THE PHOTOGRAPH This summer as part of this project to photograph The Shipping Forecast I sailed, mostly alone, around the UK on a little 1969 Contessa 26 yacht. One day, floating around with no wind in the Moray Firth, I suddenly found myself surrounded by perhaps 25 basking sharks. Many were bigger than my boat. It was completely unexpected. A somewhat surreal and absolutely awe inspiring experience. It is wonderful to me such creatures still live so close to us. The is a video of the experience on my YouTube channel ( maybe skip the first couple minutes) here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH4WmrSX74C7OYQLL6LmOvA HOW WE MAKE THE PICTURE We build everything ourselves in the gallery. The photograph is printed on the very best archival matte canvas, hand coated in a matte varnish we import from America, and then left flat to dry for a few days. This means the picture can be cleaned with a damp cloth, and the great thing about a matte finish with no glass is that you have no distracting glare or reflections. It's a much more direct experience. Whilst the print is drying we can get on with making the stretcher frame and the tray frame that the finished canvas will drop into. The tray frame is then either hand painted or stained and waxed. Next the canvas is stretched over the stretcher frame. After that, we carefully paint the canvas edges with several coats of the same paint used on the tray frame, so they match perfectly. Then we assemble the canvas and frame, put a hanging wire on the back, and attach a Certificate of Authenticity. Finally Neil writes the days weather forecast in silver on the canvas, along with the longitude and latitude of the location the photo was taken. Also signing front and back adding the title and edition number. We use the very best materials, and I would expect my pictures to look exactly the same in 100 years. They won't fade in our lifetime. BUYING OPTIONS This picture is available as a framed stretched canvas, and comes in three sizes as detailed below. A shipping charge of £35 is added at checkout for the larger sizes, and £20 for the smaller one. Large Stretched Canvas Framed in a Tray Frame: £485 Limited Edition of 150 Framed Size 77cm by 77cm (canvas 71cm cm by 71cm) XL Stretched Canvas Framed in Tray Frame: £625 Limited Edition of 50 Framed Size is 93 cm by 93 cm (canvas size is 87cm by 87cm). Small Stretched Canvas Framed in a Tray Frame: £170 Limited Edition of 250 Framed Size 38 cm by 38cm (canvas 32cm by 32cm) Canvases can be rolled and shipped abroad unframed. Please get in touch for a quote. Feel free to call Neil on 07957 473693 with any more questions, or email us at [email protected]
