No Body Is Perfect....

 

I Wasn't Listening....

I was On a Roll, Dear Readers, charging ahead with the Next important part of The Chapel interior; the painting of the Temptation in The Garden of Eden. The space was laid out, the subject was well defined and all I had to do was be decisive and start! As I have mentioned a time or two on this project, I am trying to keep the style of my paintings to an early era, not quite primitive, but not entirely naturalistic either. I have found surprisingly few examples to use as my guide, and I am afraid that my creative "impressions" are colored by later more well known versions. Most of the representations of this scene are tucked in with the Creation scenes... the next sequential events in the history of humanity, and are therefore tiny and difficult to use. But I did find one good example that would be my main guide.

Here, you can see it in the bottom right hand section

of this manuscript illumination from the thirteenth century.

Mind you, this is not large... 

the image is about one inch square and difficult to see details.

But it shows the stance and lay-out of the scene

 that I wanted to try to capture.

 

And for good measure, here is a larger, similar one

 that clearly shows the standard elements of this scene.

The Tree with the serpent in the middle 

and Adam and Eve naked on either side,

and the "sharing" of the fruit.

 

And as usual, 

I apologize for the dark picture...

As I said, I was charging ahead with the painting...

first inking the design and then as quickly as possible

 beginning the painting of the figures...

And again... just taking the next steps....

But really, I was Ignoring that little voice

 that had big misgivings.....

(it doesn't look right...)

(they are too "bulky")

And I will not bother to show you more images

 of the failed attempt....

Suffice it to say that at a certain point I stood back 

(a little hard to do with a painting inside the Chapel...)

and realized that it just would not do!

I am Terrible 

at Body Proportions!

(I know this.... 

I have to work at it all the time....)

Yeah.... No Body is Perfect...

Buuuut...

There are accepted "norms" used

 in artistic representations....!

 

"Aaarrrggghhh....."

 

It was clearly "make-over" time.

And as usual... 

I neglected to take pictures of the process.

Lots of white paint in strategic places...

lots of "slimming" and "lengthening"

(Even a lowering of the picture frame!)

But most importantly, 

shrinking their heads.

Adding the flesh tones...

Redoing the outlines....

adding the hair....

I am still not at all convinced that it is fixed...

I may have to redo the redo.....

(that even sounds terrible!)

But I am Not rushing it....

This is as far as I have gotten, 

and I'm going to leave it here for a while....

while that little voice

becomes a little clearer.

No Rush!

Yes, Dear Readers,

No Body is perfect...

but Especially not my rendering

 of Adam and Eve.

Creation....

 

A Slow Process....

When Last I showed you the Creation scenes, Dear Readers, I was lamenting the slooooow progress necessitated by the very high humidity in my RL environments. I was a bit untruthful when I blamed it all on the humidity. Truth to tell, I am slow at Creation! It is one thing to faithfully copy an image.... that is so straight forward! But to have an image in your mind you want to bring onto the surface... and to have it be a medley of conflicting original images you are "inspired by" so that you have to sift out the pieces you want to use and somehow make them coherent.... that is another thing altogether. I have mentioned that I have many books full of reproductions of Medieval Manuscript paintings.... (I Love the original ancient images!.....) and that I have pored over them trying to distill them into my own versions on my ceiling.

Just to give you an inkling of what I am talking about...

This picture is part of a very elaborate illuminated initial.

This is from the Bible of King Wenceslas probably,

 illuminated around 1390, which is quite late for my uses.

But it shows the incorporation of the designs

 into "roundels" which was quite common.

This is another, much earlier version of the Creation scenes,

 probably painted around 1240.

(Sorry for the glare.. it is hard to photo from the book!)

The right hand page is an enlargement of the

 left hand page which shows more scenes.

And another version...

painted around 1400....

And another.... from the Bible of Robertus de Bello,

 painted around 1250.

I could go on, but I imagine you get the picture! 

Endless variation on a theme...

so many similarities, so many variables.... 

Where to start???

Well, as you know, I started with the Roundel

 as the defining structure.

And arranged the six circles as best they fit

 into the triangle of the ceiling.

And borrowed a few specific images 

from still other versions...

