Ta-Da!

And finally, The Bigger Picture collaborative project has been revealed!

I went along to the unveiling, which was very sweetly done in the historic surroundings of the King’s Lynn Fermoy Gallery. Imagine my delight to discover that I’d guessed right, and the little square I’d been given (third row down, sixth from left) did in fact show the top of a mast. (My square).

The whole scene was a view across the River Ouse from South Lynn ferry. The original, entitled The Lynn Ferry, is by an unknown artist, and dates from 1892. The local papers covered the event, and so there was plenty of flash photography and fuss!

The composite picture was displayed very effectively, covering one wall of the gallery, and with three versions of the original picture alongside it for comparison. I really enjoy the patchwork effect the different artists’ tiles create. There’s so much to look at, and comparing our version to the original by its side was fascinating.

My patch is almost in the middle of the picture, and by chance it blends pretty well with the squares next to me. This isn’t always the case, as there are so many different styles and skill levels of painting included amongst the participants. It’s very obvious when viewing the whole that the single most important factor when partaking in an event like this is to be absolutely certain that any distinguishing marks around the edges of your picture, where any line or colour meets the boundaries, are accurately positioned. If you don’t manage this, your tile won’t match up with the ones adjacent; not such a problem with sky, but definitely more of a worry if you’re assigned part of a person or a building.

I think that the impact of the picture is really effective – it’s fascinating to see the variations of interpretation from one artist to the next, and I think the whole makes an attractive artwork in its own right. The event is definitely good publicity for the gallery; if nothing else, footfall increases as the artists, families and friends come to see the finished article.

On a personal note, I’m grateful to this collaboration for starting me off with the acrylics – it gave me the reason to have a go, and I’ve had tremendous fun with them since. I’m certainly going to see if I can participate again next year!