Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Adding clothes to the female form in sculpture

 The pose was classical nude, but I wanted to sculpt something a bit more casual, contemporary and fresh. When I began sculpting this figure, the attitude of the stance gave me the impression of someone waiting - caught between patience and impatience - you know - when you've been waiting patiently but now are beginning to get just a bit antsy because there is really someplace you want to be....

This summer we took a trip to Switzerland and Italy and I was enthralled by the public transportation there. Buses and trains, in addition to walking and bikes are an everyday mode of getting around and people are so cavalier about getting where they want to go in this manner. As we don't have commuter trains and not a very convenient bus route/time in my town, this was fascinating to me. Especially because we love trains!

So this young woman is representative of that feeling - she's "Waiting on the #9".

The model brought in a beach dress, but I wanted something that looked more like a dress you'd wear in the city - so I created one that I liked and gave her casual flip flops. Next, I'll be adding a sweet and sassy little handbag casually draped from her fingers behind her back.

I never got into dressing up Barbies when I was a girl - I was more interested in making them climb trees, fly like superheros or ride horses - clothes or not! Therefore I'm a bit surprised about how giddy I am at 'designing' outfits and dressing my sculpt...something my 8th grade Home Ec. teacher would be amazed at considering what a total, dismal failure I was (am) with anything to do with sewing ;-) Well - clay is easier in my world so I think I'll stick with that.

4 comments:

  1. Only way to create a clay.. from the naked to the clothed. There has to be structure beneath the cloth... Great job... This is looking wonderful..

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  2. Really impressive. Agree with you david completely. incredible!!!!

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  3. I used a 2X4 with a 3 inch wood screw on a board as the armature for a wolf sitting on top of a cliff overlooking a mountainman cleaning a beaver pelt. I sent the clay, thinking there's no way it could be damaged, to a foundry in Los Angeles to be cast... Well FedX said for some reason the box ended up in Burmingham Alabama.. so they shipped it back to me because the wood crate was slightly damaged.. I opened up the box and the whole sculpture was smashed into the corner of the box.. the 2X4 was ripped up off of the screw... and I just sat there, trying to imagine the forces involved to do that kind of damage.. lol I had to resculpt the whole piece.. Arrrgghh

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  4. David that's too bad! And I'll bet Fed-ex didn't give you any money back either?

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