In the second week of our project we had a workshop to make our own canvas frame and the material used was an old canvas tent. I am rather pleased with my little canvas frame which is 40cm x 40cm and it’s a skill I will use in the future.

However, me being me, decided to go large on the project and use the tent window, to try and convey the visual story.

Although, I knew what the message was I wanted to express in my art, I had lots of ideas in my head. A tip from my tutor was to take a photo of the tent canvas print off and paint my sketch ideas onto them. Pretty good advice as I had also to decide which was going to have the most impact, an image on the canvas window cover or the window itself.

Here are a few of my ideas, some subtle, some not. I really wanted to get across the sense of loss and the huge void that is left behind.

It was difficult to decide and because the success of the work relied on what the observer sees, I canvassed the opinion of several people, horsey, non horsey, fellow art loving friends etc. The final image is a result of a coffee and going through my sketchbook with a friend who’s also an artist. We both had a vision of a fragmented horse and a winding road. I have lots of reference photographs from photography workshops of horses, and I found a stock photo of a road. Using the overlay layers in photoshop and playing with the opacity and adjustment effects, I created the final image.

One thing I have learnt, after running out of time again, is that I have to add contingency into how long it us actually going to take, as yet again events took over and time was not on my side. So to start the final piece I used my tracing line drawing to create an acetate to use with the overhead projector. I then did the outline in chalk and I could get started!

I have explored several ideas and outcomes, and even though I didn’t finish the final piece, it is still a successful outcome. I have managed to tick off several off the points in my paragraph. I’ve tackled painting items, subject matter that I would have panicked over a few months ago. I’ve overcome my blocks and am a lot more confident in my abilities.

I see the final piece hanging from the ceiling in the middle of a galleryby the guy ropes. As you walk around behind you’ll see the lyrics from Iron Maiden’s “When two worlds collide” will be projected onto the back.

I am currently adding the detail to the image. It will have it’s own special blog post, because it’s the largest painting I’ve done, as well as representing a personal journey worth recording.