‘Local mackerel III’ for The Folkestone Macmillan Art Show’

http://thefolkestonemacmillanartshow2012.yolasite.com/

Creative Canterbury recently alerted me to Cancer charity Macmillan’s Folkestone Art Show 2012. Last year I exhibited alongside loftier artists such as Tracey Emin with my ‘Local mackerel’ (Margate version) in a Pilgrim’s Hospice exhibition of artists’ postcards at Margate’s Harbour Arm Gallery. Folkestone is a local Kentish seaside town that I thought would adapt well to the mackerel concept. The original idea was a linocut (see previous post) and I have also painted a whole shoal of these as small watercolour originals (Whitstable version, which are sold at Taking the Plunge in Whitstable High Street), but this is the first time I have turned to canvas to convey the concept.

Base layer drying in my studio

I transfered the design to the large (0.5m x 1m wide) box canvas by the time-homoured process of drawing a grid over a linoprint and translating the size upwards to the canvas. I then painted the sea and base colour which I left to dry.

Pre-stripes

Now down to the black linework, painted in a very graphic style close to the original linocut.

 

Painting the mackerel’s unique pattern

Note the bluish-green reflective surface

Once the black linework was dry, I added a mix of acrylic varnish and silver flecks of glitter to achieve a lovely fish-like sheen. As a result, the canvas winks beautifully when it catches the sunlight. The exhibition runs from Friday the 17th of Feb to Tuesday the 28th of Feb 2012 at Georges House Gallery 8 The Old High Street, Folkestone, Kent, CT20 1RL Tel: 01303 244533

St George’s House Gallery window

‘Local mackerel III’  © Peter Gander

 

Mackerel on stone © Peter Gander

Note the canvas-like toothy texture of this mould-made paper

The mackerel, a fishy favourite of mine, both in eating and illustrative terms, with its iteresting body pattern which I have visited before, of course. Another painting on Two Rivers paper, a substrate so well-suited for this study of the fish lying on a stone surface, as it’s rich in texture, most notable in the close-up. Note also the huge brush that I use, which I also keep at arms’ length in order to keep a freer, looser feeling to my work than if I used a tiny brush up close. Winsor & Newton watercolour on 400gsm Two Rivers (Somerset) deckle-edged, handmade paper.