The Chapel...

 

Details.... 

When we last looked closely at the Adam and Eve mural in The Chapel, Dear Readers, there was a whole list of missing little details that needed completing. And it wasn't even a complete list, if I am honest! I had ignored a whole layer of coverage on the greenery in the main portion of the mural. Those vines and roses were all still needing the second coat of their base pigments. This was obvious to me as soon as I looked closely with an eye to "getting this painting done!" Fortunately, the designs were fairly straight-forward and just needed matching the hues which was also a quick process. I am always astonished at how much better the painting looks with the second layers! After that it was just the remaining details on the leaves and the grapes (the roses were already done) and then the Tree and the ground itself.

 

Here the leafy vines and the grapes have received their layers...

 

And here the Tree itself has had more layers painted and 

the details in the leaves, the figs in particular have been finished.

 This makes the Paradise portion of the painting complete! 

But I still have a long list for the Earthly Living portions below. 

At least I have decided that this is the right hue for

 the blue background, so no more layers are needed there. 

It was surprisingly difficult for me

 to hone in on Adam delving and Eve spinning. 

This is partly because I need to keep reminding myself

 that I am attempting to paint a more primitive

 style vignette than is normal for me.

This needs to be stark, stylized and all about the narrative. 

They are evicted from Paradise for their disobedience

 and now they must live forever in the harsh world of work and pain. 

They clearly are not happy about this. 

I am not happy about this!

 And since it is late, I leave it for the next day.

 (Rushing is always a recipe for ruination in mini painting!)

 

And as I am pondering the painting the following day, 

I am reminded that this is the Corner of the Castle.... 

and the Corner posts have not been "strengthened" 

the way they were on the other Castle Tower structure! 

This is another one of those oversights in the original design. 

The more I study the problem, the more I am convinced 

that this corner needs "augmentation" and it needs it

 before the Chapel is declared "finished" 

and all the parts glued in place! 

 

In the above picture you can see that the lovely painted 

ceiling vault ribs don't land very securely on that corner post. 

I know, this will be hardly visible once the Chapel is done....

 but now that I have noticed it I can't leave it as is!

 

I decided to use some of the fancy trim I used on 

the supporting post in the middle of the Chapel 

to "beef up" the post without making it huge

 like the corner posts of the Guard Room. 

I cut a capital from a scrap of plywood and

 am testing the position in the above picture. 

There will be a second trim piece along the inside 

of the post, but I need to carve away some of the 

wall trim before it will fit in place.

 

Here the inner piece has been fitted... 

I carved away a piece of the wall trim.

 

And the column will need a better "footing".... 

again to copy the model of the central column... 

which necessitated carving back the 

"bondo" stone flooring in that corner....!

 

And all the pieces together will look like this... 

tucked in against the outer opening wall doorway

 once it is attached in place.

 

And the upper portion.... 

though I need to adjust that capital! 

And the "stonework" needs to be painted.

 

 And here I am gluing the new corner pieces in place.... 

again, the shapes are too challenging for my clamps.... 

but this worked to apply the necessary pressure!

 

 Which left me no more excuses for avoiding

 painting Adam's and Eve's details.... 

starting with their "clothing". 

The Bible says the Lord provided them

 with animal skins to cover their nudity. 

(Clearly, the fig leaves were not going to work!)

 

Here you can see I have attempted to render "fur" 

possibly sheep pelts (?) to cover their nakedness. 

And I have added a little to Adam's shovel

 and the distaff Eve is holding.  

 

And as usual, once I got started 

I forgot to take progress pictures.... 

the plants in the ground... 

the leaves on the trees... 

Eve's wool fibers.... 

and Gabriel's wings and hair and halo,

 not to mention the Gates of Eden itself.... 

even the Serpent received an extra layer of paint

 and a beady eye as he slithers out of Paradise 

into the Earthly Realm.

 

And a final coat of gold paint

 on the border around the mural. 

Must I now call it done? 

The closer one gets to "finished"

 the harder it is to know when to stop...

 But, yes, I am calling it done!

 

And with the ceiling in place, Dear Readers, 

we can see how the panels relate to each other...

 

And farther back, with more of the ceiling visible....

 and the other walls too....

 

And a view of the entire Chapel....

 

There is still one little corner of the Ceiling painting,

 that needs to be completed...

 the lower corner of The Last Judgement panel

 where the Demons are Devouring Lost Souls.... !

 

But that will have to wait for another day, Dear Readers,

Because we have not quite reached the End.... 

of all The Chapel Details!

 

The Chapel Floor.....

 

In The Beginning.....

I Hope you don't mind, Dear Readers, being given a glimpse of the Distant Past when the Chapel was just in the early stages of construction. This picture was taken in early 2011, about a year after I had begun building the Castle Dollhouse. I know it is a dim and moody picture, but it shows clearly how much of the Chapel design was already well defined and well under way. With the exception of the ceiling painting, the back altar section of the Chapel has seen almost no alteration since this was taken. The wall murals have been given their initial painting, the stained glass windows are done, the painted rock walls and floor are in place, the electric candles are shining and even the window and ceiling edge trim are already in place with the beginnings of the "ceiling angels" already painted. Over the next couple of months I had finished the other stained glass windows (The Peter and Paul window on the side wall) and the Noah's Ark and Nativity murals as well as begun the ceiling painting. But then my focus shifted to completing the Great Hall Floor tiles and beginning the Lord's Council Chamber. And soon after that I fell deeply into the Tree House Project and didn't return to working on the Chapel until two years ago. I am sure some of you long time readers might have wondered if it would ever happen! So when I did return to the Chapel my focus was quickly on completing the ceiling painting... the largest unfinished task. And in all this time there was no thought given to the floor.

