"This large ceiling mural, comprised of 56 wooden panels, each approximately 200cm X 150cm X 1cm, has been my most ambitious painting project to date. It also took the longest amount of time to complete, around 5 years. The process went like this:  After staining all panels with a terra-cotta colored gesso, I employed a small opaque projector in my darkened studio, to project my miniature drawings onto the proper positions of all panels, and then laid out the design with white pencil. Next it was time to block in the underpainting for all 56 panels. Unlike the ceiling I did in Prabhupadadesh 10 years earlier, where I used oil paint for all layers, this time I employed fast-drying acrylic from jars to get the underpainting laid-in. This worked well, in that this acrylic under-layer dried very fast, and if I blocked-in one panel, it was completely dry and ready for adjustments or changes within 20 minutes time. In the final steps of the overpainting and details, I used artists' grade oils from tubes, Rowney and Winsor-Newton mostly. When all my painting work was finished, the panels were then affixed to the ceiling by Krsna-ksetra prabhu, employing an ingenious method of using scaffolding, beams, lifts, and precise measuring of spacing in between the panels, to achieve, with a minimum of touch-up by the artists, the appearance of a nearly-seamless mural spanning the entire length and width of the temple ceiling.  

All-in-all, this lengthy project provided wonderful substance for meditation for an artist. On one-half of the mural: Krsna & Gopis, Krsna & His cowherd friends, baby Krsna & His parents, and Krsna accepting service from His devotees. And on the other half: The Six Goswamis, The Panca-Tattva, the modern Parampara, and modern-day devotees on Harinam sankirtan. So although ambitious and not always easy, this project was one of the best and most enjoyable services I've performed.

During the process, the temple president-GBC-overseer Madhusevita prabhu set deadlines for completion a couple times, but I was unable to meet them, so he kept giving me extensions. But the last one, to have it ready for Janmasthami 2014, was very tight and could not be again compromised. So when I saw that my pace was still too slow to meet this final deadline, we decided to audition some artists to assist me in the final stages. In this way, we finished in time, and the panels were mounted on the ceiling when guests arrived for Janmasthami Day. The aftermath of the project was me and my main assistant, Bhakta Francesco, climbing the scaffolding and touching up all the screw holes, joins, and last-minute corrections and minor improvements. This was done in the 2 months after Janmasthami. Below are some excerpts from an article in "Movimento ISCKON", the devotee newsletter of the Italian community, Published a few months prior to the unveiling, by Vasudeva datta and Lalita devi dasi:

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FINESTRE SUL MONDO SPIRITUALE (WINDOWS ON THE SPIRITUAL WORLD)

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This is how Srila Prabhupada defined the conscious art of Krishna: a chance to look beyond the material. The name, the form, the pastimes and qualities of Krishna are situated on the absolute level. The artistic expression that translates painting a picture of Krishna and His devotees encompasses all these revelations and only a matter of realization divides us from receiving these gifts. Rudradeva Prabhu is undertaking a large painting service, with the collaboration of Bhakta Francesco, producing 56 panels that will occupy the area of ​​about 200m2 of the temple of Sri Sri Radha Ramana ceiling. The ceiling will be divided lengthwise into two halves: in one of these halves, there will be a further division of four parts to represent the four main rasas: Madhurya, Vatsalya, Sakhya, and Dasya. The other ceiling half will be comprised also of four equal divisions: The Panca tattva, the six Goswamis, the Parampara, and an ecstatic modern-day Harinam procession, staged in front of Srila Prabhupada's present-day Samadhi Building, at ISKCON Vrndavana's temple complex. Rudradeva prabhu humbly hopes that the final work will help devotees and people in general, to become inspired to continue or increase their spiritual quest, and upon entering the temple room and viewing these depictions on the ceiling, feel compelled to learn more about Srila Prabhupada, and Krsna and His associates.