I was looking forward to this project. I wanted to get cracking with my portion of the painting, but I was equally excited to see the other sections that had already been painted. I had seen a photo of Ali H’s section, but not Sharon’s.
The postman knocked on the door and I knew immediately what it must be. A very large, flat parcel, that could be nothing else. I knew I should message Sharon first who was soooo concerned about the arrival of the parcel, but I couldn’t help myself. I carefully opened the package to reveal the paper. I just sat and took it in. When we discussed the project, we had left the whole thing very open. We all knew it would be houses, but not exactly what we would do. The two sections already there were just so different from each other and I found that really exciting.
Just to be fair, I messaged Sharon, and could almost hear the sigh of relief across the internet.
I put the piece up in my lounge and just looked at it for a couple of days. Do you do that? Keep looking at a piece until it becomes obvious what you need to do? I do it all the time. In a way, there was no question that I would paint my own garden and house. I am very fortunate with where we live, but I have also worked especially hard this year in the garden. In terms of which part of the house, my studio is so important to me, and is such a large part of my life I couldn’t really paint anything else.
My pink rose was in full bloom, so I wanted to include that. I also really wanted to include my easel. This is just outside my studio, and is my favourite place here to set up to paint. It’s under cover, but outside.
The next decision was which section of the painting should be mine. I felt I could integrate my choice with Ali’s so that’s where I went. Sharon was right when she said adjoining her piece would be a challenge! I chickened out of that.
Then it was time to set up and paint. During the last few months we have all had nightmares with our technology. I tried very hard to set up so I could paint outside in front of the view. Unfortunately, this meant I couldn’t film easily as the sun and shadows just created too much interference on the painting. As this is meant to be a demo, I felt it needed to be visible, so I retreated with my sketches and a photo into the calm of the studio to create my part of the magic.
Once I was finished I replaced the painting into Sharon’s excellent packaging and relabelled it to send to Jeremy. It was now my turn for separation anxiety.
Finally, I sat down to edit the filming I had done. I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I enjoyed painting it.
I am looking forward to seeing each section of this project come to life.
