various recent exploits

So, I've been asked to make a drawing of someone for their husband as an anniversary gift. Unfortunately I'm not allowed to post the result as it was a nude but thankfully it went really well.

The doctor's hand is making good progress. Whilst I'd like to be a commissioning artist in principal, I suspect it wouldn't work out very well as I have a tendency to get drawn in, which is what is happening here.

I'm also doing some 'R&D', making small figurative sculptures to cast into bronze. I make my own wax for the modelling and I'm pleased to announce I think I've discovered the perfect recipe. As ever with these things there's a 'secret ingredient' which I shall forever keep schtum about but you don't really want to know as you can buy perfectly good modelling wax for the same price as it costs me to make it anyway.

J has been in attendance again for her painting. I keep wanting to say "sorry I've made you look like a moustachioed wino with a fifty a day habit, you're a nice-looking lady really", but I suspect this may lead to some misunderstanding and she doesn't seem too worried. It will hopefully work out in the end.

Further to this there are some drawings and painted sketches made during life classes. M is going to come early next week so I can work into the painting I started.

Long time...

Here's some pictures of what I have been up to: A small bronze lady, another session with the portrait of J, and a successful application for the Society of Portrait Sculptors annual show in Cork Street.












Also an iPhone sketch that I didn't quite get the chance to finish in tonight's class. All this work hasn't really taken very long as I've mostly been having meetings: one with a school and related parks officers regarding some commissioned sculptures; one regarding some exciting studio news which I cannot quite bring myself to share yet; one regarding Holmfirth arts festival and in particular 'art in the woods' which I have become involved with. I'll be getting back to the hand sculpture now and waiting nervously for the outcome of my BP portrait award submission.


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Sunday morning, 11. am.

Sunday morning- been for a cooked breakfast down the road and I'm now reading '200 years of american sculpture'. I've always felt there was a lot of good sculpture from across the pond. They classify Louise Bourgeois as American, which isn't really how I view her, but I'm discovering lots of great figurative stuff like George Grey Barnard and A. Stirling Calder. The americans also have a great tradition of wood carving, which seems to be a bit in the doldrums over here. Nowt wrong with good craft, but for english woodcarving this seems to impose lots of meaningless rules and too much whimsy for my liking. Have a good weekend.

Portrait session

First session (2 hours) with J for her portrait today. She brought a lovely colour with her in that sweater.



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NEw venue and mushrooms

Today I visited Doddington Hall in Lincoln as I'm going to be putting some pieces in a show there in August. It is a very well-run and beautiful old house with a farm shop, cafe etc. It hasn't been sold by the family since it was built in 1600. Even the shortcake that came with my latte was really nice. I returned to the studio to find mushrooms had started to grow out of a crack in a large sculpture that I've temporarily abandoned. Does anyone know if I can eat them?

Carving time lapse.

I'm working on the video quality, but here's a bit more footage of the hand in progress.

wood carved hand time-lapse

Here's a video of some of the carving I did today- most interesting to me are the growing number of chisels on the bench. They move around like insects as the vibrations of my chipping make them move minute amounts. My coffee cup also does it. My mate Emlyn made a massive stone egg when we were in college. It was so big he had to use two pieces of stone because it needed to be naturally bedded to go outside. As he spent a day carving the top half he would find he had moved round as the day wore on. The stone, which weighed about a ton, had shuffled round a tiny bit every time he hit it with hammer and chisel and he'd been chasing it. There's an artwork in there somewhere.