Developing Painting Possibilities on Calabash as a Support.

Abstract:

Creating artworks, especially, painting have undergone a lot of changes overtime. Over the years, artists have adopted different styles and techniques in creating painting using different materials. Most of the inspirations for creating the work are gathered from their immediate environment. This paper discusses how cave walls, rocks, animal skins, animal horns and bones became surfaces on which drawings and paintings were depicted. It also notes how assorted papers, canvases, walls, wood, metal panels and many others have become surfaces used by contemporary artists in creating paintings. In another breath, the paper also takes a look at how calabashes of different shapes and sizes have been used by traditional craftsmen in Nigeria for making a variety of carved and decorative craft works. It discusses how the calabash could be adopted to serve as a support for creating modern paintings. It further explains application of the action based studio methodology in creating over one hundred (100) paintings in acrylic with some analysis.