First Princess

My enjoyable day yesterday painting the Faerie Door in the Dreaming Room gave me the courage to grab the first of twelve sheets of white posterboard I bought months ago, attach it to the clips on the art board my friends Dave & Chris gave me for Christmas, and start sketching out the first princess for the wall of the dining room.

I'm still not entirely sure I have the courage to take this project to phase 2.  Phase 1 has just turned out nicer than the skeptic in me thought it would, and that same skeptic keeps whispering that if I try to paint twelve princesses sleepwalking through the forest, it'll just ruin the whole thing altogether when I botch it up or have to quit halfway through from utter exhaustion and "sick-of-working-on-this-for-ten-years"edness...  If I thought phase 1 took a long time, imagine how long phase 2 will take. 

Well anyway, I figured there was no harm in drawing up the first princess, cutting her out, and placing her on the wall in the approximate spot I think she'd go.  If I AM ever going to paint all the princesses, I planned to do this anyway...draw them all out on posterboard, cut them out, and place them on the walls as if it was a giant Colorforms sheet until I figure out just where they look best.  Then and only then would I start the formidable task of actually painting them on the walls.

 It's hard to get a sense of size when you look at this, since you have to remember that this mural goes around *the entire room.*  The princess is, from the top of her head to the train of her skirt, almost two feet tall.

This also gives you a peek of how our dining room looks at night when the lights are low.  It really feels like being in a magic forest at midnight! 

Of course it goes without saying that if I do end up completing phase 2, this princess will be in color, done in deep tones to match the forest around her as best I can.