Exhibition in a case!


Whereas my personal works are getting larger (my latest work measuring 55 x 33 inches entitled 'shimmer') the works for my up and coming exhibition in September have gone in completely the opposite direction.

I had this fascinating idea to be able to carry an entire exhibition in a single suitcase, the works therefore have to be smaller, much smaller, so many times I have walked backwards and forwards between studio and exhibition space that it is time to start to take life easy.

There was much too'ing and fro'ing while deciding on the exhibition theme, with the exhibition being local I wanted to keep the theme local; setting off on my normal explorations around the town I was now seeking a direction and purpose to my wanderings other than personal satisfaction, therein however I found a problem.

The town is huge historically with a building of significance at every turn, if this was not enough the current situation is one of growth with new projects springing up everywhere, millions of pounds of development funding pouring in, the Canal Project and the reopening and redevelopment of the Lancaster Canal Head, The K Village Project, housing developments and new Tourist developments, where to begin.

I will be working for this exhibition in small to minature works, the actual size of each piece was a problem though after several trials and odd looking bits of work around the studio I settled on pieces around the 3" x 5" area. I shall be cutting 3/4" ply into plates then covering with canvas and prime with Gesso. Each canvas will be divided into halves with a colour on each of the two sections.

Upon each of around 20 - 30 canvas works I shall be mounting some minatures, colour abstractions taken from the surrounding countryside, each minature (around 1 - 1 1/2 cm), while the main colour fields, (the background) will be taken from within the town itself the minatures will be in a bid to find a balance of contrast between the rural and the urban, at least that is the plan.

all that is left to do now is the work, the cutting of the boards, the securing and priming of the canvas', the hardest part of all, where to place the minatures within each of the works though I am sure that once the colour and texture is in place there will be a natural resting place for each of the rural abstracts; all this and still 5 months to go.

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