Limner's Angel Bower Atelier
ANGEL BOWER ATELIER . . . THE LIMNERS BOWER
Embraced in snowy drifts of Winter the wisteria laden pergola scents the perfumed air in Spring .
THE TREES SING IN THE WIND WILLING TO STRETCH THEIR WOOD FOR VIOLINS.
Wood is Eternal, the healer and most human of all materials-the substance with a soul. When an article of wood is damaged beyond repair it should take on a new form extending its life. (irreparable student instruments visually become musicians on the destroyed piece) The Studio houses hundreds of instruments & panels.
The 1798 Carriage house with stained glass windows shelters a plethora of ancient materials used for making Denise’s paints and varnishes. Illuminated manuscripts such as THE BOOK OF HOURS best demonstrates the inner light and eternal brilliance that natural pigments contribute using mineral and vegetable extracts. Manufactured salts such as Lake pigments owe their color to vegetable or insect dyes.
Tempera pigment combined with milk curd, mineral particles and jewel dust are absorbed into each archaic panel offering the opportunity to breathe, since bees wax and combined amber resin finishes feed the wood allowing it to shrink and swell. OXFORD DICTIONARY: LIMNER-TO ILLUMINATE, TO EMBELLISH WITH GOLD OR BRIGHT COLORS. TO LAY ON COLOR 1653. Local materials used are: Madison CT mica, Roxbury CT garnets, Guilford, CT clay soil..orange, Milford CT earth and tender grape vine shoots for ink from 41 Green St. From Europe..Siena Italy..clay soil, Greece..grape vine char and lapis lazuli, Red sealing wax from China and Korea, Russia and Poland - Amber and Amethysts, Florence Italy..Fresco and Tempera pigments. South America- emerald, amethyst, topaz, tourmaline, rhodochrosite, garnet , sodalite, azurite particles.
The second floor of the Bower is filled with photographs of enchanted refuges taken with the oldest lens known to man . . . THE EYE. Denise uses imagination rather than numerous enhancers and always is aware of the LIGHT. Her 15th journey to France will be this year, included in her collection of wondrous sights and romantic escapes are: Spain, Portugal, Tangier, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Russia, Switzerland, Austria, Bavaria, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti, Sulawesi, Bali, Lombok, Singapore, China, Korea, Japan, Tai Wan, Turkey, Italy, Canary Islands, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Haiti, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Period costumes handed down for generations clothe the portrait sitters in the Gold Leafed Angel throne or surrounded by the ancient trees in the sculpture garden of Angel Bower.