Last week I had a meeting with two other artists I’d worked with before, about having an exhibition together .
One of them has a studio in Liverpool that has its own gallery space. As it’s also connected to a bar and eating place, it’s a good place to show work as there’s always people around.
One of the suggestions we discussed – having bounced off ideas about the title which would tie our styles of work together , was to make BIG work.
Sounds good doesn’t it, but bearing in mind that I don’t have a studio space, the idea of working large is quite challenging .
I did actually have a couple of old canvases in my loft, that I decided to dig out and rework to see if I could do something with them, which was useful .
I managed to prime them in the garden one day when it was dry and not bitterly cold, so that went ok.
The next bit wasn’t so easy . They were too big for the kitchen table or any others surfaces I’d been using up to now, so the only option was to cover my bed in a plastic sheet and work sprawled across it. Although that worked sort of OK, standing back to see what they looked like was near impossible. It was yet again a case of taking them into the garden to be able to look at how they were going, from a reasonable distance.
I’m not 100% sure. I’m out of my comfort zone in so many levels . As well as size, I’ve introduced more colour , which although I’ve worked with before, I suddenly feel less confident with now .
We’re aiming for an opening date end of April for the exhibition, so given that I’ve already got a body of work set aside, there’s no urgency to finish these two pieces if I’m not happy with them. I’ll keep going though as it’s always good to stretch yourself .
In other news, my application for the open studio has been sent off and I’ve ordered ( and received) the first lot of cards I’ve had printed. I’m quite pleased with them.
… and in a completely different note, I’ve got tickets for the Graham Crowley ( John Moores prize winner) talk next week.
Looking forward to that !
