Meccano Collage Step by Step

Yesterday I started work on my Meccano painting. I wanted to create something that would appeal to a Meccano enthusiast - after all, there will be a few of them at the Maghull Frank Hornby Exhibition in May - but also something that would be suitable for a child's bedroom wall.

I also knew that I wanted to include a few pieces of Meccano, so I had to choose a surface that would be thin enough to take my Meccano screws, but be thick enough to hold shape. I decided that I would try one of the tough cardboard backings from my watercolour pad.

I began by priming the card with Acrylic Gesso, applied with a palette knife.


While the gesso was drying I began to prepare the background. I decided that Hornby data should be a feature of this work, so I printed some very old Hornby tables onto ordinary photocopier paper, and tore it into pieces ready for collaging. 

To get nice edges when tearing paper, you can draw water onto the paper using a brush



Wait for it to soak in


And then pull the paper apart along the damp line. It's very easy, and the paper tears exactly where you want it to.


Here are some of my papers, ready to go.


I wanted a yellow background, so before adding the papers I glued a sheet of yellow tissue paper to the gesso coated card using Gloss Acrylic Glaze Medium on both sides of the tissue so that the surface would still be OK to paint over with acrylics.


Using the same medium, I then glued all my papers in place, leaving some areas without papers, and then glued another piece of yellow tissue paper on top.


Then I painted some meccano models onto card and stuck these down with PVA glue.


And then I added my Meccano pieces. 


Oh doom and disaster, this was not at all the vision I had in my head.

Decidedly disgruntled, I took myself off to bed to sleep on it.


In the night I had a brainwave - I would take off the small cars and replace them with a single larger one. I sketched out a longer car onto white tissue paper and then stuck it down, again using the Gloss Acrylic Glaze Medium.




I then painted this using my Acrylics and also added a new slightly larger and brighter Meccano badge. Looking better already. I then painted a red border around the whole painting to complete the frame.



I'm very happy with this now, I just need to add a hanger on the back and I'm done. It is slightly warped so I may need to fix it to a wooden frame on the back.

I hope you found this step by step useful. If you have a go yourself, enjoy creating!

Please do not use my design for commercial gain.




Thanks so much for dropping by, I do hope you enjoy reading my blog. Why not leave a comment to say hello so that I know you called? Feel free to link back to your own blog too.

Stephie

Acrylic Ink on Canvas Board

Today I thought I would start work on my next piece for the Frank Hornby Exhibition.

My intention was to use vibrant and translucent acrylic inks to create a painting of meccano, one of his inventions.

I spent a couple of hours this morning carefully applying acrylic ink, using salt and vinegar to create texture in the background. Vinegar repels the ink and creates some wonderful results, but you must make sure that you wash it off very thoroughly or the acid will affect the longevity of your artwork.

I very diligently took photos at each stage so that I could show you how the painting developed - so far, so good. Imagine my horror then, when the ink washed right off the board!

I ran a couple of tests, and sure enough, the acrylic ink simply wouldn't stick to the board. So I have put away my inks for now until I want to work on watercolour paper or stretched canvas, both of which I have used without problem before.

Please share your experiences in the comments box below - I'd love to know if (and how) you have been successful with acrylic inks!

Hornby Trains

In May this year it will be 150 years since the birth of Frank Hornby, the inventor of Hornby Trains and Meccano.

To celebrate, there will be a weekend extravaganza in Maghull (near Liverpool) where he used to live, and I'm delighted to have been asked to paint a couple of pictures for the exhibition.

When I get an idea in my head I have to get cracking with it before I burst with anticipation. I don't own any Hornby trains and couldn't find any Hornby photographs that I could use without infringing copyright, so I decided to begin with this: a locomotive on the West Coast Wilderness Railway in Tasmania. I found the reference photo for this painting on a wonderful website called Paint My Photo - where photographers and artists meet. This is a superb resource full of copyright-free photographs for artists to use as they wish.

In this blog post I'll show you the stages of producing my first painting for the exhibition.

I began by lightly sketching the outline of the train and track, and masked out the highlights on the train and the track. Next I added an initial light wash of green for the trees and blue for the sky. Whilst the trees were still wet I randomly sprinkled a little table salt and then pressed some cling film on top to give texture.

Next I added blues for the gravel and then sprinkled with salt.


Then I began to add colour for the train and carriage, lifting colour with a tissue to get a steamy effect around the bottom of the train.


When the paint under the cling film was dry, I removed both it and the salt and then repeated the process to strengthen areas of the trees and a bush in the foreground.

Whilst this was drying I began to more clearly define the train.



I continued to add colour and depth. It's very important to maintain a contrast between light and dark - this is what gives a painting that 3D effect.

At this stage I also began to add blues and purples to define the steam, remembering to leave a lot of white too! I used blue and purple instead of grey for interest.


Next I added definition to the areas that had been masked out, and added a touch of definition around the background - splashes of blues and greys in the gravel, grasses to the right hand side, and further definition in the steam using some negative painting and some dry brush strokes.


OK, I'm happy with the painting, now for the mount. I looked at various shades of blue, cream and white, and decided on a pale blue and a cream.

Blue helps the train to really stand out, but blue alone is too dominant.



So I added a cream, just leaving some blue to show through.


And finally, I chose a large natural wooden frame in light oak.



Finished.....or was it? Darling Husband spotted an error late last night - the lamp was not connected to the train! Here it is with the connecting piece added in.



The only thing left to decide is how much to charge for it...and to start work on my next piece!




Thanks so much for dropping by, I do hope you enjoy reading my blog. Why not leave a comment to say hello so that I know you called? Feel free to link back to your own blog too.

Stephie