More Painting...

 

 

And Those Patient Saints...

You Might recall, Dear Readers, that I had recently added the paint to the opening doors for the Great Hall section of the Castle. But I had only done the base coats of primer and the pale gray. The arched wall of this side of the Castle had been painted a long time ago, so I thought I had better get the rest of the inside painting completed. This required that I remove the front wall (it has only been screwed in place for this reason) so that I could get the rocks on the two sides of the opening doors to be properly matched when seen from the inside. Not that anyone will be seeing it from the inside very often, as this requires that I get the camera inside through the interior doors to the Great Hall.... but I would hate to have it look wrong on those few occasions! 

The method is the same as that used for the other walls.

First I paint the "courses" of the rocks...

And then I determine the proper spacing of the verticals...

Trying to make them as they would need to be in a real wall...

"two over one and one over two" is the standard recipe.

This means the vertical edges are never supposed to be

 right over the previous row's vertical edges.

And then I added the rough "texturing" of the rocks.

This is meant to be very "sketchy" and not detailed.

And finally, the grout lines are added.

This is when they start to be convincing as "rocks"!

(It surprises me every time!)

But you might also remember, Dear Readers,

 that I have been trying to complete

 the Ceiling of the Great Hall for ages and ages.

And every time I start to work on it, 

I realize something else is needed first.

But I have decided that it would be great if

 I could just get those Patient Saints finished!

So while the front wall was removed,

 I also removed the ceiling and set it up on my "easel"

(really just a chair with the ceiling propped across the arms.)

I had even made a list long ago of all the tiny things

 that needed to be worked on.

Saint Elizabeth was easy... only the floor lacked details.

The grid was drawn for tiles... all I had to do was decorate them!

Of course I had started to paint them 

before I remembered to take a "before" picture!

So you can see the first ones have been given a pink color.

I added a red dot to the center of each pink tile.

That was all I need to do for Saint Elizabeth!

And I neglected to take "before" pictures from them on...

You will have to take my word for it that

 Saint Hedwig needed details added to her seat

 and Saint Marc needed extra layer "clean-up" around his halo.

Mary Magdalene needed only 

some touch-ups around the framework.

Saint John needed details in his hair,

 the eagle's talons, and the writing on his scroll.

And some framework touch-ups too.

The truth is that any number of other layers and trims and 

"clean-ups" could be added as well... 

but they are not "needed" to complete the image.

I did not get any work done on the other half of the ceiling...

But I turned it around so they are now ready to be completed too!

I am sure if you look carefully you will spot some of the missing pieces.

Meanwhile, I finished adding the grout lines.

And I reattached the front wall.

Here you can see the doors open...

(I do apologize for the dark pictures...

 It is so dark in the evenings now!)

And now you can see the Great Hall from the interior...

with the flash turned on... and the ceiling not in place...

Well... flash does reveal all the flaws!

But I think it is starting to look like I hoped it would!

 

So that's what I have been doing, Dear Readers,

 just a little more painting on the Walls,

 and those Patient Saints.

New Year..... Same Old Story....

Patience.....

I am Sure you will Not be surprised Dear Readers, when I tell you that I am not quite finished with painting this (last?) year's Christmas Card! I have been devoting every spare minute of every day for weeks now... but it is a slow process. At least I can tell you that it is Nearly finished, and I am at the point where I am confident I will be happy with the results when I am finished, but I really can't afford to hurry the process and make mistakes...! (There is no "correcting" watercolor painting!) So I am stopping by here to let you know that it is coming along nicely and we just have to be Patient. But that doesn't mean we can't Dream while we are waiting. The Winter nights are long, after all, and the imagination wanders to all those Projects that are still waiting for an update. And most especially to the Castle, with those recently (relatively) acquired Doors..... which both conceal from and tease the Imagination!

They are so Raw and unfinished....

 yet at the same time they completely Define the structure

 in a way I could not imagine before I added them!

And those windows just Beg to be looked into...

or out of, it would appear!

Who have we here.....?

It looks like the Hounds are keeping guard in the Great Hall!

I am not sure who they are expecting to see....

But I was hoping to have a glimpse of that Still Unfinished ceiling.....

With those Patient Saints! 

Remember them?

I had intended to work on them last summer 

when I decided I needed to finish the structural parts first.... 

and hence the doors....

and I didn't get to the painting.

(Thus the Patience of the Saints!)

Oh, you want to actually See them, Dear Readers? 

And not just a dark and moody ceiling...?

Well, here is the view with the "flash"... 

although this view would never be seen in RL 

if this were a real Castle.....

The lighting would never have been good enough.

But we can imagine....!

And I can Hope I will find time 

to work on it some more sometime soon.

But not before I finish the Card....

and the lilac blossoms....

Which I confess, I have fallen a little bit behind on.

You see above the florets for blossom number thirty-nine.... 

not yet assembled.... and a week overdue.

But it is all in a good cause...

