Renovation Update, Part 11

Good morning!

Lots of progress this week.

First and foremost the lighting strips for the main vault have arrived! These lights will be installed to illuminate the upper ceiling of the church.

Next, the painters have continued with the stencil work on the ceiling. Things are wrapping up on this project, and it’s really looking good! These details will break up the large panels of the ceiling nicely. One thing that will be hard to appreciate from the floor of the church is the scale: the large floral panels in the corners of the ceiling are close to four feet wide! The grapes in the pattern surrounding the saint murals also received their purple color this week, a detail I was happy to see.

Saving the best for last, the saint murals are now on the walls! While it’s a bit of a challenge getting photos that really depict them well, I can assure you that they look stunning! They’re very visible from the floor of the church, including all of the details. While it’s hard to determine what will be the most striking element of the renovation, these murals are definitely in the running. Between the murals, the windows, and the stations, one could spend a good bit of time considering the walls of the church.

An exciting week, and with plenty more to come! The painting crew said that the next couple weeks will have lots to show off.

Peace,

Fr. Brandon

Renovation Update, Part 10

Happy Saturday!

As of Friday, nearly the entire church has now been painted, and it looks great! Most of the work at this point is on the details, meaning lots and lots of stenciling. For each design element there are often several stencils, each adding some additional feature of the design. Lots of prep work is involved in getting the stencils lined up properly, often marked out with painter’s tape.

While the walls already look great with the fresh paint, the stencils really add a whole other level to the look of the church. They add a sense of cohesion to to the space, tying together the wall panels, details on the furniture, and elements from the windows. Rather than a lot of nicely chosen colors for paint, beautiful windows, and well built furniture, everything looks like it’s meant to be together. The unity of design is quite striking.

Peace,

Fr. Brandon

Renovation Update, Part 9

Hello all!

Well, the church is really starting to look different. Plaster repairs continue, but more importantly lots of paint went on the walls this week. The pictures are arranged chronologically so you can see the different steps of masking and painting the details. While the temporary lighting makes it hard to really demonstrate the colors things are really starting to look impressive. The renderings you’ve probably seen give a good idea of what to expect, but trust me, it’s going to look so much better in person!

Peace,

Fr. Brandon

Renovation Update, Part 8

Hello!

This week has been a rather exciting one as a several important features of the renovation are really starting to take shape. Up in the main vault the masking has been removed and the new paint scheme is looking great! The lighting makes it challenging to take good photos and there’s some touch up work to be done, but you can see where things are going. There is still a lot of stencil work to be done on the ceiling, and the painting crew had some test pieces mocked up in preparation.

Also, the first coat of blue has been applied in the apse! It looks excellent, being immediately noticeable and very striking. It will quickly draw attention to the sanctuary of the church and look beautiful over the reredos and murals.

Finally, our new statues of Mary and Joseph have arrived! We’re very happy with how they turned out, and they will be wonderful additions to our church.

Things are really starting to look different, and it’s awesome to see!

Peace,

Fr. Brandon