The other day I was meandering around the aisles of Home Bargains when I came across this display of Hulk Hogans.
They were large action figures, the picture doesn’t really show how big they are, but if you look behind them you can see a box of those long rolls of wrapping paper, that should give you an idea.
They were reduced from £49.99 to £10.99. (I wonder why?)
For the briefest moment I considered buying one, (in an ironic way of course, as a kind of art object you understand . . .), but decided my meagre supply of pennies would be better spent on something more relevant and practical, so carried on perusing the shelves.
I came across a stack of “artists’ canvases 50 x 60cm wooden wedges included”. At just £1.99 they were a proper bargain. I picked one up thinking that even though I don’t have the room to paint at the moment I could keep it tucked away until I do, or until the weather improves and I can paint outside. Besides I had just foregone spending eleven quid on a giant plastic action figure so I reckoned I was entitled to indulge myself.
On a shelf above the canvases there were tubes of cheap (and probably nasty) acrylic paints in garish colours for just 99p each. There was no white, as usual, and I like to use standard primary colours anyway and mix them up myself, so I hesitated. But, I thought, bugger it, I’ll challenge myself – after all, isn’t that where true art comes from – making something interesting from unexpected sources?
So I chose the three most inappropriate colours and bought them along with the canvas – total expenditure less than a fiver – a massive saving over buying the Hulk Hogan figure – wins all round!
I brought the canvas and paints home and chucked them in a corner until I could find a space to store them. But lying in bed last night I was thinking about what I could paint with those weird colours and an image of a bird popped into my head.
So, then, this morning, I decided to set up a makeshift studio in the dining room. I covered a dining chair with bin liners and set it all up. I started painting at 8.34am and stopped at 9.11am, intending to let the paint dry a bit before carrying on. Then other things got in the way and it’s now after one in the afternoon and I still haven’t got back to it.
Here’s a few photos to show what I did this morning – apologies for the poor quality of some of them. I’ll post a pic of the finished painting if and when it’s done.
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