Ian Murphy, a fine artist and artist educator, worked with three secondary schools, West Kirby High School, Wirral Grammar School for Boys & Upton Hall School (FCJ). Ian's aim was to help the students produce a painting that captured the physical qualities of the chosen environment & the spiritual and atmospheric ones as well. The images were large scale & employed a variety of materials including acrylic paint, tissue paper, graphite powder & polyfilla.

Painting may employ a variety of materials.

Watercolour paint is a finely ground pigment mixed with a binder e.g. gum arabic which is diluted with water. It is translucent in quality unlike oil paint which is opaque. The basic watercolour technique involves using a wash of diluted colour which builds to create an impression of lightness.

Acrylics are made from acrylic & metacrylic acids. Their great advantage is that they can be diluted in water & dry within minutes to an even matt finish. They were developed in the 1920s to answer the needs of a group of mural painters in Mexico (Orozco, Siqueros, & Rivera) to paint large murals for public buildings.

Jan van Eyck, a 15th century Flemish painter, is credited with the invention of painting with oils. Oil paint is made from dyes or pigments mixed with binders such as linseed or poppy oil. It can be painted on a variety of surfaces. From the painters point of view there are three important factors in the nature of an oil for painting: its purity, its colour & its drying properties. A painter may employ a variety of materials to produce a final work, overpainting, splattering, scratching in, building up a variety of textures, masking, stippling, hatching & dry brushing.

To watch a video clip about the project click below:

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What are Artists-in-Residence? | Meet the Artists Involved | Year 2000 Projects | Final Exhibition | Past Projects | Sponsorship | Preview the Videos | Acknowledgements

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