The Layout-General

THE LAYOUT

 

This is the main canvas design of the painting requires 30-48″ x 48″/4 foot x 4 foot canvases.  The canvases are numbered on the backs and in The Journal of Measures (and Numbers) for ease of work processes.  As noted in the first scan, each small box represents a 6″ x 6″ square within the total 48″ x 48″ canvas.  Twenty canvases are the highest quality cloth, gallery wrapped canvases 1 1/2 inches thick.  Gallery wrapped canvases are reinforced and have a frame within them which holds the canvas securely.  There are no staples visible.

Ten canvases are custom wood; Birch which are currently being custom made.  (There will be a blog later about these canvases.)  The wood canvases are designed to carry weight; the weight of cables and the outstanding weight of gemstones used in the last scene of the painting.  The cable canvases are designed with half doors on their backs which open vertically to house coiled cables.  Thirty-six inch brass piano hinges secure the bottoms of the canvases allowing them to open fully for cable insertion.  All canvases are reinforced with steel brackets.

It is easy to lose sections of working canvas within the painting with these small measures.  Later, each sketched canvas will be blown up by zoom for accuracy.  The rough sketch will be placed at various levels to increase the size in steps.  Moving back and forth through the Journal of Measures and The Journal of Sketches will decrease error when the scenes are painted.  For example: The Pale Horse was sketched onto the canvas and after working it out in The Journal of Measures, it was found that the sketch was only one third of the required size!

This is the main layout measuring a total of 12 feet by 40 feet.