Recently I began a composition which soon left me very dissatisfied. I decided to use oil pastels (after a very long break from this medium) and selected the wrong paper with which to use them. It was a very complex piece of drawing, and having established a rather good composition I was reluctant just to abandon it. It has been sitting around in my studio for a couple of weeks now, awaiting a decision about its fate. Then, by complete coincidence, a possible approach occurred to me.
I was asked by a friend to repaint the sign bearing the name of his house. Its is very old–certainly Victorian–and I wanted as far as possible to preserve its character. It occurred to me that it might be a good idea to trace the antique lettering, in order to preserve the style in which the sign was written. I’m in the middle of this exercise, and so far it seems to be working quite well. Today, out of the blue, the idea descended into my head that I might do something along the same lines with my problematic picture. If I trace the main elements of the drawing, transferring these to a fresh sheet of paper, I can preserve the original composition but start again with a new support and a new medium. I can do this without the enormous fag of attempting to copy a fairly complex drawing. I’ve made a start, and now have the outline of the composition on a sheet of tracing paper, awaiting my decision as to exactly which new paper would be the most appropriate as a support for the new drawing.
As I was doing this today I had an interesting thought. At first I experienced a reluctance to try this experiment, because it felt as if it was in some respect “cheating”. Then I remembered that this technique was bread and butter to the mediaeval fresco painters. They would draw the design on paper, and then transfer it to the wall by “pricking through” the “cartoon” leaving an outline of small holes on the wall waiting to be painted. This is, in fact, exactly the technique I am planning to use in the case of my friend’s house sign. Now, far from feeling that I am somehow letting the side down by using a transfer, and that no real artist would do such a thing, I realise that I am actually working in an ancient and honourable tradition. It’s great to feel that I’m following in the footsteps of Sandro Botticelli!