| | This last week and a half, my boss and I have worked on a rather amazing piece. Two columns supporting a large overdoor. It almost exaclty matches the design of the 1854 sections of the Capitol in Washington DC. Supposedly it came off the exterior of an English house, built in 1779. It is true that the Capitol was modeled after designs like those, so it's possible. Anyway it was quite awfully damaged and uglified when we got to it. The gold was filthy, but it had been tip-guilded in the past 20 years or so. The woodwork was a dull, dark graphite gray, notched and cracked in lots of places. It was in a living room across from the fireplace; a room full of beautiful antiques, many with gold as well. But the dark grey of the overdoor was fighting the rest of the room and it looked very ominous...looming.
Since last Thursday we've washed it in mineral spirits (hence the face mask picture), sanded it, painted it in a light grey set coat, put a liquidy glue (size) onto the gold, re-sculpted some of the broken areas with molding paste and plaster, tip-guilded the gold, put a brownish-walnut overglaze over the whole thing, and then used various dark brown colors to antique areas of it back even further. Now it still looks 228 years old as it should, but it's not so nasty and flat and dark. Andy (my boss--who said that if I ever called him boss he'd fire me, oops) had to re-sculpt some of the frieze designs in modeling clay and bake them...today we sized and guilded those, nailed them into place (the originals were made of iron), and antiqued them.
I've learned a lot at this job...mastered none of it, hehe, but learned much (including a history of rock and roll). Andy's a good teacher because he gives me just enough information to do what is needed and then trusts me to go ahead...I'm free to ask all kind of questions, but it's good for me to learn by doing.
I can hardly believe God has given me this job...to spend all day doing fun artsy stuff...yay :) Yeah it's hard on my feet, and sometimes I have to wear yucky masks in order to breathe...oh well.
Laborare est orare. Work is prayer.
And in my case, it's play as well :)
Oh yeah, almost forgot to mention: at the home where we did this work, on the wall to one side of the overdoor there's a Claude Monet. On the other side, a Van Goh.
A 1936 Matisse in the bathroom, and a Picasso in the hallway.
Tonight is a new moon, oddly meaning no moon. Where we live, the stars are often brighter than we are used to, but on a night like this even more so! Thus the following came to mind...
"Look how the floor of heaven
Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold;
There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st
But in his motion like an angel sings,
Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins;
Such harmony is in immortal souls;
But, whilst this muddy vesture of decay
Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it." |
| | Posted 11/9/2007 7:53 PM - 42 Views - 4 eProps - 2 comments
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