Plus-sized nude model

We had a plus-sized model this week. Again, I had just a little over 4 hours with the live model. I took the sculpt home and worked another 7-8 hours from memory - including time to cut her into pieces, hollow out and reassemble.

I was too excited to start sculpting and forgot Andi's paper cores...I started sculpting her solid and once I'd gotten a ways it was too late to turn back. So I went ahead and sculpted solid for a little while, then cut her into three pieces for hollowing out. I'll be sure to try and be more restrained on the next piece and really try to get the paper core down and this time, with thicker walls of clay to better support and have less problem with paper coming through to the surface... ;-)

The large model was a new challenge for me. I've never worked with heavy models before and the mass and weight and gravity were new and interesting. It was a different way to sculpt and see things since I usually work with more muscular or thinner more angular figures.

Another area for me to work on is my photography. Granted, these were done quickly to document the stages of work, but the photos aren't very good. Hopefully I'll get some better photos done when I fire and do the patina.


I also wish that I was able to keep the freshness. I'm at war with myself; one part of me wants to really work out the anatomy and the other part of me wants a looseness and spontaneous feel. While I like the mass and roundness of this piece, I think I missed the mark with going for a more artistic feel. I think that having to cut into pieces for hollowing and then repair the damage from the cutting encourages me to get too fussy over the finish and obliterates the stokes and marks of the clay - making it too 'rendered'. Well, there's always the next one...always the challenge...