Made by Numbers

This project was inspired by a call out for a Ruskin open. It asked for an painting of an Urban or a rural environment. I live on the outskirts of a town. On one side of the road is town, the other spreads into countryside. The countryside side of the road is contentious space at the moment. New legislation means that more farmland can be built on. Those who are anti this feel that that it will spoil their villages, disconnect us further from nature etc etc. Those who are for it see it as a chance to own a house or get facilities close by. It is one of the few issues I sit on the fence on.

I was intrigued by this idea of a place between Rural and Urban. An OR space where the boundaries blur. Most borders in the world are contentious places.

So I set about creating a series of paintings of the local construction site. Here will stand a new crematorium.

An example from the internet

The paint by number style came about after several reincarnations of the same painting. I chose its sterility over the more paintrly styles. I am now pondering on the idea of paint by numbers too. A tiny bit of research unearthed this desription of it.

"Propelled by postwar prosperity, increased leisure time, and the democratic idea that anyone might paint a picture, paint by number became a popular pastime in the early 1950s. Each paint-by-number kit included two brushes and up to ninety premixed, numbered paints ready to be applied to numbered spaces on an accompanying
 canvas or board. As the spaces were filled in, the gradual revelation of a picture surprised and delighted." http://j-walkblog.com/index.php?/weblog/posts/Paint_By_Numbers3/
The whole act of creating a fine art painting in a paint by numbers style throws up all sorts of ponderance.
As I draw I choose the lines from the photographic image more carefully than if I was sketching lines in for a traditional painting. If somebody was going to colour this images instead of me they would need it to be right. They wouldn't be making choices and adapting the image as they go along. They would simply be following the pre written instructions.
As I start to paint I embellish the image. Adding blocks of colour which are not in the original line work. My paint by numbers experience is non authentic in this regard. I am still making creative choices.
I leave some of the spaces in the painting uncoloured and add numbers to show more clearly the idea of paint by numbers.

Painting before the numbers go on Spring by Beth Barlow

I have toyed with putting in measures to alter this dicotomy. To make it more authentic I could include more line work in the first instance. I could preordain my colours before starting. Or I could fake that authenticity by adding in more lines once I have finished.  But after some thought I think I like the conceptual disquiet in the painting. If you look at the painted area you see detail, look at the unpainted and it is more vacant. If you took up a brush and decided to complete the image it would either look incongruous or you would have to start improvising detail, make creative choices, become creative in a way.






Latest line drawing's waiting to be filled in:

As Painted

As Photoshoped

Photoshoped to Death

Films about paint by numbers