Can & Tela Rossa
17 Oct 21 by justatest
When I first arrived in the city, I had a lot of problems with the neighbours as I'd get up early in the morning and start sawing wood to make stretchers for canvas. Very quickly I was made realize that I'd better stop that.
I wasn´t really used to the etiquette of living in an apartment block, and having to go out early every day for my dishwashing job meant I´d need to wake around 4am to first get in a few hours of my own work.

Can side view and front view Tela Rossa

Can

Can
Can, Oil on muslin on wire base [1.3m x 1.1m]

For this one, I went overboard a bit with the size and consequently when it was finished could be barely lifted by one person. To hang it properly took quite an effort.

Tela Rossa

Tela Rossa
Tela Rossa (red canvas), Oil on canvas & mixed media [2.9m x 1.2m]

And so I began to work with garden wire netting to build forms that turned out to be robust and light. The main advantage was that it was a relatively silent process - the disadvantage being it took much longer to do.
This piece was a combination of the old process (stretched canvas) inside and outside the 'new' wire frame.
I liked the result - not only the finished work, but that the neighbours too became less hostile.