Spray Painting the 'Sistine Chapel' in Iowa

Sept. 27, 2006 — -- A Bosnian immigrant has spent his family's life savings on a quirky dream to re-create a beloved work of art in the Midwest.

Watch the full report on the "World News" webcast at 3 p.m. ET on ABCNews.com

Paco Rosic, 27, is using spray paint to bring Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel and the images of Revelation to the ceiling of a two-story building in Waterloo, Iowa.

"This was my dream of my life since I was little kid," Rosic said. "I was 6. I see this image first. And the more and more I grow … the more and more it was in my head."

The lasting impression of Michelangelo's art motivated Rosic to study every detail of the famed painting, and it even spurred a pilgrimage to Rome.

Rosic recalled the moment when he knew he would take on this project: "My whole life flashed before my eyes," he said.

Determined to tackle this project, Rosic bought a building in Iowa with the perfect ceiling for the images, and embarked on his dream, one spray stroke at a time.

For the past four months, Rosic has painted from memory, first outlining the images and then filling them in with colors.

While Michelangelo spent four years on his version, Rosic works whenever inspiration hits, sometimes for 11 hours at a time. While replicating powerful scenes, he admitted that some, such as the creation of Adam and Eve, gave him pause.

"I was afraid to paint this piece," he said. "And then one day something came to me and just, Wow, today is the right time to do it."

His replica is smaller and more vibrantly colored than Michelangelo's original, and because of the nature of the spray paint technique, it has far fewer details than the original. But Rosic hopes that by turning an empty building into a café and art gallery, folks in Iowa won't have to travel to Rome to soak in a masterful creation.

ABC News' James Wang contributed to this report