Founding Fathers Fete

After doing Washington, I decided my Jefferson needed reworking (no pictures of Jefferson to date, so you'll never know what you missed!). His head was too big, his body too short and his shoulders and waist too narrow. I spent the weekend reworking him, tearing off his clothes (oh my!), adding length (in wire) to his arms, adding breadth (in batting) to his girth, and adding length (in clay) to his legs. I then gave him a new waistcoat and coat and turned him into a tribute to American Independence. You should see him now (and maybe you will!). He still needs details like embroidery and buttons, but you can definitely get the idea!

Meanwhile, Dan made a cannon barrel to scale for Washington to lean on using his lathe. It's wonderful. There may be large wooden wheels in the future, for the cannon to rest upon. We can't do the entire cannon or it would overwhelm Washington, so we're trying to figure out how to do a partial and drape it with flags to hide the edits. In the original portrait, the foreground flags are Hessian--the flags that were captured at the Battle of Trenton. I'm thinking of substituting them for Washington's flag (the green pine tree on white background that says Appeal to Heaven) and the Battle flag (blue background with white circle of stars). I'm thinking of painting them on muslin for a folksy look, then draping and stiffening them in the foreground of the tableau. We'll see!

More later,

Nina