And The Saints....

Details Continued...

There is One detail I often forget, Dear Readers, and that is to take a "before" picture when I start to work on any project that has been languishing for a while. I wrongly assume that I will be able to find a picture "somewhere" in my archives that shows just where I was when I stopped working on the project. I started painting the Saints years ago and have only worked at them sporadically, and it is really difficult to find any good pictures of progress. Saint Cecilia, patron Saint of Music, was one of the last I started working on, and I have the fewest pictures of her. The above picture shows her after I had done quite a bit of work last weekend! The only starting reference picture I could easily find shows only a portion of her while I was focused on designing the border "people".

You can get a sense of some of the missing details... 

color on the cloak lining, harp details, the seat, the sword....

 and that is just the most obvious ones.

I added those details and then remembered to take a picture!

 

Several more small details have been added to this picture...

(Halo, harp, blossoms, cushion, hand....)

 

And then I needed to add some details to Saint Matthew too...

Even here I had added some details before I remembered to take a picture....

In particular, the hand from the cloud above.

The most notable part of Saint Matthew that needed work

 was the folds of his cloak....

 here just under-painted with the white.

This image is one of the most challenging ones for me. 

It is taken from a very old manuscript, 

from the beginning of the ninth century AD,

 probably made for the court of Charlemagne. 

And the only version I have of it is in black and white!

I must guess at the colors.... 

and try to emulate the graphic details....

Here, have a look!

There is just something about his expression 

that made me want to use this version!

Red colors tend to photograph as black, 

and I am certain his cloak would not have been painted in black,  

so I have chosen to make it red,

but the highlights are open for interpretation!

They could be a pale pink or a pale blue or even a green.....

But I have used pale green for his robe 

and I need to keep the colors balanced with those of

 the other Saints on the ceiling.

Mark is pink, John is pale blue.

And I wanted the details to contrast with the red, 

so I decided to use bright blue.

Here you can see it with only the first layer of blue added.

But it immediately presented me with another problem....

Once the folds were blue..... 

there was too much blue in this corner of the ceiling!

I plan to add some paler highlights 

to the cloak of Saint Cecilia, 

which will tone down the blue, 

and I like the bright blue on Saint Matthew's cloak.... 

(what other color would work here?)

The only solution I see would be to adjust 

the intensity of the floor under Matthew.....

Which is done by adding a grid of white and "checkers" of red oxide....

as if they are patterned tiles.

This shifts the blue just enough from brilliant to almost pastel.

And when I have added the paler highlights to the folds 

of Saint Cecilia's cloak, I think the effect will be 

to have tamed the rampant blue in this corner!

Here you can see the ceiling as a whole.....

And it is noticeable how much more intense the blue is

 on this half of the ceiling!

Meanwhile, Dear Readers, 

there are a few more Saints who still need attention...

Saint Lucia only needs a tiny bit of detail 

added to her seat and her cloak....

Saint Nicholas needs quite a few small additions....

His Crozier needs defining, 

his seat, his hands, his vestments, 

and his "gifts" all need attention.

And Saint Bridget needs many small details....

 her "church" needs definition, 

her cloak needs many layers, 

her seat is unfinished.... her halo too.

And finally, Saint Luke needs a few small refinements.

Most notably, the portrait of the Virgin, 

his paintbrush (missing altogether), and his foot.

And even though I have made progress with Saint Matthew, 

he is still far from done.

(That hand from the cloud!... the cloak..... the footstool....)

And Saint Cecilia too...

Her cloak and her gown and her seat all need layers.

But most of all, I am concerned that she looks too "modern" to me!

 I am sure this is because there are so few authentic 

Medieval images to use for her source. 

I could only find one illumination 

from the Hours of Catherine of Cleves... 

and because she isn't holding a harp in that picture,

 my version looks nothing like that one.

I might have to try to "age" her a bit!

So you can see, Dear Readers, 

when it comes to the Saints,

I will be painting Details 

for quite some Time!

New......

Who (K)new....?

