How to Increase Scale of a Painting

Working on a commission can be such a pleasure. There's alway a new challenge. 

The challenge on this commission was to recreate 3 previously made collage works in a larger size.  The jump in scale wasn't too dramatic. I went from the original size of 22"x30" to the commissioned size of 30"x40".

​There are several tricks that artists use to accomplish this. My favorite is a simple grid technique. Here are my steps:

1. Printing an image of the "inspiration piece" on my computer.
2. Draw a grid pattern onto the digital photo
3. Mark off a grid on the larger piece of paper. This should have the same amount of squares as the photo grid, just larger.
4. Blow up each shape by using the grid system to determine the shapes size. For instance, in the picture below, we can see that the yellow form is roughly 4 squares tall by 5 squares wide. 

I practice getting the shape right by tracing around it several inches larger onto a piece of paper. This gives me my new pattern, which is traced onto the appropriate piece of Dura-Lar. 

I ended up really increasing the size of the pattern on the left to get the impact needed on the larger piece.

This image illustrates my ongoing supply of painted Dura-Lar that I use to create my work.

An example of a one of a kind painted piece of Dura-Lar that will either be used in a collage or kept as is.

Usually my smaller works contain "one of a kind" painted Dura-Lar. Blowing up a piece, means having to recreate that "one of a kind" look. At that time, I will make multiples so I have left over pieces for the future and choices in case one painted sheet works better than another. 

Works in process, You can see a completed piece on the wall and the two remaining works on the table.

After I've completed all the painting and the cutting, I do an initial mock up. I like to lay the paper flat on tables because it is so much easier to adjust and move things around. This is when eyeballing comes into play.  I find that there are always small adjustments that a person needs to make. When I'm pleased with the way things look, I tape everything together and pin it to the wall to double check my composition. If it looks good, then I glue the plastic to the paper.

I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial. Below are the inspirations pieces next to the completed pieces. I think they turned out really well. Of course, they aren't exact replicas of the originals. I did some tweaking on color to match the interior of the building. I also adjusted some of the shapes to make these collage unique works of art.

Titles: Each title came from the Architectural firms "mission statement". They are very involved in revitalizing some of Boston's older neighborhoods. I wanted the titles to reflect their mission.

Next month's post will be all about how to commission a painting for your home or business.

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Revitalizing Neighborhoods, 30"x40",  acrylic, Dura-Lar on paper, 2016 copyright Mary Zeran

Strengthening Cities, 30"x40",  acrylic, Dura-Lar on paper, 2016 copyright Mary Zeran

Fostering Opportunities, 30"x40",  acrylic, Dura-Lar on paper, 2016 copyright Mary Zeran

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