Visual Language Magazine Contemporary Fine Art Vol 4 No 1

To my sheer delight it was delivered to me the very next day, I was not expecting such a quick delivery service! I
gazed at the blank canvas before me for hours, contemplating what I was going to paint. It had to be something
special, this would be the largest 3D painting I had ever attempted. Yes I did say 3D, these are my newest creations
and something I had given a lot of thought to. At this point the largest I had done of these 3D paintings was
a 30” x 40”. Was I ready to attempt one this big… well why not, “you’ll never know unless you give it a go” and
I would give this my best shot! I had spent a lot of time testing my process, and resourcing materials, I want my
work to be UV light protective and I will only use materials with longevity, this is extremely important to me as an
artist because I want my work to last longer than a lifetime.
And so it begins… I wait until the weekend when the tradesmen aren’t there and lean my canvas against the dirty
wall, starting on the texture for the canvas first. This always acts as a guide for my paintings, a little like a sketch. I
feel a little under pressure to get as much done as possible before the workmen return on Monday morning so the
following day I begin painting. When I pack up my paint and wash my brushes and take a long look at my painting,
I am disappointed, it’s not quite what I had planned. I wait until the following weekend and then paint over the top
of it with white gesso so I can start again.
I have to admit I was feeling a little overwhelmed at this stage, thinking that this painting might get the better of
me, but I felt very determined. And so 2 weeks later I was back in front of my huge canvas painting over the top of
my disappointment. By the end of the weekend I was satisfied that I had made a good base painting and so I drew
up a plan (to scale) and ordered an 8’ x 6’ x .25” thick piece of acrylic with 22 holes to be drilled at exact points (as
marked on my plan). The acrylic was the most expensive part of this painting… I had to make this work now after
spending so much money on materials!
Applying Texture
http://sallieswiftart.com/
VisualLanguageMagazine.com - VL Magazine | 77