Monday, 16 November 2015

Siding Springs

Tuesday 17 November, 11am.

I’m organising an artist residency at Siding Springs next year, to do some work based on the equipment and people who work there.

One of the problems with this is that many areas are sensitive to dust, so using charcoal is often a no-no. I needed to find a way of working that doesn’t generate any dust. I decided to try working on my usual gesso panels with black ink and watercolour, using a large oil painting brush for the ink, a soft 2” brush for the watercolour and a rag for smoothing the wet media. I used some photos (against my better judgement) I took when last there to make this painting –


“The 3.9 Metre Light Bucket at Siding Springs”
17/11/2015      900x600

It looked a bit flat when I finished painting, so I used sandpaper and sgraffito to reintroduce some whites (can’t do that with paper). I’ll have to avoid those during the residency. It’s a bit tight, but what else can you do with a highly technical subject? The finish is also flat and the darks don’t have much depth. I’m thinking of glazing it with oil media to remedy that.


Not too sure about the public service ochre on the horseshoe bearing – I would have gone for Monza red.

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