By Matthew Jones
London - A British artist has created a painting so large it needed the construction of a special display frame weighed down with 50 tons of concrete.
At 9,8 by 6,7 metres, the canvas wouldn't fit in most art galleries, prompting artist Adam Ball to hang his work outside, a short walk from Piccadilly Circus in the heart of London.
"The Tree" is a life-size portrait of his favourite oak tree in West Sussex, southern England.
'It's very big' "I painted on a specially made, weather-proof polyester canvas and used acrylic paint - 100 litres of it," the artist told Reuters in an interview.
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"It took me three months to paint, but the whole project to get planning permission - to have the canvas hung from a scaffold - and to find a sponsor took about two and a half years," the 25-year-old fine arts graduate said.
Although some artwork has been created measuring hundreds of square feet, Ball said he believed his picture was one of the largest to be hung upright.
He said the scale of the undertaking presented problems and not least because the frame in Golden Square needed to be so strong.
"Because it is on canvas and not on a billboard it is on one level a very large sail," said Ball.
"It was a very physical way of painting, walking around the canvas which was laid on the floor of a barn," Ball said, adding he used mops as well as brushes to create his mammoth picture.
The first time he was able to view his creation properly was when it was hung earlier this month.
"I hadn't been able to stand back and view it properly before. Getting the right shape and scale was difficult," he said.
Passers-by appeared to share one sentiment as they surveyed the dark trunk and branches of the tree and the varying shades of blue background.
"It's very big," said Clare Summers, a 29-year old Londoner as the canvas gently flapped in a light early evening breeze.
Her friend Jasmine Black thought it might be impractical for most art-lovers.
"You'd need to live in a palace or something," she said.
Ball said the painting has already been sold to a private art collector, but declined to say for how much.
"It probably cost about £30 000 R500 ) to create," he said, adding that his more conventionally-sized tree paintings sell for about £3 000 to £8 000.
And the future of "The Tree?"
"It will be taken down on September 18 and hopefully go on a tour of Britain," said Ball.
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