Following on from our day visiting the Birmingham canals I have worked up many sketches and now generated the first canvas on this theme. The picture below shows three stages of how the canvas was developed from the rough idea and then pared down to the essential elements I thought typified the landscape we walked through – simplifications of the reflected arch of the bridge, factory, chimney, with wooden panels and bushes scratched through the many layers of acrylic paint. Some of the glazes were worked using KY Jelly mixed with the acrylic as suggested by artist John Myatt. Two more canvasses are now on the go.
