A Week ago, Dear Readers, the ground in my garden was bare and snowdrops were blooming. The clocks had been turned ahead an hour, making the evenings sunny long after returning from work. It was so easy to think that Spring was almost here! But then it turned bitter cold again, and we were reminded very clearly that this is New England and it often snows even in early May.... and as I mentioned in my last post, it was snowing hard and continued all day. We did not get as much as some areas near here, but we did get a heavy 12 inches, and it stayed cold and windy so not much has melted. The above picture is the morning after the storm. And as I had mentioned, I had stayed home from work and I was sewing cushions to soften the blows of life... big and small....

As you can see, I made quite a few more little cushions 

for the attic room of The Lovely Old Dollhouse!

And between drinking many cups of tea, 

I also stitched some more on the Tea cosy....

I completed all the blue threads 

and have begun the cream background.

I find it quite difficult to sew the paler colors 

because it is difficult to tell if the stitch is the cream thread 

or just the white cloth showing.

I even attempted to paint some more on the Castle Hall ceiling, 

but with the winds howling and the poor light of a stormy day, 

I put it off for the weekend instead.

Meanwhile, Dear Readers, I have decided that 

I am making finishing this ceiling a priority!

(I apologize for the blurry photo. It is very difficult 

to get this ceiling photographed clearly!)

As you can see, the painting of

the peasant's labors has only just begun, 

and half the Saints still need to be completed. 

There is still a long way to go before this will be done!

I am leaving it set up on my "easel" and in the way 

so that I will work at it often....

 and hopefully complete it soon!

And I did make Some progress on the weekend....

The individual characters all need to be given their basic colors first....

And since I have drawn from so many diverse 

Medieval Miniatures as my sources... 

I have to adapt the colors somewhat 

in order to make this ceiling balanced.

In these first pictures I have only added the flesh color, 

which blurs the facial features....

And here I have begun to paint the base colors for several of the figures.....

This is so I can get a feel for the overall color balance...

The detail work will be done later.

And then the subtle additions of more ground 

and trees where the stag is leaping...

And ground where the sheep are flocking....

And earth that the oxen are plowing....

And here I am deviating from the originals,

 because the Medieval paintings often lacked 

the "background" that we assume is necessary!

And this is as far as I got, Dear Readers....

Again, I apologize for the blurry pictures!

Still Such a Long way to go!

And the Garden too, still buried in snow... 

after an entire week.... but it Is slowly melting!

And I am sticking with my Spring Optimism, Dear Readers, 

Progress Is Progress, even if it is only little!

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!