For a much more detailed look at this space and its recent transformation, see my other blog about building a house. But here’s the short version:
So, I’m building a house and it has an atrium. Yeah, I know, I feel really weird about that, but I was obviously aiming a bit high when I designed the place and now I’m sort of stuck with it, however much of an entitled plonker it makes me sound. Still, if you’re going to have an atrium, you might as well adorn it with italianate fresco-style ceiling paintings, right?
This actually started back in 2017 when we had not even really enclosed the place, but I am not one to let a detail like that stop me from doing the fun little finishing jobs rather than the boring important basics. I spent some time making scale models and miniature pencil versions of various designs.
Come the following June (I am not a fast builder) I had the loan of a scaffolding and I thought as I was up in that inaccessible corner of the building anyway, I might as well get it done. So I designed it and drew it and Alec painted it and I eventually stuck it to the ceiling and then tried to forget the trauma for 3 years.
Here I am 3 years later and just relived the trauma. Actually, it wasn’t that bad. I mean, there was trauma. But I’m used to that now.
Here’s the painting in progress.
It’s painted in cheap acrylic paints on decent quality lining paper.
I thought using the extra-wide lining paper was a good idea… for reasons that escape me now. If I had it to do again, I would use the narrower stuff just to avoid the debacle of trying to put meter-wide paper up on a ceiling. That bit was a nightmare.
But it does look rather magnificent and I am proud of it. It is PEPPERED with flaws, but I am quite happy to ignore them/embrace them.
I think I’ll do something quite small scale and undemanding next…