Before painting the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo had to first construct a massive scaffolding to allow him access to the ceiling without interfering with the chapel's daily use. He had to develop special wax models so he could study the lighting effects to be duplicated in the frescoes, and come up with a special, slow drying plaster. He suffered constant deadline pressure from frustrated church officials and the pope who just wanted the ceiling finished. The work itself was uncomfortable and unending, with wet paint and plaster dripping on the face of the man who was not, after all, a painter, but a sculptor.
Such challenges arise in all the great works of human imagination. Be they the creation of our world rendered upon the ceiling of a church, or a view of our world evident by making the voyage from the earth to the moon.
--Tom Hanks
