My planned triptych, Struggles to Rise, IS a real struggle. I am returning to Struggles to Rise after a hiatus, and even so I continue to procrastinate. I need to work on the first figure’s head, and get moving on the other two figures.
However there are several decisions to make and I am not quite ready to commit. I have the notion that these figures are emerging from something, probably the earth, but I don’t know what that should look like. So I am experimenting with some draping to see if this will be part of the final work.
I need a real sense of struggle, but this has been missing so far. I don’t want to convey the idea of someone lying in bed!
The very last photo has more of the impact that I want, and this may be the finished version.
My little statuette was recently seated, and now Final Seating is fully finished: mounted and ready to show. This 12″ tall figure started life as my first to scale wire armature, and is now a fragile translucent skeletal figure that I am really quite fond of!
And it is available for purchase directly from me or at Saatchi Online.
After some time in my studio I seated this figure on a broken wine glass “chair”. He really seems comfortable, and I decided that I like the result. It took a few more days to add a chain and decide on the base, but now it is clearly a finished work. I attached the pieces in two parts for durability: this delicate figure is secured to the seat, but is separate from the heavy base. The glass lens is firmly attached to the metal with an appropriate 2-part epoxy glue. And there are no sharp edges now.
This way the work can be properly handled as two pieces, and packed appropriately for shipping as needed.
Perhaps I have found a bit more of the final artwork for this skeletal and weary 12″ figure! And I think the artwork may be titled “Final Seating”.
I plan to assemble this in two parts; as shown the lower base will be too heavy to be moved or shipped connected to the more delicate top pieces.
Do you think I should try a few more options before deciding if I have the final seating? Maybe I will explore a couple of possibilities before attaching parts further. But I have no question that this tenuous figure needs to be seated and chained to this broken glass seat.
I like the colors, the light reflections and the translucency of all the parts.
I need to move on to the big 18″ figure project, but … there have been diversions. And a lot of play and experimentation doing more with the twelve inch figure.
I don’t know where this small figure will land, but I do enjoy it. And I expect it will find a home in a finished artwork at some point!
I spent an uncounted number of hours assembling/designing a first volume of The Surprisingly Artistic Photos of Port Townsend. I am just testing the waters with a photo book for the first time, and anytime I print I agonize!
After completing a first time book for my own enjoyment, I have recreated this book, with the same set of Pothole photos, on print on demand self-publishing site (I used Blurb). Now the book is available for purchase!
The Blurb softcover book is very disappointing; I will NOT be selling it as is!
Prior to this I have made 3 or 4 modest hand printed and bound art books, and also printed some art images with accordion book kits. The kits are fun, but small format and are just not quite proper books! Creating photo books of my art has seemed like a good idea for a long time, but I have not ventured to use any online commercial printing services.
Now I have in my hands on the first one: I have an 8″x11″ “hard cover” photo book. Here is The Surprisingly Artistic Photos of Port Townsend Volume I. I designed and printed my book using using Vista Print services, and it was shipped to me in ten days. It is a slim 24 page book with a carefully chosen selection of my Pothole photos, nicely printed on lightweight satin photo paper (an upgrade option). There are two additional photos on the front & back covers.
Just one copy of this book costs $40 plus $8.95 shipping. An order of 10 would make the price $34 each, plus shipping. I don’t think I can make any money with this pricing! But maybe these would be good for some Christmas presents?
Was it worth testing the waters with a photo book?
Well I really do like the Vista print hardcover book, and it printed as displayed. The design software was easy to use. But VISTA print does not offer the option to sell through them, and the book was more expensive on their site.
However I do not feel the same way about the Blurb softcover book which arrived today. I could do much better myself. It looks more like a business or student report than a book. It is glued then taped on the outside for a binding, with no blank pages front & back. The paper quality is barely adequate. So at a minimum I would need to pay extra for better paper, and a hardcover. In addition, the photo alignment is more difficult to understand in the Blurb software, and I had not noticed that not all the images were properly centered within standard borders. So it is off the market and back to the drawing board! Maybe with care and choosing more expensive options for paper and the hardcover, I could bring the Blurb book up to standard… TBD.
I am making very halting progress on the “Struggle to Rise” triptych. This work is slow going at the best of times, but with spring coming the garden demands my time.
However I had some fun posing the wire armatures for photos. And I will continue to pose them as I progress with adding “flesh”. I probably will not flesh these figures out completely. At least my current though is leave some wire exposed, and to detail out only in partially for a more ravaged look. Or something like that … !
I imagine a low relief textured base for the three panels, but I also like the idea of using more of my potholes. One possibility is to create the relief in clear or very slightly tinted resin over pothole photo prints. This will be a lot of work, as I think I would need to create full silicone mold the size of the panels. But I could just use the same mold for each panel, making three casts. Each could be tinted differently, and I can embed different items in each one, and I could even alter the mold a bit each time by adding silicone. And of course use different pothole photos for each. Maybe I have a plan, TBD.
Meanwhile the “Struggle to Rise” triptych parts occupy my main work table, and beg for more attention.
The above photo has “flesh” of a permanent material, but the head is only oil based clay, and like our heads, is too fragile! I must make a real head for figure number one, and get on with the next figures.