The Hand of God reaching from the cloud...

With the Dove of The Spirit on the Wand tip....

Drawing forth the Creation from Nothingness....!

And Day by Day....

Or in my case, it seems more like week by week...

Inking a new image into a Roundel.... 

letting it dry at least 24 hours....

then adding the paint.

Here I have started the painting of

 the separation of the Land from the Waters

 and the creation of the Plants.

And you can see the sketching of the Birds and Fishes.

Here it is closer....

with more paint on the land and water.

And inking the Birds and Fishes.

The painting is just the initial base coats... 

there will be much more detail later.

And here I have begun the painting of the Birds and Fishes.

Part of the reason for my slow pace is that

 I need to be able to see how the roundels look

color-wise in relation to each other and the ceiling as a whole.

Manuscripts were painted on vellum... a light tan color.

This ceiling's background is the deep blue.

Land and water by themselves tend to be

 green brown and blue in varying shades...

It's a balancing act... 

and I don't feel in control of the balance!

But Day by Day...

Week by Week...

Another one inked...

The Creation of the Beasts...

Adding paint to the Beasts....

And finally...

Inking the Creation of Eve from Adam's Rib.

And maybe as soon as Tomorrow 

I will begin to paint Eve...

Day by Day I am making progress.

But I can assure you, Dear Readers,

 Creation is Not done in just a Day!

And Then.... Again....

 

 The Chapel Frescoes Continued....

I Suppose, Dear Readers, that the Saints on the Chapel Ceiling are even more patient than those on The Great Hall ceiling, having been begun in 2011 and not touched since then! I had started to show you my careful progress last week, but blogger refused to load my pictures half way through my blog, so I didn't get to show you much at all! I was feeling nervous about painting the details after so many years and so I started very carefully, adding just the base color to all the angels' gowns..... a pale cream color.

And just the beginning of the fabric fold shadows

 on the smallest angel in the lower left corner...

You might need to poke the pictures to see them at all!

But I quickly gained my courage

 and forged ahead with the other angels too...

 

The manuscript I am using for my inspiration

 has the gown folds highlighted boldly in red...

And Saint Michael's cloak was blue in the original, 

but I made it purple to contrast with the background.

And before I knew it I was adding details everywhere... 

demons and angels alike...

There is even a "blue devil" which I faithfully

 copied from the twelfth century manuscript.

When it came to the Winged serpent or Dragon, 

I deviated from the original quite a bit.

The original is done in tan with blue wings.

For the purposes of this ceiling and composition,

 I decided to make it a more traditional 

green and brown combination.

 

And since I am making it up as I go...

It takes longer. 

I am not as sure of what I want it to look like. 

So I find myself jumping from one figure to another.... 

while the paint is drying, of course...

And while I am deciding whether or not it looks right.

Michael's cloak has stars added... 

here just under-painted with white.

 They will be iridescent gold when done.

But if you don't start with white, 

the gold will not show!

And I finally got the courage to paint the faces....

I started with the littlest one again.... 

but neglected to take progress pictures!

And details details details.... 

the angels weapons... the wings... 

the demons' faces and hairy hides...

But if you look closely, Dear Readers, 

you will see the faint pencil outlines of the Creation scenes

 taking shape in the empty quadrant!

And the inking process underway!

The humidity of the summer air

 makes the ink dry very slowly.

I have to wait about 24 hours after inking 

 before I touch them with anything.

Adding the gold base coats....

At the right angle you can see the gleam....

And if you know me at all, Dear Readers,

 you will know I love that blue.....

Oh, how I wanted to see how it would look!

And starting the inking process...

And beginning to paint!

For the models, I have spent hours reviewing

 my Medieval Manuscripts collection.

There are many versions of the Creation... 

but they all rely on the same original text of the Genesis story.

Six days of Creation... and they are,

 more often than not, pictured in "roundels".

 

Gold has been added to the stars!

I am combining and adapting the many images into my own version.

This is, after all, Just the Beginning!

 

 

And as you might imagine, Dear Readers,

I am testing the effect in the Chapel 

again and again...

Oh, It feels so Wonderful

 To be painting the Chapel Frescoes Again!