Chalk: A white soft earthy limestone (calcium carbonate) formed from the skeletal remains of sea creatures.
CaCO3
In October I'm showing a new piece of work called CaCO3 in Winchester for the Arts Biennial 10Days: Chalk 2015.
This can be seen in The Winchester Theatre Royal just one of the many venues hosting events exhibitions and performances across the city for the month of October - November.
I'm just in the process of gathering everything I need together to begin making so in the meantime here are a few images of some of the material tests I've been working on recently.
These pieces of chalk were collected from just outside the train station in Winchester on my first visit to meet Kate Raines at the theatre to measure the space where the final works will be hung.
It's pretty easy to find once you start to open your eyes. Chalk is very much part of Winchester's geological foundation but it will be interesting to find out how many people living in and around the city take notice of this material beneath them.
Having collected some medium sized pieces of chalk to begin initial tests. It requires quite a lot of time and effort to crush it down into a workable state.
Here are the results of some of the tests to date. I'm also finding that different mixing mediums create contrasting finishes. Although the largest piece of canvas I've worked on so far is only 50 x 50 cm square I'm beginning to understand how far I can push it. Although, it's often a very different story once you scale it up to full size.
