The Portneuf Project

Over a year ago the Portneuf Medical Center, looking for art for their new building, put out a call for artists to submit portfolios for consideration. I was fortunate enough to be one of twenty-five local artists whose work was chosen. The new building is huge, requiring big pieces, pieces bigger than I have ever painted. But when asked if I could reproduce one of my portfolio submissions on a massive scale (40 in. x 60 in.) of course I said YES!

There were many challenges in this project, the least of them actually painting. A regular full sheet of watercolor paper is 22 in. x 30 in. and prior to this project I had never done a painting larger than this. But I had an over-sized roll of watercolor paper, forty-eight inches wide. Before taking the commission I had to measure the roll to make sure it was large enough for the size required.

Finding a suitable support was the next obstacle. Normally I staple a full sheet to a lightweight board; this allows me to lift, shift and tilt the piece throughout the painting process. This painting was to be almost as wide as I am tall so heavy plywood was out of the question. We bought a sheet of masonite cut just larger than the dimensions of the painting but it was too heavy for me to manipulate. I started calling friends that had done over-sized work and one suggested foam core. As luck would have it our local frame shop had just received two huge sheets, so within an hour I had the perfect support! Foam core is lightweight yet rigid enough to keep the painting from warping too much.

It took my husband and me nearly an hour to measure, cut and mount the first sheet of paper. Watercolor paper is heavy, made from cotton rag and finished with sizing, making it very stiff. Stock this large comes on a roll and it took both of us, several heavy books and a roll of tape to secure it to the support.

I blew the first drawing--centering it too low on the paper--but it did not take half as long to cut and secure the second sheet. The second drawing practically fell on the paper and was perfect. I got a good night's sleep and started painting the next day.

I had some initial awkward moments--being small I had to learn how to carefully manipulate this massive piece. Putting my drafting table at a forty-five degree angle I could reach the top of the piece but the angle proved too steep, causing the paint to pool in heavy puddles and then run. I ended up working flat on a table that I pushed into the middle of the studio. Because I did not have the reach to span the entire height of the piece I worked around the table in 360 degrees and often painted the image upside-down. Physically maneuvering around the painting surface was tricky too, but I put my water, paint and brushes on a rolling cart that traveled with me around the painting.

Iris, fifty percent complete

Once the technical difficulties were worked out, the painting was a dream. Working at this scale was liberating--mixing up giant puddles of intense exaggerated color, then lifting and dropping these saturated hues onto huge expanses of white paper and watching them run and move was a thrill! Every brush stroke was an adventure, every painting session a delight, pure creativity and pure play--I loved it!

Iris, seventy percent complete

And then I was done...and had to figure out how to get this massive fragile piece of paper to Houston, Texas for framing. Luckily I was able ship it rolled up. A quick trip to Lowes and we found an excellent shipping tube--a heavy duty cardboard roll, normally used as a cement form. We rolled the painting in on itself, slipped it into an enormous plastic bag and slid it into the tube. We sealed the ends with wads of bubble wrap and tape. Then I took it to the nice folks at UPS who created a custom made box, complete with two inches of foam insulation, in under fifteen minutes and shipped it off. I tracked this shipment with trepidation and did not breathe easily until I heard from my liaison for this project in Houston notifying me of its safe arrival. Her email said it "arrived safely and was beautiful!"

Iris, finished piece