A 20 minute solo exhibition on Portobello beach, Edinburgh
If you read my last blog post, you will know I spent last month (36 hours, to be precise) working on the 36x48” (92x122cm) canvas artwork, pictured above.
The long, meticulous process of fitting each white mark snugly next to its neighbour on a background of various blue hues was mostly relaxing with the occasional tantrum thrown in for worrying if the application of paint was too thin/thick in some parts of the canvas or if the squiggles were too big/small in other parts.
Then I realised that, of course, that is the beauty of creating an original artwork. It cannot be a uniform, slick, factory produced piece because it is not. It is its own entity and has character, with some marks following a similar pattern because of the rhythm song I was listening to or several lines of smaller, righter marks when I was in the flow state.
At various stages throughout working on this piece, I thought about leaving part of the background visible, perhaps a third or a quarter, or maybe just a small line at the bottom?
But it needed to fill the canvas, to expand, to stretch out and reach beyond, into the imagination and into new paintings. Besides, I enjoy rotating the canvas so it can be enjoyed portrait or landscape orientation, like many of my works.
Now that I was finished, it was time for an exhibition.
What better way to celebrate its completion than taking it down to Portobello beach here in Edinburgh and showcasing it against the backdrop of the sea for 20 minutes?
The morning sun was bright and there wasn’t too much of a coastal breeze, which can be a little stressful when carrying a big ol’ canvas, as I made my way along the shoreline, past bemused sea swimmers and dog walkers.
As I walked, I somehow unlocked another piece of my art practice and what now feels like a very necessary piece. It felt very moving, very freeing and connected to take a painting which I have worked on all alone in my studio, out into the world.
This is clearly only the beginning of these 20 minute exhibitions and of making art accessible to everyone and adding a little fun to inspiration to the viewer’s day.