I wanted to try something a little different from what I usually paint, so this is going to be the first in what I hope will be a series. I am really intrigued by all the colours and shapes that you see in rusted metals, and I thought it would be interesting to do a semi-abstract set of paintings based on old rusty metal pieces. This is also the biggest piece I have ever worked on – 24 x 28 inches, so it will be getting me accustomed to working a larger scales. After the little 4 x 4 inch pieces that I did for the show this is another change.

This photo shows the underpainting, which is the orange and green shapes. I have begun the final painting from the top down, the whitish part. This is an old rusted wall I saw on one of the big sheds on Granville Island. The swirly colours and dents and loose pieces were so cool. So far it has been fun to work on something so free form. It is also quite different to work on this scale, using big brushes. I keep running out of paint because I’m not used to how much it takes for this size of canvas. Lots of learning again.

I’ll put up a few more photos as it goes along.