Every home is a spiritual home, or should be, but it seems since January all my work has been for churches. Yup, more churches! First, it was lettering the Ten Commandments to look as though they are carved in 5' tablets of stone, at Hope Presbyterisan in Richfield (sorry, camera was traveling elsewhere when I finished that one, so no photo). Then it was painting two new statues for St. Francis Xavier in Taylor's Falls, on which I tested my patience with a new-to-me paint, Flasche vinyl acrylics. Beautiful matte finish, but they dry so fast that blending large areas is nearly impossible. Anyone reading this who has experience with these, I'd love to know what your thoughts are.
My last project was a triptych screen (built by TC Fogarty) and statue restoration for St. John/ Assumption, a little old Catholic church that sits on the hill above town. The angels and St. Joseph got fingers and noses resculpted and cracks filled, before having their original paint refreshed. St. John (who seems to be showing up a lot in my life lately...hmm) had to be stripped and completely repainted, as he had been stored too long in the bell tower, and his paint was too far gone to salvage.
If you belong to a church that is storing it's statues, including the Christmas Nativity figures, please be sure they are in the most climate-controlled place possible. It's not so much the heat and freezing, it's the humidity! At the very least, be sure they are on pallets, so that air can circulate under them. Most of these old plaster statues wick up moisture through their bases, and it eventually results in loosening the paint from inside, as it looks for a place to escape. If your church is ready to refurbish it's statues, please have them contact me.
