Clouds.......

Illusions I Recall.....

By Now you must be aware, Dear Readers, just how much I enjoy it when the Sun shines into my little Mini Worlds! So it was that on Saturday morning early I was able to catch the Sun shining briefly on the Cloud Palace before the day advanced and became cloudy and snowy! Here on Terra Firma we are vulnerable to the moods of the Clouds, but in the Cloud Palace (when it is completed, you understand) it will be sailing On top of the Clouds... and therefore should be able to expect an Endless supply of sunshine! But until it is completed, I will have to take my luck with the sunlight.... and so I have grabbed the moment to take some pictures....

Can you see how the sunlight casts a lacy shadow 

through the pattern on the window pane?

And since it is morning, Blue has set out the tea and cupcakes....

 

 

She is expecting some Visitors soon.... 

and she wants to be ready!

But since they are traveling from a Long Way Away....

She has to be very patient....

This morning she has to eat the cupcakes by herself.....

Because the Palace is still being worked on.... 

there are more paintings to be done...

So everything has to be cleared away and the room taken apart....!

Here you can see the beginnings of a pair of 

low planters to sit under the windows.

Here we have to test them in place again.... 

and you can also see the added clouds at the top of the walls....

I didn't want the Clouds to appear to end at the corner of the wall....

It is just an illusion... but I wanted to create more depth...

It needs more work before it will look right.

And since none of the parts can be glued in place in this house 

until I have completed the decorative parts, I also made a start on the upstairs!

It is really just a little space under the eaves....

But I wanted it to look as though you were sleeping on top of the clouds!

And because I wasn't done with the planters....

I painted one with another Dragon........

And the other with another Lake and Teahouse scene!

And then I had to add some butterflies....

Because there was a Lovely quote on Birgit's Blog...

by Novalis who wrote (something like this...)

 "He who can hear the butterflies laugh knows how the clouds taste...."

Which caused Flutterbeary to say that 

"Butterflies are always giggling and the clouds taste sweet...!"

Which caused me to think we needed some Laughing Butterflies here in the Cloud Palace!

And then we need to see how they look all together....

The giggling butterflies....

The dragon planter.....

The teahouse planter.....

I still am not sure what plants to plant in them...!

And the Clouds in the sky overhead.....

still in need of some softening around the edges.....

 

And the Clouds in the attic.....

And the whole room.......

And the whole house.....

So you can see, Dear Readers,

I have been painting....

 But its Just the Clouds Illusions After all.....

Oh, wait.... can you hear the butterflies laughing?

Silver Linings....

Painting the Cloud Palace....

All I did this past weekend, Dear Readers, was paint! And Most of it was the tedious sort of painting that goes with the assembling of this sort of kit.... every single piece of the trims and windows, frames for inside and outside, needed four coats of paint! This is my fault, because I chose to use a particularly Lovely Metallic Silver Paint that I have, and it works best when the silver is under-painted with a soft gray and then given two coats of the glossy metallic Silver. And this is After it has all been primed initially! But I think the results are worth it! Not everybody would choose to use a shiny Silver Paint as the trim for their House, but Blue agrees with me that since Clouds are said to have Silver Linings, it is completely appropriate to make all the edges of her Palace a shiny Silver! (She also has a fondness for shiny and glittery things!) But it wasn't only the trims that took so much time.... but the floor also needed painting.... and I wanted to make the floor a checkerboard of White and Silver.... and yes, it also needed the grey under-coating!

Here you can see the finished floor.... 

the metallic paint looks quite dark in some angles of light... 

and in others it shines like Silver! 

You will have to forgive the unevenness of my painting.... 

the surface of the wood is not completely smooth.... 

and the strokes of the paint do show somewhat. 

It took Hours and Hours to complete...

But Blue and I are in agreement that it looks just right by Morning Light!

And you can see that some of the windows and frames have been completed too!

But there was still So Much Painting to do..... 

and thankfully, Not ALL of it was the Tedious kind!

For instance, the Ceiling needed to be painted.....

It is supposed to resemble the Clouds overhead....!

And while I was painting the Fun things....

I started to paint some Topiaries....

In large planters.....

Painted to look like Blue and White Chinese Porcelain......

Here you can see a close-up of the Dragon.....

And here the Peony....

And on the opposite wall....

A Large potted Hydrangea Shrub.....

The type called "Endless Summer"....

And here it is with the ceramic painted 

with a Mountains and Lakes with Pagodas pattern.

And meanwhile I was also painting endless coats of paint 

on all those other pieces of trim.....

And because the Daylight still disappears so early,

 it was Long gone by the time I was done...

 and the House was temporarily propped together .... 

just to see how it all looked in place!

Blue thought you Might just want to come in and have a look!

It is still very rough and unfinished, 

so please forgive the gaps where the walls are not glued....

Sh is particularly fond of the Hydrangea....

It reminds her of the Beautiful Garden in the Land where she was Born...

Even if she does have to use her Magical Powers to be able to Smell them....!

And with the Clouds in the Sky overhead.... 

she can Almost think she is in a Lovely Garden....

And with the Topiaries too, 

she has the beginnings of a 

Little Paradise in the Sky....

A Garden in the Clouds.....

I might even have to paint a few more.......

It should be a Breeze.....

Now that I've nearly finished painting all the Silver Trim...!

And I hope you agree with me, Dear Readers, 

That it is turning out to be a Lovely thing

 to Paint this Cloud Palace

With Silver Linings!