Within the Lines

As a child I would spend hours colouring. Having finished the placement of the images on the grid I revisited that long ago, warm, safe haven as I applied each base colour, staying within the lines. Base colour. Yes. I began with the trees. Not all of them. The ones separating each section were to be a specific colour. Applying phthalo green to the spruce trees I made a mental note once again about priorities. Eventually I overcame the desire to remain perfectly within the lines. It is amazing how my childhood still rules my present unless I make a conscious choice to change. Brushstrokes are of the utmost importance. It is really the brushstroke which creates the illusion of spruce against poplar. Brushstrokes add variety and interest to an otherwise bland surface. I did not want too much busyness in an already busy panel. I covered the green with ultramarine blue. Lovely turquoise. The other trees would be a little more distinct if I began with gold…. The other bank across the river would not be so dark. I put the green away and brought out the gold. A different brushstroke for each area. One for the distant hills, one for the aspen and poplar, one for the grass. There is a lot of gold on this mural. The blue went directly over the distant hills and into the grass. Green graced the poplars. The verdict is still out as to whether I will add blue to make turquoise trees… With burnt sienna I continued forming value studies of the images before me. Burnt sienna smothered in ultramarine blue makes black. Not a dead black but rather a lively one. Although the photo references were largely black and white my intention is to create full colour. Such power. This is a heady experience!

Convergence

There is something to be said for ten foot ceilings. Twenty feet might not be too much. We recently unveiled a mural sixteen feet high…. Sigh. Another item on my wish list for my new studio. Since the current mural is nine feet high there had to be a solution; there is always a solution. Eight feet is all there is. I had chosen not to work on the floor so I strung a couple of tables together with a plywood panel I used for my 60” x 40” watercolour sheets. The bottom of the mural lined up with the top. Flipping up the end of the main section onto the table I used paper clips to hold the pieces together as I continued the development of the drawing. Certain things had to line up. When it comes to man made objects, yes, I use a ruler. My freehand straight lines are beautifully irregular and not really conducive to imaging the rigid structures of buildings and maypoles. Again, I moved the group one square to the left knowing there would be room to extend the maypole into the top panel. There remained a rather large space for what I had filled with one book and a pot of pencils. It called for something different. I decided to add a small library with titles from local authors. Yes. Much better. And that gives me another idea… extracts and poetry. Mmmm. Glinting water and shiny grass blades. Oooooh. Giving me shivers.

Transferring the Image

Decisions. I have little problem making decisions. It was not always so easy. At one point I had trouble deciding what to have for supper. No more. It is a good thing. Every time I pick up a pencil or a brush there are a thousand decisions to be made. As I mentioned last week, there turned out to be one extra square along the width in my grid. I wanted to move the images slightly to the right so I placed my figures one more square to the right. I begin with some phantom drawing. Phantom drawing allows me to put the major shapes in the correct place without locking me into a final position. Phantom because it is light, barely visible. Usually I do not use an eraser. I rely on the contrast of my final marks to outweigh the first so they do disappear. The first marks are geometric, circles, flowing curves, rectangles. Having drawn the head ovals in the appropriate square and in the approximate proportion I left my preliminary sketch behind in favour of the original photograph. It quickly became apparent that the sketch had not been accurate. I became ever more grateful for the extra five inches. Other decisions were made along the way such as using the foliage as a more complete separation from one grouping to the next. And there is always one challenging drawing in every group. Again I was thankful for the extra room as I took a wet rag and erased the whole thing to replace it one square to the left this time…. Watercolour pencil. Love it! There is a lot of green or turquoise in the mural. I had chosen Shiraz as my drawing colour. Complementary. I love complementary colours. This is going to work beautifully!

