Stella Maris. Acrylic on canvas. 2012

My last complete painting was painted on a sheet of canvas and hung like a banner (see image). This gave reference to religious banners found in churches, and a secondary motive was the fact that it would save a massive amount of space when moving and storing the piece. I felt it was so successful that I have decided to use this method again for my next paintings i.e. my two self portraits. I am planning to make them between two and three feet tall, with a pole at the top and bottom of each, stitched into the canvas, and a length of cord through the top pole, from which they will hang.

I am almost ready to start work on the final paintings. I am just struggling with one aspect of my second self portrait; I want to form a raised/ embossed pattern in the background to mimic medieval religious paintings, but I have not yet found a way of doing this that I am happy with. I also have one more study to paint for this piece which I have not yet had time to work on.