A very busy day packing, mirror plating, checking and wrapping the 30+ artworks for the Neorenaissance exhibition. Three works needed special attention and one really needs reframing because the mirror plates are about 40mm away from the wall. My solution was to use long screws and cut, drill and paint some wooden segments to fit behind them.
I also missed a painting! This was obscured in my 3D plan because of the angle of the view, the shape of it blended in with the floor, so now, The Death of Man will be in the exhibition. This distressed me because everything has long been prepared and the final list, all of the printing, poems etc. were sent to the museum weeks ago, so this last minute error was a panic moment, but at least there more than a week to go.
The last step is to make a box/crate for the Octopus Lighthouse painting. For my complex works, ones with delicate frames, I prefer to make custom packing, a simple crate of a wooden backing board, and wooden blocks to hold it. Then a lid with foam which can be screwed down. This really helps when transporting work. It's amazing to think that this painting took just 3 days to paint, but the preparation took longer, and the frame took even longer, and now the crate. Overall I started this one on February 23rd 2012, and finished 19th December (so actually 11 months overall), but later, in 2014, I made a new panel for it with some cubic zirconia and gold. People often ask how long a painting takes. You could say this one has taken 9 years so far.
Other works here will include 31st Century Crucifixion, the biggest painting on show, and Penalties, which was highlighted on the BBC website back in 2007 when it appeared in the Lowry.
Finally, I assembled the sculptures and printed material. The Octopus case will take a few days yet.
After that I made a few more changes to Prometheus, and some experiments with my graphics tablet.
I love it. I think I'll be using this a lot for future graphic art, but real media, oil paint in particular, will always by my first love. Pen and ink still has much more expressive power.