Perhaps it was the fact that it snowed much of the weekend, Dear Readers, the kind of light snow that blows sideways in the wind and never lands, but howls around and looks white and makes you want to stay inside and make things, or perhaps it was that so many others have been starting the New Year by starting a New Kit to build, or perhaps it was that the Little Fairy Bear Blue had decided to wave her Magic Wand over me, but so it was that I found myself Starting a(nother) NEW House! But Please, do not panic! I have not forsaken Any of the other projects! It is just that Sometimes when a project is burning a hole in your brain the Only solution is to start building it! And at least I can say that if you never start then surely you never will finish.... so it is better to start.... and start some more! And because I had promised Blue the Blue Fairy Beary that Someday I would build her a Fairy Palace in the Clouds, I thought I had better get started! And because Blue is not very big, I decided on the smallest little kit I could find. It is the "Buttercup" by Greenleaf and will be about 16" by 12" when it is done. Except that I am going to be making a few changes.... but we will get to that later! Here you can see she is visiting the cottage.....

It has been given a coat of primer 

and just roughly assembled to get a sense of the scale...

I apologize for the dark photos..... it is dark at this time of year....

Here you can see her so much better in the upstairs where there is no roof... 

but you can see that there will be plenty of room for such a little Bear under the eaves!

And with these kits you need to do a lot of the painting before you even assemble it.....

Especially if you are going to do any Fancy painting....!

So when it came to the choice of Color for the House 

and I asked Blue what she wanted.....

She didn't hesitate for a second!

It was Almost as if she waved her magic Wand!

Can you see how much she likes this color?

(Well, I did have to get out my brushes....!)

The front door will lead out to a Terrace.....

Where Blue can sit and eat.....

This little house will be the main room of the "Cloud Palace".....

But there will be other rooms too....

In fact, she reminded me that we needed a doorway cut in the wall....

In order to access the Tower......

Which I will make from Quaker Oats boxes.....

(I have been eating my oatmeal for breakfast...!)

They seem to be just the right scale for a little Fairy Bear to live in!

But as I am Sure most of you are aware of how long and slow the process is to 

"remove and prepare" each and every piece of these kits 

before you can even start to glue them together.....

You will not be surprised to learn that while the paint was drying....

I also was Starting on another Saint painting!

This is the final Saint for the ceiling and I wanted it to be Saint Brigid.

She was the Patron Saint of Ireland and lived in the fifth century AD. 

She established Monasteries at Kildare and performed many miracles.

I did my research Dear Readers, and to my surprise, 

I could not find a Single portrayal of Saint Brigid that was earlier than the fifteenth century! Her history and stories are well documented, but rarely if ever illustrated in the early years of manuscript painting.

So I had no choice but to design my own version.

I chose the simplest icon style I could find (from the many recent portrayals) 

and chose the attributes that I felt suited her best. 

In one hand she holds a torch (in some versions it is a bowl of flames) 

and nestled in her lap is a statue of the Church... 

indicating her role as founder of the Church in Ireland.

I managed to get most of the foundation colors painted 

and made a great start on her face.

And while I was painting her I realized that 

I was not happy with the colors of Saint Cecilia's gown....

If you look at the previous post you will see that the gown was gold...

It was too much gold.

So I repainted it white as an undercoat...

Then added the purple...

And while I was at it I also worked more on her face....

Still so far to go!

And I keep trying to get a good picture of the ceiling in place....

But the lighting and the focus are very challenging!

At least it gives you an idea of how they all look together....

And in case you didn't know, Saint Brigid is celebrated on February 1st, 

which coincides with the midpoint between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. 

In the Pagan times it was considered the first day of Spring, 

and the beginning of the Lambing season.

Over here we have adapted the Holiday to "Groundhog Day" on February 2nd. 

But whether you celebrate the day for the Saint or the Rodent.... 

it Truly does indicate the Time when the Days are noticeably longer 

and the Light is returning to the North!

So Dear Readers, whether it is a New Kit or a New Color,

or a New Saint Portrait...

I seem to have made a lot of New Starts this Year!

Who Knew!