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!
I have finished the resin pour for Not Out of the Woods Yet: glossy resin covers the Surprisingly Artistic Potholes of Port Townsend of the three sections. This is a major milestone and the final significant phase. It should be all detailing and touch up now!
I will need a bit more resin here and there for the sanded edges, scratches, and patchy spots; these will get a thin resin coat that I plan to rub on (with gloved hands!). The pouring was quite the ordeal and there is always the risk of somehow ruining months of work. Resin can be rewarding, but it is not fun. I am so relieved to get this far. No real disasters, although one section sprung major leaks and was quite a pain to deal with. However all three pours were ultimately successful.
My current slowly progressing art project, Not Out of the Woods Yet is back on the worktable. It is indeed still not out of the woods yet, but is getting closer! I decided that two backdrops are required. These will fit onto the long sides of two sections, and will mirror the base shape and imagery.
Because I am me, I needed to work out the material (thin plywood), and tweak the imagery to soften & fade it out a bit. In between acquiring and wrapping Christmas presents, I get only a bit of artwork done most days. Today I cut out the plywood shapes, despite wet sawhorses, cramped working space, and cold sleety weather!
I need to reprint & cut the imagery, and then choose different images from The Surprisingly Artistic Potholes of Port Townsend. These will go on the backs of my backdrops, since these could be visible when the work is on display. Hear is the sneak peek at the progress to date!
I have been working in my studio, plugging away on a project that has been ever so slow to take shape. I often do start an art project without a final vision, and this current sculpture project is no exception. But now I have fixed on a final shape, and the work progresses daily my three figures finally shape up!
This is a three part sculpture, each being valid alone, but designed to fit together for a stronger impact. My working title is “Not Out of the Woods Yet”, and I hope it works on several levels. Here are currently available previews:
There is still plenty more work to do on this, but I know how to mount everything. Well that should be “sort of”, as it is still tricky to get the figures mounted without too much clutter & mess. I did not plan adequately, but now I do know that I can figure it out.
I still have not selected the pothole to be printed and applied to the last section, but it may be one with my own shadowy reflection prominent. There are several of these to choose from, and so many other favorite potholes also!
I finished the first figure in July, but I didn’t finished the third tree until earlier this month. By then I had part of the final plan. However I only came up with the three part sectional base with Surprisingly Artistic Potholes of Port Townsend in the middle of November, and now my three figures finally shape up!
Update on 12/6: The second section is now fully attached, with the mounting epoxy on the figure officially cured later today. She is stepping right in the mud! I will need to finesse this section a bit, and decide if there will be few more details added. Then on to the next one!
Sometimes I get stalled on an art project, and I can procrastinate tackling the issues. Sometimes photography is easier! It is creative and seductively convenient: no muss, no fuss! I just click away. There is the need to transfer and sort images, which is tedious, but easy enough. And I can get lost for hours with a bit of digital touch up or major transformations. Am I just wasting my time? Ah, that is not possible; how can we waste time? What is or is not a “waste”?
I enjoy my images, and perhaps that is sufficient. Here are two of my slightly touched up photos with the more heavily manipulated versions. The last image is a seasonal “leaf print” on a sidewalk, also cleaned up a bit …
It is possible that Not Out of the Woods Yet is the work in progress that has been pending all too long. I have finally completed one of three planned trees to accompany my three Walkers: the three heartless? walking figures I completed about two months ago. This title came to me recently, and may help me bring this artwork to completion! I do hope so!
This work has been problematic: full of uncertainty and difficult to implement. I have had to repair two of the figures because the material is applied so thinly over the armature, and the figures are not yet mounted or stable standing up. The trees take time, and I find working on them somewhat unsatisfying, but I have recently added something that interests me more. Do you like the recent addition of old pennies as symbolic leaves?
However there are more trees to complete, and then the environment for these figures. So I am not out of the woods yet!
Sometimes broken is better, or at least fine! This piece began as a template for a low relief sculpture, but then became a piece of itself. But then broke, was badly repaired, didn’t matter, but too amusing to discard. Now it has been retrieved from the yard, embedded in fresh resin with some bits and bobs, and mounted for a return to the yard!
This figure of a draped and barefoot worker is a familiar one in recent art pieces; he appears in a number of different guises and media. Here he is rendered in rich metallic copper paint on clear acrylic that is slightly muddied with blue. The image above right is, of course, the digitally foiled version of this piece. Here he is now mounted in the front yard for all to see.
OK, enough with the digital pixel magic dust: today I will just call this enhanced photography!
The temptation of enhanced photography is strong, and sometimes well worth the time and effort. However at other times the original photo is the winner….
Call it digital magic, digital pixel dust, or just digital messing about! Whatever you decide to call it, this is sometimes fun, sometimes frustrating, and a terrible time sink! It is the work of a moment, and great fun, to click – click – click the phone camera on my daily walks!
But there is a bit more to my digital messing about: I load dozens of photos onto my desktop hard drive, categorize them, delete some (but not nearly enough!) and start editing. I have frequently spent hours trying to bring a bit of magic to an inadequate but somehow interesting photo, only to give up in despair. At other times the magic is already there, or is just a crop and tweak away!
My digital manipulations may be simple tweaks, that may include: boosting or lowering the saturation, modifying the hue or contrast, or a bit of cropping or straightening. At other times I go wild with digital effects applied to the whole or just part of an image. While I may be able to apply a digital transformation with one click, this is rarely the end of the process! Generally I continue to modify the results, and may get lost for hours. Sometimes to conclude that the original unmodified image is really the best, or to decide to discard the original along with the edits!
