-22.2-

Drawing with grids in class today was something I have rarely done. I suppose I took a long time drawing one picture in this style because I'm this unexperienced.

What I learned about how the Sistine Chapel was created:
-They had t find a way around colors dripping
-Technique of painting on wet plaster was already around
-I didn't know that they used plaster for making frescos. I thought they just used oil paint or some other form of paint. It was an interesting fact that after finishing the fresco, the colors became rock again (through a series of chemical reactions...good thing I'm taking chemistry this year, haha). I suppose that meant that the artists had to plan carefully, and work quickly, otherwise they wouldn't be able to "erase" their work easily...(I'm writing these notes down as I'm reading the packet, and voila, the next paragraph talks about the time issue.)
1-It seems as though they were forced to use the grid method because of the time issue the palster created. They'd create a full-size "cartoon" and then transfer the lines of the cartoon onto the wall. They'd do the lineart of the fresco by tracing over it onto the wet plaster or by leaving a charcoal outline on the plaster (created by hitting the cartoon/template with a bag...the cartoon already had holes in it where the lines would be so the charcoal would just go through the holes and onto the plaster)
2- They'd have to use scaffolding to reach the high ceiling (I remember reading this last year)
3- Michelangelo couldn't even start on the sistine chapel for a few months because he had to pay people to take down the old painting that was up there
4- Hundreds, or thousands of prepainting sketches and drawings were made before beginning to paint. They ranged from tiny sketches to large detailed cartoons and many different mediums to plan out his ceiling. Simple->Detailed
5-MYTH: Michelangelo didn't lie on his back while painting.
6- The quality of the pigments used were an important factor in the painting.
7- Not only did they have to worry about mixing certain amounts of colors together, but they had to worry about how thick or thin a single color was in order to get the right shade (a lot of things to think about during and while painting)
8-After a few months of painting, Michelangelo got more confident at his skills and started to paint freehand in some easier spots
9-He used hogs bristle brushes so they wouldn't get destroyed from working with plaster
10- When he painted freehand, he sketched the outlines of the people, then he painted the backgrounds with a purplish pink pigment, then he painted the figures
.He painted with a wet brush instead of a drier brush which made a water color effect
.Painted with bright colors

Some techniques they'd use to hasten the painting:
-Paint with both hands (one with dark paint, the other with light)
^They must have been forced to become ambidextrous, then!
-Have a lot of people to help (but that would cost extra...it was interesting reading how 1000 ducats could go fast...Michelangelo made off with only 4 ducat profit for one sculpture after all of the costs...)
-Even from looking at the sketches, the shading is so detailed....
-And apparently he did them quickly since the reading said he sketched things at the last minute
-Working on something for over a year seems tedious...and since it was a huge ceiling, it must have taken up a lot of his time....I wonder if Michelangelo got bored, or just focused and banged it out.
-This reminds me. In Kinokuniya (this Japanese bookstore by Bryant Park), I saw a book on mixing colors to reach certain tones. I can't remember it that well, but it had "recipes" for a few hundred colors!
- I found it funny how some pigments could also function as medicines. "Painting is healthy for you" :D
-Interesting to read that Ultramarine was as expensive as gold back then. It showed how much painting and art was valued back in the Renaissance.
-It would have been interesting to see a video of work being done on the fresco. To see how fast and intense everyone was working (or at least how it seemed they were working according to the reading.)
-I remember in this digital painting tutorial, the creator said that artists in the renaissance first painted the picture grey so they could shade easier...
-We did graticolare/squaring today! (It's pretty cool that we're still using techniques that were used by the masters, 1000's of years back...)


I wonder if any recent frescos have been made. Wouldn't they go faster, since we have machines now?

......I have a feeling Luke may appoint us to some sort of project on the wall.......hm......

---
The interactive Sistine Chapel wall is amazing. I blew up the window to full screen on my mac, and there's so much to look at. Some of the figures even look like they're popping out at you!
It's such a busy fresco....you could spend hours looking at everything. (It's nice that you can zoom in on the top of the fresco, because if you were in the actual building, you'd probably need an elevator/binoculars to get up there....)
-It's like a whole gallery on the ceiling and walls.