Because I am Nearly finished with the Card!

 So there you see, Dear Readers,

It is a New Year, but it's the same old story...

We can Dream....

 but we have to have Patience to see the results.

 

(And I hope to get caught up on all your blogs soon!)

Happy New Year!

Paint and More Paint....

Walls, Windows, Ceilings....

I was Home last week on Vacation, Dear Readers, and while I did not get anywhere near as many things done as I had hoped, I did tackle a couple of those "Big" little projects that have been waiting for my Time and Attention! One of those is Painting the egg-carton rocks of the Cloud Palace Tower. This is one of those areas where I have to complete the work on the inside before I can complete the building on the outside... and even the next level up... because it will be too difficult to accomplish once the ceiling is in place! And I made it more difficult for myself (I think) by not painting the walls black before adding the egg-carton rocks. Although I think I would have needed to add black paint to all the crevices anyway even if I had under-painted with black. It is a daunting task to add black paint into all the gaps between  ALL the "rocks" on the Tower!

And once it has been added... it looks terrible!

So then I needed to add the further layers of the gray paints

 to make the black recede into the cracks.

Here it is with just the dark gray layer 

added to make the black almost disappear...

It just looks way too dark!

So I added more layers of the lighter gray.....

And washes of browns.....

And I think it is starting to look like rocks!

But are they the kind of rocks I want?

I am not so sure....

I think they need to be paler....

Somehow more Cloud-like!

This might be challenging!

And as you can Imagine, Dear Readers, 

I was not working on only ONE project!

I had also decided to tackle the problem

 of the Windows for the Willowcrest....

I have decided that I need to abandon the order that 

the Instructions for this kit want you to follow

as far as the windows are concerned. 

They tell you to add them as a LAST step!

I am not sure there is a reason to wait for the last step....

and it would mean you can't weight them down while the glue dries....

So I am planning to add them to the walls right from the start.

Above you can see the pattern I have chosen to paint for the 

"Leaded glass" portion of each window.

I decided that since I want to be able to see into the rooms from the outside, 

the decoration on these windows needed to be minimal.

It is very tricky to paint with this "leaded glass" paint, 

so I added the pattern in sections, 

letting each part dry overnight before adding the next part, 

to prevent smearing the paint.

Here you can see the window temporarily in place 

in the kitchen of the Willowcrest....

just so you can see how the pattern looks.

I still needed to add the color to each window.....

One tiny piece of color at a time!

Here is the kitchen window with the color done....

Of course, the color looks washed out when viewed in place....

but it actually looks pretty good!

And here I am testing the Parlor windows in place...

It was too dark without the sconces on....

I think the colors work really well here.

And the bedroom windows being tested in place....

I have used the same pattern for all the windows, 

but used different colors to suit each room.

Here is a closer view of the bedroom window....

Oh, and Madame Durant wanted to come

 see the progress on her house!

I still need to add the lead golfer's tape to the exterior side 

of each of these windows, Dear Readers.

Another task that will take a long time... 

but needs to be done before the windows are glued in place!

 

And as if that weren't enough of those "Big" little projects, 

I also continued work on the painted ceiling of the Castle Great Hall!

Do you even remember those Patient Saints?

Some only just barely begun.... 

and others with only a few tiny details still missing. 

Of course, I forget to take a "before" picture... 

not that you would notice the little details I have added anyway!

In the above picture you can see I have painted 

the borders along each side a lovely golden ocher color.

(It is so difficult to get a good focus on this ceiling!)

Here you can see a close-up of the Saints Lucia and Nicholas 

after I had added quite a few details.

And here is Saint Bridget before I had added anything.....

And with the under-painting of the pleats in her robes....

And the color of the pleating 

and the beginnings of the church and the sword.....

And for Saint Matthew, the beginnings 

of the highlights for his robes pleating....

And some details of his book stand and his seat.

But what I really was trying to get to work on, Dear Readers, 

was the painting of the Borders along each side of the ceiling!

They are going to be populated with little images of the daily life of the Ordinary people, 

the Sinners as apposed to the Saints who live so large above!

Here I have started to paint the under-painting of a group of Nobles dining.....

And here I have started a sequence which includes 

a Couple playing chess, some Musicians playing and Dancers dancing, 

and even a pair of Lovers who are enjoying each other in the bushes....!

Of course, these are Far from finished....

I have added the painted black outlines 

and still need to add all the color and details...

And here you can see the outlines added to the Feasters as well.

This is the central panel in the Great Hall... 

right over the Fireplace and where the Lord and Lady will be seated to Dine. 

It will serve as a constant reminder of the Human tendencies to Sin....

Which the Medieval painters so loved to portray

 in the borders and margins of their works!

There will be six panels in all....

 

 

So you can see, Dear Readers, I still have a long way to go...

But whether it is on the Ceiling, Windows, or walls....

I have been adding Paint and More paint!

(I do Love to paint!)