how it's made, redux - Barbara Downs

I finished this piece, Nothing But Blue Skies, some time ago, but I was so busy getting it finished and shipped to Venice for the European Cultural Centre’s Biennale show that I neglected to cover it in my blog at all. I’ll make amends now.

Nothing But Blue Skies, and detail view, oil on wood panels with steel frames, 96″ x 22″ x 4.75″ , 2018

Like a previous post I did about its companion piece in the Venice show, I’d like to show you some of the making of this piece. Below you’ll find plenty of pictures and descriptions. Click on the first photo and you can scroll through the rest of them with captions. More photos of this and other pieces in the Skies series can be found here.

It started with models made with roofing tar paper and cardboard.

This model made out of roofing tar paper allowed me to add a curve.

A few additional models and panels to decide on shape and fit.

I had to take a break from the skies to paint a wall in my studio to be able to hang the work that was going to ship to the upcoming Venice exhibition.

I wanted to simulate the gray paper that my photographer uses when we photograph my work. There were several grays that I worked with to mix my own custom hue.

Here you see the first of the panels from the companion piece, *Making My Own Paradise*, installed.

Back to the skies. The panels are ready for gesso.

I needed as much light as possible to enter into the box...I decided to paint the inside lip white to reflect additional light into the box and onto the painted sky panels.

This foam core assembly masks the outside of the steel box while I'm spraying the inside lip white.

Here I am attached the interior floating panel to a slightly larger panel that creates a tight pressure fit inside the black box, and there is a wood cleat being fitted to the back panel.

I started to install the cleats for the boxes, and hung one so that I could see if I liked the color and size in comparison to the companion piece.

Continuing to install cleats. I could not put the panels into the boxes because the pressure fit is SO tight that once they're in they're difficult to remove.

Continuing to check the blue next to the companion piece.

I inserted a few of the panels into boxes to check the look of the two pieces together.

Checking how a sky with clouds looks inside a black box.

Looking at the gradations of hue and cloud placement.

While doing all this painting, I looked up one day and saw the sky through my skylight.

The finished skies. There's a subtle hue gradation from bottom to top.

These are all the models and jigs that I used during the making of this piece, all lined up for a photograph before being destroyed.

The backs are signed and identified in terms of their placement.

*Nothing But Blue Skies*, oil on wood panels with steel frames, 96" x 22" x 4.75" , 2018

detail of *Nothing But Blue Skies*, oil on wood panels with steel frames, 96" x 22" x 4.75" , 2018

As I was finishing this piece, I remembered those early color versions I’d done, and since I had two additional cases I decided I would use those with some color. I already had the blue skies, so I painted these two red and yellow.

original artwork by Barbara Downs, The Primaries, 2018

The Primaries, oil on panel with painted steel frame, 22″ x 12.5″ x 4.75″, 2018, private collection

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Barbara Downs

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how it’s made, redux

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