Gail Sagman Abstract Painter

‘Grist to the Mill’

The wall of the building opposite my studio in the courtyard of the working mill at Lyme Regis is 30ft long and 20ft to the apex and is comprised of white painted bricks.

The idea of creating a piece of work for a specific space, to fill the form of the space, to work out of doors, and to have the opportunity to work on such a scale are all hugely attractive prospects.

The opportunity arose to make use of the wall and canvas was stretched across the surface of the building.

Sections of torn canvas were arranged and glued to the stretched ‘cotton duck’ in order to begin by ‘composing’ minimally.

The public were then invited to bring debris, both manmade and natural (biodegradable only) to the courtyard.

By combining the given pieces of ‘booty’ to others, new forms arose

The resulting ‘objects’ were sewn to the surface of the canvas, with cotton or string. There positions chosen to form a visual rhythm, within the form of the picture plane

In order to create a linear resist from the attached pieces, the surface was sprayed with a grey tonal wash in a dynamic fashion

The debris was detached from the canvas

A drawing was created from the silhouettes

Additional marks, areas of tone and colour using a wide variety of materials were added to bring alternative detail and to ‘connect’ all elements of the composition

After several weeks mould spores began their work of altering the imagery

At this stage, charcoal, fabric and paint were employed to create the final painting