Living with a creative person who paints for a living my family just assume I can paint anything!  I cant, but I’m learning fast!  A while back I was asked by my son to draw a spaceship he had built for the game EVE Online that he was an avid player of. I am not a scifi geek or even vaguely interested in these online games let alone drawing them, but I thought I would try and draw it for him for his birthday.  This kind of technically accurate perspective I struggle with, and I definitely used some artistic license and left off a few bits and put windows and shapes where there weren’t and added things where I couldn’t make out what on earth it was I was drawing, but he was happy with the end result.  I was just relieved my first attempt was a success because I didn’t relish trying that again!

You can imagine my horror when he wanted me to paint a space ship on his WALL based on the Homeworld computer game!!!!  I just looked at him and said you do the homework and bring it to me.  He did, numerous spaceships with frightening concepts.  In the end I said to him this kind of genre does not lend itself to your mothers style but I’ll try, just remember we may have to repaint your whole wall if this doesn’t work out….  Then he decided against space ships and began contemplating Flying Hussars and Samurai Warriors…  I have to admit I was a little more comfortable with this choice of subject matter, but it would still be a first for me.  In the end he settled on a Templar Knight which has a whole new technical challenge that has nothing to do with perspective….  Chainmail, and how on earth to paint that with any kind of realistic integrity!

Hoping to put him off the idea completely I told him if he drew it on his wall I would paint it.  I thought I had escaped there when he asked me how he could do that.  Once again I thought I had escaped when I told him he would need a projector to project the drawing onto the wall to get the size he wants and the level of accuracy he was expecting from me.  Not to be out outmaneuvered he remembered a friend had a projector and borrowed that.  It was then I knew he was serious and I was in for the long haul!

Painting the knight I new wouldn’t be an issue.  I had never painted anything on a wall before, but if I could paint on a canvas then I could paint on a wall.  I decided to use my artist acrylics rather than wall paint as I was more comfortable working with the consistency of this paint and manipulating it to do what I wanted it to do.  The only stumbling block was how to not only paint the chainmail, but to create that texture to contrast with the clothing of the knight.  I decided to use the gel texturing I use in my camel landscapes, and while still wet I would press in a crosshatch textured press to create that link effect that chainmail has.  The idea worked in my head, it was another matter altogether on the wall and if it would create the right effect.

And so the mission began…

Transposing the Templar Knight onto his bedroom wall

When he had finished drawing on the knight I applied a thick, heavy gel medium to all the areas where the chainmail was visible. Then I used a small press with a crosshatch weave texture on it. (You can buy them from any art or craft store). Once that had dried properly, (a good 24 hours) I would be able to start applying the paint, and building the layers of paint to create the shape of the arms and legs with the underlying muscle structure. (He didn’t want a wimpy knight!)

Once it looked like I had mastered the chainmail, and the  idea would work, I felt confident that we were not going to have to sand down the texturing, and repaint the wall, I was happy to proceed with this labour of love. This it was, because after the first day my back was cramping and my intercostal muscles were seizing from dealing with my arms raised high above my head at an odd angle. Where was my luxury easel I just adjust up and down or forwards and backwards. Plus a wall is not like a canvas… Its not a very forgiving surface to paint on! That said I had so much fun and Phillip’s pleasure in what was appearing from under the paintbrush inspired me to keep at it and finish it. Well…. That, and the fact I preferred painting knights on walls to just plain old solid wall paint!

And slowly the Templar Knight began to unfold as I added more of the dress and adjusted the painting further to build the shape and contrast on the clothing and the body.

I couldn’t balance and hold onto the mixing palette so I used my hand when I was desperate and didn’t want to lose my momentum and climb down off the stool…..

And finally it was just the belt, scabbard and shoes that needed doing.

And just when I thought he was done… He now wants a Saracen painted to the left of his Templar Knight. He’s even picked it out. A beautifully exotic proud looking Saracen in magnificent robes in rich brocade and magnificent armour. I like the idea, but I told him same rules apply… He draws it on the wall, but only this time I will not paint anything balanced on a stool and the bed with my palette balanced precariously on top of a chair, on top of a dustbin on top of the bed. This time I want a proper, stable ladder that doesn’t wobble, with a shelf for my palette.  I can only imagine what Michelangelo had to deal with when he painted the Sistine chapel!