Times have changed

A few days ago my brother posted a photograph of one of my previous studios on his classic blog: http://newsfromnowhere1948.blogspot.com/ . The photograph dates from the early 1970’s when my studio was located in Southern Ireland. In a responding comment I promised his follows more pictures and memories of the same.

To begin, one of the paintings that is just discernable in the picture had far reaching consequences. It is a sketch I made of Enzo Plazzotta’s sculpture The Jamaican Girl. The sculpture had been exhibited the previous year at the Kings Lynn Arts Festival. It was at the same festival that I held my first one man show, Lynn and Locality.

I was so seduced by Enzo Plazzotta’s sculpture that I followed my temptress to the land of her birth.  Thus the Caribbean became my adopted home and the beauty of the Afro-Caribbean female nude the principal theme of my work. Little does my seducer realise that she has given birth to the hundreds and paintings and scores of sculptures in my series Daughters of the Caribbean Sun.

By delving deep into an old portfolio and I found the very sketch I made of Enzo Plazzotta’s The Jamaican Girl. Here it is, followed by a photograph of the sculpture.

 I have also found this photograph of my studio; a converted village school, at Inistioge, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland.

 My brother’s blog attracts scores of comments, whereas for my diary pages they are few and far between. I therefore welcome this opportunity to assure Mike Brunbaker and Little Nell that everything around me has to be tidy in order to allow my creative muse run amok. And to temper the wishes of Alex Daw by paraphrasing the words of George Orwell: painting is the worst punishment that I can possibly devise for myself.

From all angles

A painting is judged from one vantage point, whereas sculpture is judged from all angles. A feature that appears correct from one perspective may appear flawed from another. Moreover, the eye is not static. It continually roams over the form and in doing so ignores minor irregularities. And the eye of the artist, critical as it may be, nevertheless dwells on the best vantage points.

Photographs of the work in progress are a valuable aid in highlighting errors. The click of the camera arrests the wondering eye and dispassionately focuses on that angle alone. In the early days of photography, the sculptor Rodin marked on prints of his work weaknesses that needed correction.

Today’s pictures shows the figure in its entirety.

Leave well alone

Leave well alone! This is what I’ve been telling myself over the last few days.

At this stage, any adjustments or refinements that I make to the figure will only serve to diminish rather than enhance. What I’m after are suggestions rather than specifics; the sensuous rather than the sexual. I’m not in the business of defining hair follicles. I’ve gone as far as I wish to go and it is now up to you, the viewer, to interpret the rest.

There will be no before and after shots as promised in my last entry: what you now see is what you’ll get. 

Subtle adjustments

Over the coming days I will be critically assessing my sculpture from all angles. I will share with you any adjustments, subtle as they may be, by way of before and after pictures.

Today’s pictures show how the modelling of the right hand has been modified to give it more life. The fingers have been raised and re-aligned so as to better follow the curve of the body and the little finger is allowed greater freedom.

Before

After

At a single stroke

My dairy page dated 8^th July 2016 titled: Working at the Speed of Light refers to the Sunday Times art critic, Waldemar Januszczak’s astonishment at Michelangelo’s handiwork on the Sistine ceiling. As he aptly observed, “Adam’s famous penis was traced with a single cocky outline”.

My task is to now complete my sculpture of Annabelle’s reclining figure with the same assured flair. I have to resist refining and instead suggest, at a single cocky stroke, continuity from the pale saffron soles of her feet to the last wayward strand of her hair. Detailed definition must not distract the eye from the rhythm of the whole. 

State of the Art

Once in a while, by way of the World Wide Web, I search out the competition: contemporary painters and sculptors of the nude. For the most part the abstract, the conceptual, the cartoon and photo-realism are the dreary order of the day.

Will there ever be another Egon Schiele or Auguste Rodin? One died young and the other lived into old age but either way, few have followed in their footsteps with the same originality, daring and aplomb. Here is a reminder of their work.

Both artists were in my mind today. First Rodin, as I worked on Annabelle’s reclining figure and then Egon Schiele, in the five minutes of sweet relief at the end of the session that resulted in this painting.  

Dedication

As a figurative painter and sculpture I can, at a pinch, work without paints, brushes, paper or clay. What I cannot work without is a live and inspirational model.

For two weeks Annabelle, the model for my current work in progress, has been laid low with flue and the life-size sculpture of her reclining figure has had to be placed on hold. This is not as easy as it sounds. First, spontaneity is lost; and second, it is difficult to keep the clay under wraps without deterioration. Each day the clay has to be lightly sprayed down to prevent it drying out, but too much moister and contact with polythene covering sheets takes the edge of the modelling already achieved.

Regardless of working seventeen hour double shifts at a call center (to fund her studies at medical school) and a body wracked with flue, Annabelle nevertheless sent me a message at 2.45am today to say that she’s determined to get in three modelling sessions in next week to make up for lost time. Now that’s dedication!

In the meantime, here is another picture of work in progress.

If only the virtual was reality

In a recent post I lamented on the increase of virtual visitors to my studio, as against a decrease in actual visitors. But now that my diary pages have been added to the world’s top 50 sculpture blogs, I suppose I shouldn’t complain.

To get a taste the other 49 top sculpture blogs go to: 
http://blog.feedspot.com/sculpture_blogs/

I am sure that by now there must be virtual models. But regardless, I’ll stick to the real living and breathing thing, notwithstanding that this week I’ve been without model due to my ever-faithful Annabelle being down with the flue.

Thirty years ago two of my models, Pearl and Pearline, were identical twins. This might appear to be a handy solution to bouts of flue, etc. However, to the critical eye of the painter and sculptor, identical twins are not as identical as they appear at first glance.

Here is Pearline in pastel and Peal in red Conte Crayon.