First ... I have two rather large paintings to get done for somebody. One of them already has a small mock-up done enough so that I'm relatively sure what course to take for the bigger piece. The other one has only a vision in my mind, a written description of sorts, and a very large very blank prepped surface staring me in the face. It's two yards of what has turned out to be an amazingly versatile fabric, incredibly lightweight with a sort of linen weave. Which is sort of beside the point as it now has a coat of white paint on it, waiting for the next coat of paint, and the next, and the next and the next as the painting gets 'built' from distance to foreground.
The thing is that I have to try to get what I can envision, what I can describe, to translate into something that can be literally seen by the eyes of someone else.
Here's the description:
"I close my eyes and see a soft but powerful skyscape - like you see if you look at the 'other side' of a really vibrant sunrise or sunset (i.e. the west-looking view of a brilliant sunrise), seeing it from sitting just inside the edge of an aspen stand and looking out.over a shadowed and sort of indistinct valley filled with morning fog - with the aspen kind of veering out and spilling down the sides of the slopes from where I sit, their pale green spring dresses against the darker evergreens, and in the far distance the peaks catching that magical golden pale pink lavender refracted from the sunrise to the east of them, not directly behind them or in front of them. And that big wide open sky itself changing by the second in all those colors with varying degrees of intensity and softness ... It would be kind of like sitting on the side of Squaw Mountain at the edge of Victor early on a spring morning, only more impressionistic? Not sure how to explain what I 'see' and don't know that I can 'make it real' but I can try. IF I can catch that fog, the different lights and darknesses of it, there are our greys; dark bare earth tones and stones in browns with orange where a bit of sunlight pops it out against a burnt umber, so there are our pops of orange and gold. Going impressionistic, that teal makes for great shadows and also highlights, and upper sky (pale) and lower sky (darker) that's right behind those far peaks, with the sunrise colors between, as it can be toned down or given a lighter note. There's a gold, almost a shimmer but not quite, to the morning spring greens - I think it's probably because the dew catches bits of sunlight. So the tone I'm feeling is soft and dreamy but I'm also sitting on and seeing some real hard rocks at the same time. Not sure how that translates LOL"
Let it be a challenge to me.
The good news on that front is that as I stare back at the big blank rectangle of white that's staring me in the face, the image in my mind begins to imprint itself onto that blank space - so although it's 'not really there' yet I can see that it might very well actually 'get there'. I just have to give it the 'incubation' time it needs to settle itself into details.
Meanwhile ...
The history part of what's on my mind has to do with our Characters rather abruptly up and deciding that no they are not going to wait around in Europe/UK while I finish writing RICIMER, and then the Sass Books, and then the Caileen Books, but are heading with Aine OUT of there right NOW.
It's the year 1600 and they're not putting it off any longer. Period end of that discussion in no uncertain terms. It's time and they're going, which means you and I are going with them.
Whatever has been going on over there has been building for decades, if not centuries, already and our folk have apparently come to the conclusion that they're not going to stick around to see what comes next. This particular branch of the now-widely-scattered family has been centered in Branxton, inland from Berwick on Tweed and Lindisfarne, for a very long time while other branches are all over the place. The Border Troubles have been on their doorstep for quite a while, which is no doubt a contributing factor; but the sense is that there's something else behind their sudden decision, something that threatens either the Circles of Dunnottar or their commitment to serving the Holy Trinity - or both.
A refresher:
The Circles of Dunnottar are Faith, Family, Friends, Freedom, Future -
The Song of the Holy Trinity includes the following Voices (concepts)
Choice
Spiral of Creation, Life, Death, Eternity
Peace
Faith
Healing
Future
Love
Unity
Now I've had a general sort of idea about what's what in England, Scotland, France, Spain in the 1500s so am not overly shocked. I've known for a long time that our folk would be leaving - but this unexpected urgency has me wondering.
Doing my homework regarding any of the times our fictional family carries us to is kind of a given. I've been focusing on what our Characters will find when they get to America in preparation for their arrival here. Then it dawned on me ... generalities aside, whatever spurred them into an immediate exit has to be addressed. Our folk are going to want to talk about it. I can hardly write dialogue for a topic I only have a sort of general idea of.
So.
Something Happened in the 1500s over there that has got our Characters feeling so - hemmed in? threatened? - that they're leaving an area that has been home to this branch of the family for more than a thousand years.
It is the tail end of the reign of Elizabeth the First; her father Henry VIII was of course before her but between the two of them had come Edward the short-lived, and Mary known to history as Bloody Mary, another relatively short-lived reign. And then there's the 'other Mary' - Queen of Scotland (and, briefly, France).
Some of our Characters are old enough to have lived through much of it, and our folk of course know full well the recent history of their own time and place (which I do not - yet - their memories and educations far surpass mine). I have homework to do.
Henry VIII's discord with the pope in the 1500s has exacerbated what has already long been a delicate balancing act on the part of our folk. Embracing the Son as an equal part of the Holy Trinity a millennia and a half ago put targets on their backs. When Rome took over what then became known as Christianity, they refused to relinquish either their own personal Freedom of Choice or the Mother as an equal to the Son and the Father - so they were the 'wrong kind' of Christian. They weren't going to agree with the politicization, weaponization, and militarization of their Faith, which is all about Peace. The irony of having to fight for Peace has not escaped them.
At any rate, the 1500s ushered in the Reformation, which might have been good news for our folk IF they'd been willing (or able) to agree to half of their population still being - *minimized* is an inadequate word but it kind of works - which wasn't exactly a viable option for them. Henry VIII's Church of England was just as demanding and demeaning as Rome's was. Knox up in Scotland was no better. Luther and Calvin likewise. Despite the growing diversity in Christianity, our folk still had no place to fit themselves into - and everyone else damned them for it. The Quakers weren't on the scene yet, but the folks who would become Quakers had always been there. Some, like our particular folk, left before George Fox had even been born.
So there's that. Tied into the differences in political/religious views were the various monarchs of the time. I would likely be even more taken aback at the intolerance of that time if our own time hadn't proven itself just as intolerant - different in some ways but the principle is the same.
Be that as it may, it's time to do a mock-up of that big painting as the gist of how to make it 'real' has been maturing while I've been focusing on something else!
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