Queen's Diamond Jubilee Street Party, Windermere Road, Ealing, London W5
primed, 2 coats blue emulsion and draft sketch
Residents in Ealing gathered together at community levels to celebrate both Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee and harmony within communities. This was celebrated in Windermere Road as a street party, where Isabella Wesoly (resident Creative Director of Making Murals) helped at a 'street level' in co-creating and collaborating in community art.
On the right is how the large panel of MDF looked before 'little hands' in a West London street made their marks. The MDF was salvaged by Isabella after her 'eagle eyes' spotted the large sheet left with waste, at a neighbouring business.
Many Thanks to Peter House at Ealing Saab (Uses.co.uk) for arranging to have the panel moved into preparation space. Isabella is pro-active in lawfully salvaging suitable items that are perfect for making art. It helps while the economy is on a downturn and proves that we don't necessarily need money to make art. Left over paint is an ecological hazard when dumped in landfills, try an Internet search for 'landfills' and view images to see what we throw away.
The MDF may have been destined to a wood re-cycling unit, but it's art now!
It also 'vanished' in a magical-mystery tour, as butterfiles.. oops! as butterflies and diamonds may!
Open for another to grace the space of community.
PREPARATION & PROCESS :
A few heads turned and much interest gathered as Isabella sealed the MDF panel with the primer that was donated by Wrights DIY Hardware in Northfields Avenue, London W13. The next day some royal blue matt emulsion was mixed into half a large tub of white matt emulsion and the primed MDF was painted light blue. There had intially been a little issue with the light blue that Isabella created from left over emulsion paints in her home. A few dribbles of crimson dye transformed a green-ish blue to the desired sky blue shade and once applied to the prepared panel a cartoon draft (sketch) was added.
DRAFT SKETCH: Isabella pencil-marked one hundered and three diamonds and butterflies onto the primed MDF board, each one representing a house in the street, there are 103 houses (some are flats).
Each motif was later drawn over with permanent black marker, so that when the blue emulsion was applied the motifs were still visible underneath.
NUMBERS: The planned layout of 103 motifs considered one central shape, plus 51 in both the upper and the lower sections. In each of the upper and lower sections a further layout of 1 central and 25 surrounding motifs were drafted. Their sizes were approximate to the perceived space, but after pencilling on the sketch there was enough space to make each motif slightly larger.
Isabella edited some of the photographs provided to her of the day's events and has added the finished product on this website, with some others of the day's celebration. To see them click on the image below:
click on the crown to see 'Diamonds & Butterflies'
