Eric Winiecki trusts his son Leo. But it's his bubbly and inquisitive toddler Eva that could pose a risk to his newly finished replica of Sandro Botticelli's famous painting, "The Birth of Venus." (See photo, Page 1)

"I know it's just a matter of time before something happens to it," said Winiecki as he playfully tussled his daughter's hair during an interview recently.

Practically hidden in his 5-year-old son's bedroom in their West Seattle home, the painting stands about 6 by 8 feet, about the size of Botticelli's original, said Winiecki. The original Botticelli painting was done in a tempera egg-based medium on canvas in 1485 and now hangs in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy.

Painting and planning during off hours from his day job at the Environmental Protection Agency downtown, Winiecki's version was done in oil and took him eight-and-a-half years to complete.

"I tried to copy (the original) as close as I could, but oils seem to have more luster and portray more depth," he said.

"The Birth of Venus" is considered one of Botticelli's most famous paintings and represents a classical myth. In the picture, Venus has emerged from the sea on a shell that is blown to shore by sprites, or gods, of the wind surrounded with a rainfall of roses. A nymph receives the goddess with a purple cloak.

It was this magical scene that captivated Winiecki on a trip to Italy almost a decade ago. He became inspired to try what so many of the famous artists accomplished in the era of Botticelli. But back then the master artists usually had apprentices to assist them in finding balance and composition with color and scale. But Winiecki was on his own.

"I really loved the interplay of the lines and the well-planned composition of the painting," he said. "I thought it would be very challenging to paint. I was right."

He thought it would only take one year. It took nearly nine.

Since the original painting was out of reach to use for a model, Winiecki used a picture of the painting found in Giorgio Vasari's book, "The Great Masters." With artistic training adding up to only a few classes at the American Academy of Art and some art classes in high school, Winiecki said he had to paint slowly to do justice to the original.

"It was really above my level of ability," he said. "Finding balance was hard. In this painting, the lines are so well laid out and they all connect and relate to each other."

This isn't the first replica Winiecki has painted. He said he has leaned more about painting techniques and form from replicating classic art than any art class.

"I really had to study this painting to learn the techniques and the planning," he said. "I needed to know the painting intimately; the colors and the lines."

It was important not to stray from the original artist's form, he said.

"I feel that if I had tried to replicate with my own style and techniques I would just be living within my own comfort zone and making the same mistakes I always do," he said.

He admits he is ready for something a little less daunting.

"I really want to start some smaller pieces and do some of my own work," he said. "I've learned from (the replicas) and now I want to practice some of my own. Copies aren't as fun as your own work."

During the summer, Wendy Swyt overheard her son and his friend chuckling over the painting.

"His friend was saying, 'Leo, that lady's naked! That lady's naked!'" said Swyt, an English teacher at Highline Community College. "Because Leo has grown up with this giant painting as a wall to his room, he didn't even understand what the friend was talking about. I guess it is all about form."

Friends that have seen the painting can't believe it is just sitting in their son's bedroom, she said.

"They tell us it should be in a public space for people to enjoy," she said.

But Winiecki isn't quite sure where he would like to see it go

"I really want to get it out of the house," he said. "If I didn't have kids I'd keep it, but I'm afraid one of their friends will draw on it or something."

But for now, the painting isn't going anywhere. The frame was built, and the canvas was stretched in Leo's small bedroom. It can't be removed unless the canvas is detached from the frame; a delicate task Winiecki is not yet ready to undertake.

Rebekah Schilperoort can be reached at rebekah@robinsonnews.com