I have a 12″ wire armature for experimenting with the way of all flesh! The wire and some epoxy clay form the figures bones, and now to try methods for wrapping this figure in flesh. I want something satisfying (to me) and also translucent enough that I can see the “bones” showing through with the right lighting. My thought is to wrap this figure with stiffened fabric or paper, but this is all an experiment for me.
I started with stiffened synthetic gauze curtain fabric, dipped in a craft fabric stiffener. This fine polyester or nylon mesh has too much body, and did not conform well to my attempts to wrap it. I did not try applying smaller pieces, as it seems quite difficult to work with, and I want to try other materials. Here are photos of this first experiment with flesh:
Next I experimented with tissue paper, and used acrylic matte medium instead of fabric stiffener. The matte medium dries more quickly, and may be more flexible when dry. The tissue paper is extremely delicate when wet, so I doubled it over just to pick it up and wrap it around the figure. It also tends to wrinkle and cling before I have it in position, so I was unable to keep it at the initial double layer. That makes it more opaque than I would like. I really want more light through. I may need to use more wire to bulk out the figure and work with wider shorter strips of paper. Here are some photos of this effort:
The fabric I used first went the way of all flesh, and I may try removing the tissue paper also… TBD.
Still working very slowly toward a new work which may be called Struggle to Rise. Three armatures are now getting a few more wire bones, and I call them The Thin Ones for now. The Thin Ones Struggle to Rise, and I struggle to decide how to flesh them out! I could stay with the known quantity of Apoxie Sculpt, but that really feels a bit tame.
So what about using paper clay and building up the base and the figures? Or I could try to create somewhat translucent figures using a sort of paper mache with clear acrylic medium, perhaps with rice paper. It could be pretty wonderful to have the wire armature show through in good light. Now that really interests me… but how do I actually do that?
Somehow I am barely managing an hour or two a day on this project, but that will have to be enough for now. There is so much work to be done in the yard and in the home,some visitors to enjoy now as the days lengthen and the weather improves. And of course exercise to be taken daily. My walks always generate photos, and then I must sort, delete, and categorize these for posting and printing.
I have made a fourth, smaller and slightly different, armature in order to experiment with materials. This armature is more rigid, with a predetermined standing position; I did use some Apoxie Fixit to lock it together and cover some sharp ends of wire. The bones are done, so now to add a bit of experimental “flesh” of some sort!
But I make my dimensional hands on art mandatory too, and so the thin ones struggle to rise, and will eventually succeed, I believe.
I have a tentative plan for my next work, in which three full relief dimensional figures will be mounted on three flat panels. The plan is for three panels that will hang side by side on a wall, with the figures emerging from them.
At the moment I think of this work as “Struggle to Rise”, but that may well change! However there is no doubt that the armatures struggle to rise! I am trying a new very particular method to make 18″ wire armatures, and I am not proficient. My armatures struggle to rise! Two done, one more to go…
And then there were three! I created the third “person” a bit differently, in two halves joined along the spine. I was struggling with twisting, and hoped this would work better. But it was not necessarily easier, as joining them up required considerable care to ensure that the two halves match up correctly for a symmetric result!
My most ambitious sculpture to date is finished, now that Not Out of the Woods Yet is Signed and Sealed!
All that is really left to do is a good photo shoot of the final finished work. I think I can do better than this, but I need a better backdrop, careful lighting, and just a lot more attention to the angles! Here are a few results from a new photo shoot:
This brand new artwork is not for sale yet: I need a little time to myself with the finished piece. I always need that if the work is authentically new to me. At the moment this is single three part artwork (with label), but each section can stand alone. So when it is time for me to sell this, I may be willing to sell this as three separate mixed media sculptures.
The base of this is sturdy wood, and the dimensions as a single three part artwork are 25″ wide by 20″ deep by 25″ tall.
I still play with a few things that are removable and can be changed around: one figure caries a padlock and key on a chain, another padlock hangs from a tree. I have found a finer more delicate chain than the gold one in the photo above! Another figure caries its very own “pothole”. Currently the grey figure wears a key on fine chain and carries a feather. But these items are not permanent parts of this installation, at least for now.
Background and About Not Out of the Woods Yet
I walk daily, and think it saves my soul and my body. I see interest and beauty all around, and take many photos. During the shutdowns and cautious times of the COVID pandemic I started to enjoy the poorly maintained roads in my small town. These inspired a photo series: The Surprisingly Artistic Potholes of Port Townsend.
In this piece three thin hollow chested figures walk the streets, wading across the Potholes of Port Townsend, or perhaps the potholes of Anytown. Here pennies grow on trees, to fill these potholes, but the figures have other more serious concerns as they stride forward. They walk to face all the challenges of life, and they are Not Out of the Woods Yet.
I have chosen sculpture, and these mediums, because I want my work to be, and to feel, strong. This work requires a three dimensional presence.
Please consider this as a sneak preview: this piece is new, and not yet for sale. I need to keep it close for a while, until I have fully considered its impact. But if you are interested in purchasing it, please let me do know. It will probably be for sale within the year.
I am already thinking on to the next one … I have something in mind that I hope to bring to fruition. And it may be another, rather different, triptych. And another major challenge!
