When last January, I was asked to take part in an exhibition of postcard sized works at the Edinburgh gallery of Scotlandart, I was, I have to admit, a little concerned as to exactly how easy or otherwise it might be for me to work at that scale. As it turned out, I did two of these small pieces without too many problems, albeit with much use of the magnifier. They did however, look quite interesting and one sold during the exhibition.
For the rest of the year though, I worked mainly at the other end of the scale, creating around 16 paintings at 80 x 80 cm and another 2 at 122 x 61 cm……and I really didn’t think about the very small pieces again. That is, until I once again received an email asking if I’d take part in this year’s Big Postcard Exhibition at Scotlandart in Edinburgh.
A few weeks ago, I got down to painting the two pieces for this years show …..and really enjoyed working on them. I’m quite pleased with them and am hoping they’ll do well in the exhibition. It’s surprising, but they actually take quite a bit of time despite their small size. I have to work with small brushes and finely pointed pastels and as I said earlier …..this means using a strong magnifier much of the time. Under normal circumstances these little pieces would be mounted and framed behind glass using the usual ‘York’ silver frame and would retail about £250. For this Scotlandart exhibition though, all of the postcard sized works will be unframed and I’ve decided to keep the prices as low as possible ….as a kind of sampler and so my little paintings will be on sale in this exhibition at £125 unframed. Like all of my acrylic & pastel paintings, these small pieces are painted on board and at this size can simply be attached to the wall unframed.
I’ve enjoyed doing these little paintings for this exhibition and have decided to do a few more. It’s good to have a couple of these small (quick drying) pieces on the go at the same time as the larger 80 x 80 cm oil paintings. I now have two more of these small works completed with another two well on the way. I’ll be putting images / details of these new pieces up on the ‘New Artworks’ section of this website shortly.
Anyway, in the meantime if you’re living in or around Edinburgh or plan to visit in the next month, why not pop along to see ‘The Big Postcard Show’ at the Scotlandart gallery? The show will have work by around 60 artists including, Mark Edwards, Chris Forsey, Ian Elliot, Scott Caruthers, Lesley Anne Derks….and myself…..it will comprise around 120 works.
The Big Postcard Show – 19TH January – 19th February 2012
Scotlandart.com
2 St Stephen Place
Stockbridge
EdinburghEH3 5AI
It should be well worth a visit and a great opportunity to see and purchase works by many different artists. I hope you can make it along.
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