A Question of Scale - telescope or microscope?

The next part of my Studio Journey programme with Nancy Hillis was to play around with scale. Working large if you were used to small and small if you were used to large. I have experience of working from a range of 5” pieces of paper to 6ft canvas roll on the floor but there were a number of things I thought would be fun to try. This exercise was perfect timing as I prepared for my week as an artist in residence at Spring Harvest conference, Skegness Butlins over Easter.

5 inch on paper

6ft BIG LIVE ART

Working Tiny

First I had a play with some mini canvases (4”) with a view to offering some more affordable art on my stand at the conference. I loved the freedom of working on 6 or even 12 pieces all at the same time! Applying my style and techniques in a pocket size format was fun. I like seeing them all together and am wondering whether I might sometimes offer them as a 'polyptych' (a multi panelled art piece)

Large sketch

I haven't done much sketching on a big scale so this was the next thing to try. This is using A1 300g cartridge paper inspired by seeing a number of monochrome work on Facebook recently and as a preparatory piece for the first picture I would do at the conference.

Big is BEAUTIFUL

As part of my art residency over Easter I got to paint in front of 3500 each night for a week in a big top tent as part of the conference, this gave me a chance to work REALLY big – which I love to do. I have only ever painted 6ft pieces on the floor until now so my first new challenge was working vertically (nothing like trying something new with an audience!) I also used this as a chance to try out some new ideas for materials and tools.

6x5ft canvas roll gaffa taped to board

My paints & tools altho' my hand into the paint & flinging it was my favourite!

household emulsion, a mop and broom were new things for me

I so enjoyed working on this scale, the mess, the physicality and the expression. There was a live feed of me working, on and off through each evening and I got such positive feedback from people who'd never seen anything like this before!

I find when working this size there is a wonderful raw, rough energy in each piece. Once dried I photograph the work so that I can offer prints for sale and I always take a number of shots of the painting close up as well. When a piece of art is this scale I find that there are many paintings to be found within the painting. Here are the paintings I created, each with a couple of detail images.

THERE IN BLACK AND WHITE

INSIDE OUT

UTTER LIFE

MY ALL - the audience interacted by adding thumbprints

PASS IT ON

What next?

These pieces are rolled up for storage, waiting for the opportunity to be shown in an exhibition or offered for sale in a gallery. At this point they will be stretched onto canvas bars and varnished.
If I want to continue working this big (and I do) then I need to develop a client base that will purchase pictures this size (with a price tag to match). Between exhibitions those that don't sell I plan to rent out to corporate spaces, as I don't have anywhere to store them!
Here is an example of one stretched and hanging in a client's living room.

I've realised that I love working both really big and really small, just like I enjoy working messy and expressive, AND working neat and detailed. I'm inspired by the extravagant dimensions and intimate detail of creation, what is seen through a telescope as well as what is seen through a microscope, so I guess this makes sense that these contrasts exist within my own art.