Breakthrough!

I do love this bit where you finally break through the middle and now the shaping takes place from the inside out as well as from the outside in.

From here it feels like progress is accelerating as soon you can judge how the sweeps align. Slightly panic inducing at times when nothing really seems to come out where you thought it would but great satisfaction when parts come together

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From making the hole through to this point seemed to take no time at all and it is quickly coming to the really fun part of making a sculpture.

Aussie rock

We had a lovely hike out on the high plains of Victoria, real Man From Snowy River country, and I came across this rock.

Sadly it was huge and part of the mountain so I couldn’t prise it out and put it in a backpack to bring back to my studio to play with.

Back again

The silver wire twist has been sitting on my windowsill for months but until I got the inspiration to weave the copper wire through it, it was just a rather elegant but unfathomable shape as far as a maquette went.

In my excitement about getting back to work, I forgot to photograph the stone with all of it’s craggy protrusions, but here it is, all the usable mass, ready to align the maquette and get going.

The stone looks like it could turn out to be really translucent and quite deep in colour possibly like bitter beer but it’ll be a while before that’s obvious.

Ta da

This turned out to be most gratifying to be able to have a second go at a gorgeous piece of stone.

The character of the piece is much more ethereal but I think it has worked.

And here is my finished hand saying cheerio as I am off to Australia this evening for three weeks for my nieces wedding. Don’t know if there will be any blogging ops.

Rescue mission

Repairing this will be a challenge. First job is to sink sink penetrating solution into any potential problem cracks.

Then take the damaged part down to viable stone and then work out where to go.

Getting Close

These last couple of days have been spent in experimenting with selectively polishing some areas, using a finishing rasp to add some texture and then giving the whole piece a wipe down with oil.

Wow! Quite intense. i expect that by tomorrow the oil will have sunk somewhat and there will be more differentiation in the colour. We’ll see.

Now… what to place in this hand?

Spot the difference

Hard to believe that i worked on this for seven hours today, the changes are so subtle. Quite a lot of time was spent experimenting with whether to leave tool marks in or not and how much to polish.

where did all that time go?

This was two weeks ago during Felix’s half term. It was doubly good to have the piece worked to a point where i didn’t need heavy duty tools and could get it to my studio at home where i do most of my finishing. The light at my home studio is fantastic and there is also the advantage of being able to see a sculpture from a bit of a distance whenever i am the kitchen.

I’ve been working out how to keep the structure looking active and strong without getting fiddly. I think the back of this hand lends itself to being very blocky.

IT crisis. Big panic as my trusty mac desktop starts to have hissy fits that seem to be more than computer temperament showing signs of impending doom.

Enlist Felix to help me do a comprehensive back up and then take the computer to the doctor to get checked out. Then a very deep breath and go for getting it rebooted back to to factory settings, ditch panther for snow leopard and add some ram.

Scary couple of days there but it all seems to work and my computer seems quite pleased about everything. phew!

Very satisfactory weekend with a sale (Gathering Clouds”) at the 20/21 exhibition at the Royal College of Art.

Spent most of what i made immediately, by buying two small judith bridgend paintings which i love more and more each time i look at them.

Actually miss having “Gathering Clouds” here at home quite a lot.

What a relief! No new disasters, relatively few interruptions, just many happy happy hours working away.

From now the decisions are going to be more about how to treat the surface of the sculpture in order to get the best out of the stone.

Went to see the Henry Moore retrospective at the Tate Britain a few days ago. Truly amazing!

surgery required

not the best way to start the week

sometimes you’ve got to take the decision to either abandon ship or keep going, but the surgery is looking quite promising, so on we go.

time to get it back to my workshop at home where the light is great.

Six hours and a lot of aching muscles later