“Mysterious”, (the colour), & some thoughts behind the design
Today, October 26th, while Josh and Paul gave the wall to the left of the Sanctuary a second coat of that beautiful deep blue colour called “Mysterious”, by Benjamin Moore, I started on the two paintings upstairs in the studio. The light there is perfect and the high ceilings and lack of clutter make the room a dream to paint in. (also, there’s nothing at all to distract me, which is a very good thing).
Lets talk about the colour that is the backdrop to the Sanctuary art: “Mysterious” is a colour I discovered last year in the spring of 2022 while designing Catholic Christian Outreach’s new HQ. It’s the perfect blend of blue-black with a touch of violet somewhere in there. I find that it doesn’t take over a space but rather it seems to bring attention to whatever is nearby and that’s exactly what we need to see both in the CCO office AND at the Sanctuary at Annunciation of the Lord Parish. In both buildings there’s plenty of beautiful natural light at certain times of the day and since I believe that the drama of contrast can actually make people happy, (my theory) it makes sense to me to use the warmth of wood to contrast with the dark blue of MYSTERIOUS. Does this combination ever look fantastic with greenery and with art! In both design scenarios (CCO and AoL that is), we’re going to see vertical wood slats stained with Early American, a varnish that again, has no greys in it and just seems to bring out the best tones in any type of wood.
With AoL already having a strong tongue and groove pattern all across the ceiling of the church, it seemed most logical to bring that pattern downwards vertically. The vertical wood slats that Brother Builds will be installing in the next few weeks on all the walls on the three sides of the altar, will draw the eye upwards towards the art, towards the crucifix in the centre and towards the beauty of the original wood slat ceiling! The Sanctuary walls and the ceiling will appear to have been intended all along to complement one another and they’ll be looking so good against the backdrop of that deep blue colour. And just wait - it will look magical (or better yet, HOLY), with gold leaf applied to it! : )
I’ve designed the vertical wood slats to meet at a peak above the crucifix about 22 feet from the ground and behind the Tabernacle. Our eyes will naturally be drawn left to right and towards the crucifix high up above the altar (it will hang higher than it is now) . This is exactly how a good painting is designed as well: there must be a focal point and movement so that the eye naturally travels around the painting, beginning and returning to that focal point.
I’m really excited to see Josh and Paul cut and install the three sections of wood slats for another reason: the bottom edges will have various heights, (suggesting movement once again). You can interpret this as resembling organ pipes, or as something descending from heaven - rain, or rays for example. It’s fun to just allow the viewer to see this as they wish to. That’s part of the enjoyment of art. The centre section will hang higher up than the two that flank it and that’s intentional because the Tabernacle will stand on a tall narrow altar below the crucifix, glowing gold against the dark blue painted wall, and pointing upwards towards the cross.
Well that’s it for now. Here’s a sketch to illustrate some of the ideas I’ve been talking about.
Good night!
Adele