Round of applause for the best canvas stretcher around!

Today I made a glorious return to the Slade!


My main reason was so I could start on some work for the seminar I'm in next week, but I kind of missed it there too and have been dying to make something!


I threw myself into work, starting my day with a trip to the wonderful canvas and art suppliers Russell and Chapple for two sets of 4ft x 4ft canvas stretchers. With student discount they came to £59 and for standard quality they're pretty good! So I lugged them back to the Slade where I assembled them. I then pulled out my bag of canvas, only to find I didn't have enough for both the stretchers! So I stretched one and applied rabbit skin glue to tighten it while I went back to Russell and Chapple for more canvas! I use 10oz unprimed cotton canvas which means it works out a bit cheaper but its still good quality, I decided to stock up and bought 6m for £42. Back at the Slade I stretched and tightened my second canvas then primed them ready for the painting process to begin tomorrow!


So I consider my day to have been hectic but being fairly new at canvas making I'm pretty chuffed with my efforts!


I've managed to avoid showing my work in a weekly seminar all year so I suppose it's only right I'm shoved into the last one of the year next week! My plan is to get both the 4ft canvases painted and hang them side by side. I'll be working from a couple of photos I took of museum displays while I was in Boston, I'm quite interested in the composition of the displays and there's something about this I hope will come across in the paintings I make. 


The seminar is next Wednesday and I'm hoping I get an interesting response. If it's bad then I suppose it's still a learning curve! 


To relax after a long day I decided to take a walk to Regents Street to admire the Royal Wedding decorations!

The Jet Lag Lingers

Apologies for the delay of this post, I returned from my trip to Boston a while ago and have many an adventure to report!

Although the purpose of my trip was to visit a friend, I also used the opportunity to check out the art scene and get some reading done.

My friend is a student at Tufts University in Medford, Boston so while she was busy attending classes and writing essays I travelled into and around central Boston to visit the Museum of Fine Arts, The Isabella Stewart-Gardner Museum and the Institute of Contemporary Art. 

It was a great chance for me to explore my interest in museum display further and I took plenty of photos!

MFA

While walking round the gallery and making sketches I found I was most interested in the clusters of the objects and the relationships they had with each other. I also looked at the spaces between the objects as I think the negative space could be just as important within my investigating.

I also raided the library at Tufts university while I was there and managed to read up on this continuing idea of the 'uncanny' and objects.

It wasn't all reading and gallery visits though, I managed to do some touristy stuff and hit the shops while I was there, here are some snapshots of the city I took on my adventures...

Tufts famous canon

Museum of Fine Arts

Isabella Stewart-Gardner Museum

The Institute of Contemporary Art

Boston Cityscape

A truck!!

Harvard's lucky statue

Sunset on Boston Common

Boston is a beautiful city and I would definitely recommend it to people, however on returning I still haven't got back to a regular sleep pattern! 

Silly silly jet lag

Easter Break... Let's Go To Boston, MA!

After the stress in recent weeks things have calmed down a little. I am on my easter break until the first week of May and so now I spend my days trying to pass the time whilst keeping productive. 


On the coming Monday I will be jetting off to Boston for 7 days to visit a friend studying at TUFTS University. Whilst being excited to see her and meet her friends, I have also lined up a few galleries to visit such as the Museum of Fine Art and the ICA. I might also experience my first (and last) Fraternity Party... I'm hopeful it won't be like those we see in films based around College life. 


When I return you can expect a long post of my adventures with many photos I plan to take and sketches I make. I also feel I may return to the studios in the Slade to get started on work before term officially begins again.


Here's to a mini adventure, and lots of shopping!