I realized this morning that I hadn't posted about the most recent additions to the study ceiling. So here goes.
Pope John Paul II
Over the religious books - with "Sanctus" in gold lettering. But he was way to cool for "Ioannes Paulus" so I didn't go with Latin for the proper name. The picture to the right shows the posterized image I worked from, with the paint color stick.
Frederick Law Olmsted / Andrea Palladio
The landscape and architecture stacks got theirs last year, and I am particularly happy with Olmsted's.
Tom Landry / Roger Staubach
Simply couldn't choose one over the other, so the Dallas Cowboys stack has both.
Cartouche
The long term plan is to continue to add detail in the form of more panels and "carvings" and other embellishments as I find appropriate models, and the most recent is a decorative cartouche that will eventually be above every section. It may eventually contain a Roman numeral for the stack, and later maybe a Latin label on a scroll, but at the moment it's just something I am working on getting up and done as quickly as possible using a template that allows me to outline it quickly, and then just sketch in the highlights and shadows quickly.
The Future?
As I mentioned, the cartouche needs to keep working its way around the room - currently I'm doing every other section. But after that I have a couple of ideas.
Panel Rosettes
The shadowing in the panels (see foreground and background in photo at right) doesn't look as good as I'd like, so I'm considering redoing them with rosettes like the attached. Principally to redo the shadow detail, but if I can come up with a simple rosette that doesn't take too long, it would add a lot of interesting detail.
Seraphim/Angels/Allegorical Figures
The corners are not symmetrical, and would provide an opportunity for some winged figures to take advantage of the space. I am still looking for some good models, as well as some appropriate subjects, such as allegorical figures (arts, science,justice, whatever). A possible selection is the four virtues from the library of Celsus in Ephesus, which are wisdom (Sophia), knowledge (Episteme), intelligence (Ennoia) and valor (Arete). But I am still working on that.