An unexpected challenge

Hello,

Welcome to my second blog post.

I’ve decided to make this post about a commission (pictured below) that I spent much of January and February working on, as this affords me a great opportunity to share the journey of one of my paintings.

December 2017 was a busy month for me. I had a couple of pieces exhibited in La Galleria Pall Mall (London) and in the Artsmill Gallery’s Winter Open exhibition (Hebden Bridge). But I was also gifted the opportunity of undertaking a unique challenge. I was invited to one of the Weir Minerals Europe Limited sites. From this visit I was tasked with creating an art piece inspired by the place and its work.

On my visit to the site I met the lovely team and was given a guided tour. I took photographs, asked questions and tried to take in my surroundings. As soon as I returned home I immediately got to work experimenting in my sketchbook. Teamwork and colour were the overriding themes driving the creative process. The concept of the enormousness of the team was something I wanted to suggest. This encouraged me to use a different medium to give an impression of the scale of productivity in the company. I chose to use pen to draw in figures, as well as parts of machinery, so as to achieve this effect.

A quick sketchbook experiment. This was all about showing how each employer contributes to the work of the company.

Below I’ve included a selection of pictures documenting the process. Many hours went into designing and producing this piece. My intention was to grab the attention of the viewer using colour and composition. I chose to use calico fabric in order to magnify the flame. Meanwhile, drawing other team members and their work into other aspects of the picture.