Flaming Piper – A3 Digital Print
About the Image:
When someone uses a set of Bagpipes as a flame thrower, it’s an impressive sight, and one I was keen to capture. Sadly, I didn’t get the money shot as he’d stopped flaming when I took the photo, but that didn’t stop me from letting imagination fill in the blanks.
There’s an overall impression of chaos when you look at the flaming Piper. In fact the Piper is one of the many details you spot later when you’ve been looking at the picture for a while. The initial impression is of a building on fire, explosive fire would be more accurate. The Houses of Parliament or is it Westminster Abbey is ablaze. Isn’t it? No, there is no arson here. The flames blast from the bagpipes played by the man in the kilt. An impressive sight by any standards. Notice the space around him, on an otherwise crowded street. Nobody wants to get too close.
A bagpipe playing busker by Westminster Station dominates the Flaming Piper-original Painting by Cathy Read. Flames are spewing out of his pipes and obscuring the glorious buildings behind. Rich colour is everywhere to be seen.
The crowd is heavy, details and patterns on clothing merge to form a jumble of limbs and fabric. From bright floral pattern dresses to drab suits and somewhere in between. This is a bustle of the city continuing with a blase attitude when faced with the extraordinary. The weariness of the crowd that’s seen everything. Even without the flames, the piper was amazing but the London crowd is jaded. They’ve seen this before. Time for the next selfie, or social media post.
Time for the next big thing.
Creation The picture is painted on watercolour paper. She draws the lines with masking fluid to a planned arrangement before painting it with a watercolour wash which gets covered with clingfilm. Once this is removed the picture is further developed using acrylic inks which are left to dry before the masking is removed to reveal the final picture.
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