My Exploration of the Right side of the Brain
My quest started in 2007 without any previous art training or experience since nursery. I joined a sculpture evening class run by Heloise Toft at Pewsey in Wiltshire. Since then I have tried numerous mediums with varying success as you will see from the site galleries.
In my portraits I have explored the effect of age and ethnicity on facial features and in the figures form and movement are becoming much more important. I search for the subject’s character and mood through expression or pose not always to the approval of the sitter. It is interesting how little one needs to obtain a recognisable portrait rather than a photographic likeness. I discovered this when 10 students in my original class produced 10 different portraits of the same sitter but nearly all had features characteristic of the subject.
My inspiration ranges from the heroic like Rodin to the abstract like Brancusi with nods towards little known sculptors like Malvina Hoffman and Dora Gordine.
After 7 years of sculpting I can still start work and forget time, missing meals and tea breaks lost in creating from a slab of clay a face or figure – it never seems to lose its magic. In building this site it has been very interesting to look back at 7 year’s work and think I could do that better now. I am learning the importance of composition and of the subtle curves / planes and twists essential in making a good drawing or sculpture.
After a long struggle I am slowly beginning to really look at what I am sculpting or drawing and the results are improving. In 2015 I plan firstly to build a studio as art in the kitchen has its limits then to revisit bronze and maybe learn to paint with acrylics.
Building a studio was not as easier as I hoped and even needed planning consent. Site clearance and levelling the hillside commenced in Autumn 2015. Building started in April and continued as weather permitted during Summer 2016. You will find a gallery giving an idea of what was produced which is so freeing after my cramped beginnings.
I hope you will find the galleries interesting / thought provoking and perhaps steer you towards trying sculpture which is sadly a minority sport in the art world.
In my portraits I have explored the effect of age and ethnicity on facial features and in the figures form and movement are becoming much more important. I search for the subject’s character and mood through expression or pose not always to the approval of the sitter. It is interesting how little one needs to obtain a recognisable portrait rather than a photographic likeness. I discovered this when 10 students in my original class produced 10 different portraits of the same sitter but nearly all had features characteristic of the subject.
My inspiration ranges from the heroic like Rodin to the abstract like Brancusi with nods towards little known sculptors like Malvina Hoffman and Dora Gordine.
After 7 years of sculpting I can still start work and forget time, missing meals and tea breaks lost in creating from a slab of clay a face or figure – it never seems to lose its magic. In building this site it has been very interesting to look back at 7 year’s work and think I could do that better now. I am learning the importance of composition and of the subtle curves / planes and twists essential in making a good drawing or sculpture.
After a long struggle I am slowly beginning to really look at what I am sculpting or drawing and the results are improving. In 2015 I plan firstly to build a studio as art in the kitchen has its limits then to revisit bronze and maybe learn to paint with acrylics.
Building a studio was not as easier as I hoped and even needed planning consent. Site clearance and levelling the hillside commenced in Autumn 2015. Building started in April and continued as weather permitted during Summer 2016. You will find a gallery giving an idea of what was produced which is so freeing after my cramped beginnings.
I hope you will find the galleries interesting / thought provoking and perhaps steer you towards trying sculpture which is sadly a minority sport in the art world.