So many people ask me how I get from a block of stone to the smooth finished piece, so I have taken a series of images of my carving during the making of my latest piece to show the stages.
You have seen my drawings for sculpture, but the next stage is often the making of a maquette, particularly if I am working on a commissioned sculpture. A maquette (a small scale model or rough draft) can be made of any material, but I usually use clay or plaster, occasionally I use stone.
These are the quick sketches I made in clay to get the positioning and attitude of the dogs.
Then, once a pose is chosen, I start work on carving the block, using the maquette as a guide for the scupture. Here is the album of all the stages inbetween the block above, and the finished piece below.
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This is so fascinating - I love to see how artists work.
ReplyDeleteYour medium is so scary, one chip in the wrong place and there is no way to recover I imagine? You must have nerves of steel!
Not so much nerves of steel, a certain tenacity and banishment of faint-heartedness maybe, and not at all scary!
ReplyDeleteReally it is a dialogue with the stone, I make friends with the block as soon as I've found it at the quarry, and the conversations continue until I put my chisels down. I lavish respect and pay homage to the stone and in return it allows me to shape it. It's a pact of love.
Amazing and rather moving on this thursday morning.x
ReplyDeleteWhat a great way to achieve such an amazing result. I am going to try talking to my drawings when they seem to have a mind of their own and see if I can get them to do what I want.
ReplyDeletewhat an INCREDIBLE talent you have! I would love to have a go at carving, the clay pieces are so adorable and full of life too! I'm pleased to meet you and your gift, Jules
ReplyDeleteWow! Or should I say 'bow wow'? They are amazing. You've caught the character of the dogs exactly. What a feat..in stone.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment on my blog. I'm glad I came here.