Gridding the Mural

Over the years I have tried all kinds of different methods for transferring the image onto mural panels. Often I have used a projector. In this case I really did not wish to destroy my drawing (it is frame worthy) in order to fit it into the clamps in the projector so I opted for an age old method of transfer: gridding. Usually when I grid something I use a fairly large dimension for the breakup, a simple centre repeated twice so the image is broken into eight segments each horizontally and vertically. This time I used a smaller square because of the amount of detail in the image. I suspected I would get a far more accurate drawing. It takes a while to grid a nine by thirteen foot sheet in five inch squares. I decided to run a line of squares across the top to find out if my ratio was correct. It ended up one more square than the original. One more square and an inch and a half. I ran the square down the height and found I had about an inch left over. Mmmm. I could use some extra room at both ends. Moving the images slightly one way on another would give me the wiggle room I needed for accurate proportions and a less cramped result. It is amazing what an inch can do. Three hours later I decided to give my back a rest. Bookwork anyone? 

Fun and Easy!

Yes, we were ready for the fabric. So do I tape it to the support? Screw it on? Nails? Masking tape has always been a staple for my watercolours. I thought perhaps it would be sufficient to hold the fabric in place. And it was until I attempted to install the second sheet. The bolt of fabric was short so the forty-eight inches needed to be expanded to seventy-two. The mural is split into two sections. The first is six feet by thirteen feet. The lower part is three by thirteen. Since the surface of the building has a one to two inch lip from top section to bottom section the mural must be split. So… a two foot addition needed to be attached to the first piece. I wanted a relatively smooth surface. Sewing was not appropriate. I decided to treat the material like paper and left an extra bit of width to glue to the first sheet. Good plan. Now if I could just get the second sheet to line up with the first…. Oops! The whole thing came tumbling around me ears. Another advantage to using fabric! I do not get hurt when the sheets crash around my ears…. I just get frustrated. So. Yes. Back to the first list. My first choice had not been a good one; I did not like the others. I gazed around my studio and my eyes grazed the small pill container holding some craft pins. That is it! I did manage to get the two sheets up on the frame but with the force of gravity and the subtly of the material I could not pin it well enough to have it lay flat, one against the other. Time to glue them together. Laying the frame on the floor once more I removed the pins and suddenly I no longer had ripples in my project. A little gel, a little molding paste and all I had to do was wait for it to dry. Mmmm. Watching paint (or glue) dry was my cue to leave for the day. Tomorrow I would paint.

Framing a Mural

Using fabric for a mural is new to me. Usually I swing four by eight foot half inch sheets of plywood around painting two at a time in order to remain consistent in the colour and tonality of the image. This method also requires screws, drill bits and two electric drills so I avoid plugging and unplugging and changing bits. I thought about the fabric for a while. It was recommended that I work on the floor. There are several drawbacks to that. One is my age. I am getting too old to crawl around on cement for very long. Another is the lack of backup space. I like to retreat into the shadows to determine if what I have done is balanced, focused, well designed. Getting distance between me and what I am working on is one of the essential ingredients to doing a good job. So I had a problem. For the plywood I had constructed a frame out of one by two inch spruce with angle irons but it was too small. I needed something at least thirteen feet long and six feet high. Could I stretch the fabric? It is not canvas. Often during the night inspiration comes to me when I am grappling with a problem. And so it was this time. Coroplast. I have several sheets in the attic of the garage which I used as display boards for my student shows in the summer. Things have changed. They were gathering dust. I expanded the frame and brought down four sheets to cover the wood and strengthen it. A little white duct tape smoothed the crevices. We were ready for the fabric.

Why Artists Need Space

One of the differences between hobbyists and professionals is the space they require. Many artists I know work on the kitchen table or in a corner of some other room. That is where I started too. Picking up and putting away was one of the drawbacks to this arrangement. It discouraged starting again. Painting is messy. Moving into the garage was heaven. There is a drawback to this as well: the cars remain outside and we choose to scrape windows in the winter…. Murals occasion another strain on the space. The other day I rearranged my studio. At present I am working on two large pieces in the “Eve” series and the next step involves graphite powder. Now graphite powder is dirty. It may or may not be part of the mural I am working on. However, with the upper part of the mural on the floor there is about twelve inches of squeeze space between projects and no room to back up. Placing graphite powder on a vertical surface is not the most efficient way to do things and the horizontal space has been occupied. So I took a cup of hot water (my preferred beverage), sat down and contemplated the drying paint. Yes, it was going to take longer than I expected. Leaving my studio early, I decided to do some bookwork instead. It is definitely more interesting than watching paint dry….