NT Scenic Art : DAY 3

When arriving at the NT today I had a sudden air of confidence about me! I got a nod from security and I made my way seamlessly to the workshops without a single wrong turn (which is quite an achievement at the national!). I sat down briefly but was itching to get started so go straight to work.

My first job was to finish off hammering the nails into the right hand vertical of my canvas. After this was complete I could now add the cotton to create the grid. I began with the vertical points and, going up and down using the ladder tied the end of the cotton to the top pin and brought it down to the bottom one etc. 

I then moved onto the horizontal points and, after about an hour, I had my grid! 

I then proceeded to transfer the image onto the canvas using 1:10 scale. I used charcoal rather than pencil as it creates softer edges that will blend with the paint leaving no pencil lines behind.

Using a ruler I measured points on the drawing to ensure accuracy on the larger version. A lot of the transfer was also done by eye.

I worked on this until lunchtime and then at 2pm watched the matinee performance of 'She Stoops To Conquer' in the Olivier. I got to sit in the directors box and met the DSM and Director which was interesting!

I returned at about 5pm and spent the last half of an hour finishing off the outline.

Here is the final outline (minus text) which is now ready to be painted:

Tomorrow I will begin by painting in the black background. 

The text can then by 'pounced' ontop of the black as this will be easier than trying to fill in the black background afterwards.

When the black background is dry I can then start painting the figure. Exciting stuff!!