Camshaft 2

[Hermes2020]

Imagine archaeologists two thousand years from now digging up a camshaft from one of today's vehicles. They would probably marvel at its beauty and speculate about the role it played in our religious ceremonies.

For my heavily textured painting, I used the silicone mould I made last year to make a lightweight cast of the camshaft that I then glued to a hardboard panel.

I coated the inside of the negative silicone mould with gesso and pressed gesso-soaked strips of canvas into the mould. I did not aim at perfection, but wanted it to look battered and corroded. The mould is wider than the painting, so I used only a 370mm part of the mould.

Here is the Griffin alkyd painting, 400 x 400mm. The horizontal yellow areas represent earth strata.

 

[Enyaw]

Beauty in age. Love the look of this beast of burden.

 

[Hermes2020]

Thank you, Wayne!

 

[Donna T]

The fact that you thought to use gesso soaked strips of canvas in order to make the camshaft just amazes me. Where there’s a will there’s a way. The battered and corroded texture of the background adds to the feel of the layers of history. It’s such a cool concept, Hermes, and beautiful finished piece!

 

[Hermes2020]

Thank you for your comments, Donna. Yes, necessity is the mother of invention! I can see myself using this technique to add sculptural elements that are not very heavy to my paintings in future. I built up three layers of canvas and I was amazed at the rigidity and light weight of the cast.

 

[Donna T]

Thank you for your comments, Donna. Yes, necessity is the mother of invention! I can see myself using this technique to add sculptural elements that are not very heavy to my paintings in future. I built up three layers of canvas and I was amazed at the rigidity and light weight of the cast.

You could have a lot of fun creating the illusion of weight and density. I hope you have leftover silicone mould material.

 

[john]

Love it. Very cool. Eccentricity makes for great art.

 

[snoball]

This is great! The wear and tear on it really adds interest and authenticity to it.

 

[Hermes2020]

You could have a lot of fun creating the illusion of weight and density. I hope you have leftover silicone mould material.

Silicone is useful for replicating real objects like camshafts; it picks up the finest of details, as one can see in the photo. Another approach I still want to try is to use my gesso + canvas strips technique in impressions made in Plasticine modelling clay. After making impressions in the Plasticine, I think I will leave it in the fridge to get very firm. Undercuts would not be a problem, since the clay can be removed easily from the dried cast.

 

[Artyczar]

I really love how this turned out. It holds so much interest and is highly aesthetic simultaneously, plus it has your organic vibe, too. The colors are naturally working together. It belongs in a museum.

 

[Hermes2020]

I really love how this turned out. It holds so much interest and is highly aesthetic simultaneously, plus it has your organic vibe, too. The colors are naturally working together. It belongs in a museum.

Wow, that's high praise indeed. Much appreciated, Ayin.