The Library

Here is the final image of the Library with the mouse reading scene below it as it appears in the book. This is one of my favorite scenes from the book. Everyone is reading French books, magazines, and newspapers (except for Jacqueline who is looking at a picture book about Colonial Williamsburg). Claire is playing Cat's Cradle while Jacqueline, sitting next to her, reads how to do it. Hughes is learning card tricks. The princess sits on the floor so her spoiled cats can have the chairs. This scene was inspired by one of the rooms in my house. My cats are always sitting on the chairs and couches. I end up sitting on the floor, but I don't mind.Click on the images to enlarge them.

On the walls, you'll see details from some of my fine art paintings. I stained the wood panel squares and glued them to the wall. The statuary on the bookshelves are from my husband's trips to Asia when he was a little boy. The plaster fireplace, doorway pediment, and columns were all painted with gouache. The rug was hard to find. They don't make such large dollhouse rugs. I found it in Canada. The candles are all real. In fact, they lit up the scenes so much I didn't need to use too much strobe light. It is Fall during this scene, so the flowers are autumn arrangements. Through the door, you can see the billiard room with an ornate pool table.Test Shot 4.Rough collage sketch:
Test Shot 3. Click on this one (candles lit) to see it enlarged without having to move your mouse around:Test Shot 2. Click on this one (candles are not lit) to see it enlarged in detail:
Test Shot 1. Here is a shot with Claire (from her bathroom pose) in the library. I placed her in there to see how the characters will look. This is a quickie photo.
The Library In Progress
The bookshelves all had to be cut and resized to fit together. My father did that. He is the math and measuring expert, not I.
Test Shot.
Library details:
The Billiard Room
Click on the images to enlarge them.
Mouse has escaped once again, thanks to Bat. I added some shadows and made the bat bigger. I wanted a few of the scenes to have unusual compositions. Here, we are looking down on the scene from above.Test Shot.Cat reference. Here is my cat Little Bear posing for the ping-pong scene.Rough collage sketch:Pencil sketch.
Here is the ping-pong table in process. I made the paddles out of balsa wood and colored foam. My mother sewed the net for me. I painted the white lines on the foam with enamel paint.
View the rooms by clicking the links below:

The Castle Exterior
The Basement
The Powder Room
The Library
The Ballroom
The Dining Room
The Bedroom
The Kitchen
The Aesop Room
The Characters