2. this is my digital
maquette
for a 30 x 8 foot
vertical triptych;
a mural to be
painted on canvas.
It has been decided
to use mounted
canvas, rather than
painton location.
3. This is the painted sketch.
acrylic on canvas,
about 12 x 40 inches.
4. Heavy roll of 15 yards of canvas;
opening the 10ft6in long box.
I triple check all my measurements
before cutting.
5. My ceiling is shorter than that,
so I need to trim some inches,
so I can stand the roll, to be
able to unroll it sideways.
6. I cut through the roll with an snapoff knife,
going around and round, trying to keep the cut
as true as possible. I have to rotate the roll a
little to reach all round, and can feel a twinge in
my back from bending over it. Its heavy and
awkward.
7. I cut the thick cardboard core with my Japanese
saw. Works great, though I know cutting paper is
dulling the blade faster than cutting wood.
I leave enough length on the tube, so I will clear
the baseboard when I unroll.
8. We manage to hang it evenly
along a snapped charcoal line,
i cut to length,and we repeat
3 times.
9. the vertical shadows are
pressure marks from the roll
laying in the carton, and will
come out later.
I cut the canvas 14 inches larger than the frame
size, to allow sufficient for the stretching. The
stretched canvas will not have an external frame,
its called a gallery wrap when the paint continues
around the sides.
10. I snap a horizontal center line, and put dots of
tape at the foot marks.
11. I look at the sketch/plan on
my laptop, and I have
superimposed a scaled grid
on it, to help me draw my
design large, in charcoal.
12. For a mahl stick, ( a guide) I
have a super light and
strong one, made from
carbon-fibre golf club shaft,
by my dad.
13. I have a slender 3 ft
piece of bamboo,
into the tip of which
is a bit of soft vine
charcoal. This is a
great tool for
sketching this large
a size; I can really
see what I'm doing
over a larger area.
The charcoal is soft enough,
and my pressure light
enough, that I can erase
mistakes.
14. I am painting each section sideways, each will
just fit on the wall.
I have wiped all but a light layer of the charcoal off anyway,
before painting, so the paints don't get contaminated.
17. Two completed sections. To view them together like this, I
have to view photos of them on the computer. I traced
several inches of the left side of the first one, to make sure
of the correct position to start the second section.
18. wet in wet blending for first layer of sky colors
