Fresco Ha Finito!

I do declare that as of this Tuesday, my fresco is finished. And yes, I'm double-blogging.

I actually finished a few days ago but am blogging this today since this morning I visited La Galleria dell'Academia, which houses Boticelli's original Madonna dal Mare, the painting on which I based my fresco. It was absolutely incredible to see in person. Of course, I had to sneak in an illegal photo of the original ;-P I used my slick Asian ninja skills to pull this one off...Praise raise for camera phones, y'all!!

The Original

The Calendar Copy

My Fresco Foray

To explain why each day has a separate part, fresco painting requires fresh plaster every day. Painting on already dried plaster gives the painting a very temporal and poor quality; however, since wet plaster absorbs the paint the finished product is much more permanent and has brighter colors. Whatever's not painted onto the plaster surface, moreover, is cut off and thrown away. So each new portion of the painting has to be re-plastered, and only then can it be painted upon. Since plaster usually takes 2-3 hours to dry, one must work quickly and confidently. Thus the artist must know his/her capabilities for that small time frame. With that explanation, you can see the daily portions, or le giornate, of my fresco journey!

Day 1: Mary's face only. Much, much meticulous shading.

Day 2: Added Mary's body

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Day 3: Jesus' face finished! The shading for his chubby cheeks took the longest...Zoom in to see!

Day 4: Jesus' body finished. Legs are a little thinner than the original. So, Jesus on a diet!

Day 5: Mary's hands have arrived! And the rest of her clothes.

Day 6: The backdrop is finished here and I ad-libbed her knees...those can always get cut out ;)

In the words of Jesus, "It is finished."