Final Building Investigation

The Haunted House on Prince Edward

watercolor, blue tape, cold press paper on blick board

12" x 9"

The Haunted House on Prince Edward piece was the fifteenth and final sustained investigation of a series of 15 and I chose to "investigate" buildings from my childhood in Sydney that held meaning to me. I was feeling kind of creatively drained by the time I sat down to paint this, I knew I was going to be up till at least 12:30 (I really can't paint in blocks, I need to do the whole piece in one sitting), and I was just feeling bored of this project. I was kind of out of buildings that I found important, so I retraced my sister and I's walk to school on google maps hoping to stumble upon childhood memories. I finally came across a house I have many memories of. Gladesville, my town, has become much more posh and expensive to live in, not saying it wasn't like that when we lived there. However, I heard recent Aussie friends of my dad explaining to us that we wouldn't even recognize Gladesville now because of how posh it has become, and this just didn't sit right with me. This house in particular right down Prince Edward street was aggressively abandoned and the jungle of New South Wales was doing its very best to reclaim the property. We used to have to pass this house on our way to school and on our way to fishing, so it has been ingrained in my mind as we always rushed past it. I wanted to paint this house and depict a scene of my friend Harvey and I scootering past with our fishing gear.

I had no idea how I should start this piece or what medium I should use, so what answered the question was the time. I started painting at around 9:45 on a Sunday night, and I knew although I might like the product more, acrylic would take too long. Then I recalled my Cranky Fins piece, and I loved how I was able to paint the jungle in that. I used solely watercolor and opted out of using micron pens in order to really push my abilities on this piece. I wanted to continue creating people because it creates stronger pieces but I wasn't sure how to include myself and Harvey. When I finished painting, at around 1:00 am, I felt like the piece wasn't done and created the rough border because I wanted the layers, texture, and shadows to compliment the painting itself.

The hardest part about this piece was the motivation, in that there was zero. I waited till the last night before this was due and started at 9:45 pm and didn't go to sleep until 2ish and still wasn't done the next morning. But I'm very pleased with my work on this piece and think, as far as AP 2d portfolio goes, this piece might hit the most marks.