WIP - fifteen artist's one painting! A global collaboration...

[holy]

Well, we're finally on our way...

..for those of you who missed my earlier thread here's a brief outline of what's going on here.

I asked for 15 artists to join me in painting a single acrylic work. We (all figure forum subscribers) took a poll to decide what we were going to paint and the outcome of that is this...



And this is the team...

1) Journeyman
2) Foxy_Feline
3) Madq25
4) Adair_P
5) Rimbaulds shop
6) ArtistOz
7) FreindCarol
8) KeithC
9) Zoep
10) TWC44
11) Mad Mike
12) iii
13) Sula
14) Mac Robertson
15) Holy

The team list is in the order of who joined in first - the painting won't actually be travelling in that order - it will take a more sensible (and cheaper!) geographical path.

In the meantime I'll be doing some "behind the scenes" organising, marking up the canvas and mixing up the acrylics. I'll be posting as we go along - please join us and give us all your support by commenting!

Have fun! I think we will!!!!

Mark HH

[jjackm]

interesting idea. It will be nice to see the outcome.

[macrobertson]

OK... this is going to be an interesting ride!

Mac

[holy]

The First Step

Hi All,

All great journeys begin with a single step and I guess this is no different! I took the first step today and bought (at the great expense of £7.49 ) our canvas...



It's a bog standard Reeves Artist Gallery Canvas and what they call "Deep Box". The size for those interested is 30" x 20" (762mm x 500mm in new money...)

What I'll do over the next day or so is get the sketch on there and wash the whole thing with a raw sienna acrylic - I find this much easier to paint on than pure white for several reasons. One - the canvas simply looks less "empty" and intimidating, two - it seals the sketch to the canvas, I wouldn't want that rubbing out on it's journey! And lastly, but most importantly, it will shine throgh the very light colours that we're painting and that is simply lovely to see...

..when the sketch is on I'll un-pick the canvas, paint my bit, pack it up with all the other bits and pieces and send it on...

more later!

[RandallH]

Excellent photograph to explore. I can't wait to see the progression.

[Journeyman]

Looking forward to seeing how this progresses . I'm leaving Monday for three or four weeks of sailing, will there be a big leap forward by the time I get back? What ever happens it will be exiting to see .
Dave

[Julianne]

watching.....

wow, 4 weeks of sailing! Fantastic!

[holy]

Hi All,

I am really, really sorry - but I couldn't help it!

I really couldn't...

..it kept calling to me...

..you know how it is sometimes...

..sorry!

I painted on "our" canavs!!!!



..oops.

I promise I'll get another one this week and then don't let me do it again! I'll get our bits up and running soon.

Have fun

Mark HH

[FriendCarol]

Ooooh, you're naughty! Wait 'til Mum finds out.
Better buy 2 next time...
Journeyman -- 3-4 weeks sailing?! By then we should at least have some paint on a sketch on its way round the world to somewhere! Unless Mark steals his canvas again.

P.S. Lovely painting! Really beautiful!

[holy]

I did! - In fact I bought 3 just to be sure...

..now if I can get the sketch down this weekend we're away. Having said that I still need a few of the 15 to get in touch with me - I guess a few PM's are in order.

More later...

[Journeyman]

Terrible , painting on our canvas ! But it did turn out well so you are forgiven Mark .
Carol unfortunately the three to four weeks turned in to one week, and I’m back already! The weather was awful gale force winds all week, blowing from the direction we wanted to go, and worse to come.
Eventually we abandoned the cruise and took the boat back to it’s home mooring.
The owner has gone down to the "Semaine du Golfe" by road.

Dave

[holy]

Right - we're off!

I have had to crop the image quite a bit as the canvas we're using is too small (30" x 24" or 760 x 610) for the 15 of us to work in the way I have in mind, and we've gone "landscape" - hope you don't mind - Curiously if fewer artists were working on it I would have left the image whole...



Then I traced the colour contours off onto the canvas - much more tricky than it seems...



Next, I mixed the acrylic "Burnt Sienna" wash to seal the sketch onto the canvas - this will stop the sketch rubbing off on it's journey (as you can imagine that would be a disater!) and as I said earlier it makes the canvas look less daunting too!



I add a little water...



then much more...



Then slapped it on!



And finally covered the canvas...

Now I'll work out the colour mixes in the next day or so - do my little bit and then she's ready to be sent on...

..more later!

[nithya_swamy]

what a great idea! i do not hang out in the figure forum often, but will be watching this for sure. the reference image is awesome! is it copyrighted? can I paint it?

[holy]

Hi Nithya,

Thanks for watching us!

As for the source it is copyrighted and belongs to my partner in art Gabriele Rigon. He's quite busy (very, very acyually) but he is quite approachable - if you look on the home page of my website Http://www.hollandhicken.com you'll see me talking about him - there is a link to his site there. You can then contact him...

..good luck!

Mark HH

[ArtistOz]

Ok I'm checking in