I have not yet decided just how realistic I want to go with the stone carving “The Gymnast.” I know that my style tends towards realism, but I am not necessarily thinking strictly in those terms when I work. And I tend to use hair as a compositional device more than as a depiction of reality.
That said, I still find inspiration in Nature and models. In this case, I have been using my most available model. And I have a lot of hair. I put it up into a ponytail and moved my head about, looking in the mirror and touching my head to see how the hair fell. Often I see better with my fingertips.
Also, there is so much symmetry in this pike pose that I wanted the hair, along with the toes, to be obviously asymmetrical. You may see in the first image that I have redrawn the skull to a more proportionate size. I had left so much stone around the head because I had not yet decided on how I wanted the hair to fall. But it was time to reduce the size of the head so that I could continue to work the rest of the stone sculpture.
If I let something go for too long, my brain will start to make order out of the disproportion and I will no longer see my error as such. At this point, I am working the masses of the hair only from three sides, still allowing myself to change my mind as I go along. The trick is to shape the form as I reduce the mass of marble.
Happy Birthday, Mom!
6 comments:
All I can say is, Wow! Your carvings and sculptures seem so simple and beautiful in the end. By sharing the intricacies involved you help us to see the underlying complex forms. Thanks, Kelly. Merry Christmas. May your holidays be full of art, fun, love and family .. in some welcome order for you! Hugs
Seasons Greetings
See two of your works on my blog in
Making A Mark Awards 2009: Nominations for the best picture (portrait/figures)
http://makingamark.blogspot.com/2009/12/making-mark-awards-2009-nominations-for.html
You are making visible progress. Very interesting to read about your ideas and decisions along the way, such as using the hair and the toes to add some asymmetrical personality. The blog entries document both the creative and the technical process. They'll be a nice bonus for whoever is lucky enough to acquire this work.
Looks like it is coming along nicely. I already have in my mind what it will look like when it is finished. We'll see how close I am. I know in any case it will be beautiful. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Thank you so much Jo!
And Katherine - I feel honored to be named on your site.
Andrew, thank you for that -- sometimes I feel that I am not progressing fast enough, but then the cold prevents more, I think.
Dale, thank you -- I am also curious if your image will match mine.
And Jo and Andrew, thank you for nominating my work to Katherine Tyrrell's Making a Mark blog.
Voting starts on Christmas Day and ends on the 29th.
So, fingers crossed.
Merry joyful Christmas to all!
Well, my work did not make it to the next round, but I did vote today for one of the three finalists: "Palm Sunday"
by Karin Jurick
You can vote too (as you wish of course):
http://makingamark.blogspot.com/2009/12/vote-for-best-artwork-on-art-blog-in.html
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