206 square feet of rosemaling

Elspeth's artistic virtuosity spans a broad spectrum of media, styles, and techniques.  The commission to complete a major rosemalling project provided an opportunity to devote attention to a form of artistic expression with which she has a long and rewarding involvement.

One of the images in the painting, photographed from the base of the pilaster to which it is mounted.  The polyptych painting consists of 16 of these images.

The commission in connection with the Stein Eriksen Lodge Deer Valley conference center renovation was rewarding in many ways, but particularly so because of the design opportunity of reconciling the aesthetic of a centuries-old folk art with the architectural and interior design style, materials, and other characteristics of a world-class, state-of-art conference center and resort.  It's one thing to to apply rosemalling to a piece of furniture in an environment where decor participates in the traditional idiom of such work, and quite another to successfully pull a folk-art style out of its tradition and present it in the context of a completely different idiom.  Eclecticism and other design styles achieve this, but the accomplishment is its own rigorous art form.

For a summary of the design work completed for this original painting, see Designing motifs for the hand-painted panels.

Dimensions (width x height)
16 images consisting of 44 panels, with 14 images measuring 13.5 in. x 129 in. and two images measuring 13.5 in. x 97.5 in. (206 square feet)

Support
Panel

Milestones
Research begins - July 2012
Brushwork begins - February 2013
Installed - May 2013

Equipment
Creating a painting often involves creating or modifying tools or making improvements to the studio itself.

See also Producing 250 square feet of hand-painted panels, which briefly describes the studio-defined process for creating and processing the panels and presents links to equipment created for the project.

Elspeth's easel in her PenterHaven studio, configured for painting the small frieze panels at the top of each image in Beauty Along The Way.  The rosemalling was entirely free-handed with no stencils, sketch lines, shadow images, or other aids of any kind.

Methodology

Elspeth designed and executed the panels based on wildflowers and shrubs native to the Wasatch Mountain Range in which Stein Eriksen Lodge Deer Valley is situated.  These native plants were the primary inspirations:  Wood's rose (Rosa woodsii), scarlet globemallow (Sphaeralcea munroana), firechalice (Zauschneria garrettii), Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja chromosa), and golden currant (Ribes aureum).

Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja chromosa) in the nearby Wasatch Mountain Range

Working at the A-frame easel, Elspeth completes the rosemalling on the frieze panels for each ornamented pilaster. Visit us on Pinterest to see more photos of this and other stages of the Stein Eriksen Lodge Deer Valley conference center project.

Tags: 2013, Project commentaries