 

I had originally thought I would use mosaic tiles for the floor 

(this was before I knew about sculpey)

 but they were glass and would be difficult to cut and shape. 

(I was thinking of the famous abalone tile floor of the 

bathroom in Colleen Moore's Fairy Castle... 

I wanted an iridescent effect).

But when I returned to the Chapel two years ago, 

I was thinking I could make sculpey tiles the way 

I did for the Great Hall and The Lord's Chambers. 

So I started baking a bunch of sculpey in

 various shades of gray and silver

 (I had decided by then to keep the color on the floor to a minimum....

 it shouldn't compete with the ceiling.)

 

Sorry for the darkish picture.... it was taken in February two years ago! 

But it shows the glittery gray sculpey I had come across 

and wanted to test in the Chapel.

 

Here you can see the tiles being tested in the Chapel... 

shown with the flash,

 which gives an unrealistic picture of the actual look...

 

Which would look more like this. 

Yeah, I know it is really hard to tell with just a partial covering...

 

Here is a closer view showing the sparkle in some of the tiles.

 

 Perhaps with more tiles...? 

Unfortunately, the lighter gray color 

which I liked best had been a limited supply... 

and when I bought more of the "same color" 

it wasn't the same color but gave

 that marbled effect you see to the front. 

Clearly, the pieces were not coming together as I had imagined. 

And the more I looked at it the less I liked

 the whole grid effect of a tiled floor. 

What I really wanted was the ancient 

bare rock surface of an Old Chapel Floor. 

Nothing fancy. Just big solid pieces of rock. 

More like what the walls were made of.

 Like the lowest floors in the Castle... 

the Kitchen floor and the Stables and the Dungeons...

 

Well, here is a picture of the Entire Castle 

opened and with the flash on.... 

taken a couple years ago while I was debating the floor issue.... 

see the lovely floor in the kitchen with Belle and Old Meg? 

(You might have to poke the picture to see it at all!) 

That was the effect I was wanting. 

 And the only real problem was that to make it 

required using the plastic "bondo" material,

 a two part polymer you have to mix and use very rapidly 

because it hardens quickly, and it is mandatory to use 

with good ventilation because it is toxic and it stinks! 

So the project went on the back burner (this was in October!) 

until the temperatures could warm up enough to

 leave all the windows open for several days and nights.... 

a tricky season to find around here! 

But three weeks ago I saw my opportunity coming... 

we had just suffered excessive heat for three days and nights, 

and it was going to cool down and stay cool for three days and nights..... 

So I got started! 

And there was no ability, Dear Readers,

 to mix, smear and shape the stuff fast enough

 to also have time for taking pictures!

 

I had all the doors and windows open, 

but the stuff stinks and you have to work very fast. 

The smearing to shape the floor was very

 rudimentary and uneven, and I also had to

 try to score a pattern of the rocks also very fast! 

No time to ponder anything just apply it and let it go. 

Then after twenty minutes you can start 

to rough sand the material to smooth the worst of the ridges. 

 

Suffice it to say, at this stage I thought I had ruined everything. 

It looks awful, it stinks, and the rock pattern if there was one 

was an unrealistic mish-mash... 

I had to walk away and leave it overnight.

 

The following day I decided I needed to give it a chance.... 

work on it and see what I could manage to achieve. 

So I made sure the rock outlines were clearly defined 

(it is chisel-able and sand-able when hardened) 

then I applied the first coat of primer.

 This only made me more aware of the

 "unrealistic" nature of the textured surface... 

(a sweeping valley that crosses over several rocks...

 not realistic at all!) 

But I carved down the worst of the ridge and

 figured I would camouflage it with paint in the end. 

 

The first layer of "stone gray" paint... 

the same color used everywhere on this castle.

 

Then the darkest gray in all the grout lines.

 

And some "texturing" with the dark gray

 just to add "depth" to the eventual coloring.

 

And the light gray again.... "dry-brushed" over the surface,

 trying not to cover the dark grout lines.

 

And a couple of days later deciding it all needed some "dirtying up".... 

it is supposed to be old... and worn....

 

Showing the whole Chapel.... 

to see how it is "shaping up".....

 

And adding many more paint layers.... 

all those colors I used on the Folly Rocks last summer.... 

coming in very handy!

 

Sometimes it is difficult to know when to stop.... 

when in doubt I give it a couple of days to rest 

and come back with fresh eyes.

 

And deciding that yes, I did need to add 

the white grout lines between the rocks. 

If I didn't like it, I could always paint it over again!

 

And this does help "unify" these rocks with the 

purely painted version in the Altar area. 

 

And suddenly, Dear Readers, I am reassured... 

I have Not ruined the whole thing! 

These rocks are pretty nearly what I had been hoping they would be.... 

They may get a little more paint at some point... 

but for now I am holding steady. 

For the Chapel Floor it's a good beginning!

 

A Little Bit of This....

 

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.

 

 Here... you can see a little closer...

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!