Also slowly but surely getting somewhere with my dancing lady. Hopefully she will be finished in time for the exhibition. If not then I guess I will still be carving her when it comes round to the West Fest Jubilee exhibition. Cant wait to go dah nah! she is done :D Some updated photos are below.

I finally found the time and motivation to finish the small tracery window. If glass or a mirror is to be fitted behind then I will need to carve a window bar in to the back, but as it is being made speculatively for exhibition at the Newbridge Arts Trail, with a view to hopefully selling it, I will leave it up to the prospective purchaser to tell me me whether they would like to use it as a window or as a free standing piece.

 

Also below is a video of the flower in the corner being carved. Apologies for the poor quality. The sun came out and bedazzled everything, but it does show the basic technique. Thanks to Rob Vega for the music.

                                           

                               

                                        

Tracery window, with videos

Really cracked on with the tracery window today, probably did more work than normal as I was filming it. Had great fun trying to balance my laptop and getting it to stay still as I carved. The first video just shows the start. Having lots of fun trying to get this right. I'm a YouTube noobie.

 After this I performed the same action on the rear, practically tunneling in from both side. Luckily this stone, which is a french limestone is very fine and soft, which aids working and gives a really nice finished result.

There are two more videos for this project, but the carving wont be finished until tomorrow, or the day after, and uploading videos to YouTube, converting them, which you have to do if you used Windows Movie maker and add any captions etc. Tomorrow I Will try to add them to my web site. So I'm tired, but educated! well slightly more educated than I was before with regards to this multi-media gateau!.

Triple ying-yang tracery window

I have placed my Art Deco dancing lady to one side and decided to start on an easy project for a break. I will return to her later. Sometimes when you have been staring at something for days, a step back is needed before you can carry on.

Below I have started the preparation with an incised circle, and the drawn the details needed to begin, what is essentially a small component part of a tracery window, and a carved item in in its self.

 All the items and sculptures that I am carving at the moment are for  a local exhibition in the city of Bath, the Newbridge Arts Trail, and I only have three weeks left, arrg...running out of time. After the exhibition, all the items will be on sale on both  Ebay and EtsyEtsy


I am going to try adding a video of this work in progress. Not sure how that will go, fairly new to the blogging world.

Dancing Art deco woman cont....

It is my next day of carving and she is coming along. Some details I am very happy with, (think i've got the breasts right now). I have been chopping and changing what areas I work on, a sure sign that I need a break. Due to the size and detail of the sculpture, the concentration required is quite intense.

Here is a picture of some closer detail of her tiny foot, almost at the finished stage.

The picture below is an over view of the sculpture. it still early days. I need to get her outline and depths sorted out first before I tackle the background details.I down loaded a picture of her to copy from this art gallery in New York. I have never managed to find a picture of the original..I wish I could.

A close up of her face at this stage, not a pretty sight. Art Deco and Art Nouveau are very difficult styles to emulate, I feel. they were very much products of their time, the grace and the elegance, and the subtlety of the details are what gives art from this period its feel.

A little more work done and she isn't quite so ugly, but I still don't feel like I have captured that art deco feel,hmmm.....

Ah...started to add some background detail before I am truly happy with the main body of the sculpture. Sure sign that I need a break. Now time for something completely different.

Started carving my first ever breasts in stone today. Over all my years of being a stone mason and carver I have never had the pleasure, and by God, its harder than you would think. I cant draw to save my life, so attending a life drawing class to improve my skill would be fruitless, also I think I am probably too immature to cope, and would either gawk like a pubescent boy, or get an inappropriate uncontrollable fit of giggles. Or knowing my luck it would be the turn of the fat ugly bloke that week to pose. I have a pair of my own, but they are no longer as pert or athlectic as I need for a model. The breasts in question are not only pert and petit, but small, really small, as you can see in the picture.

I will post updates on my progress and the finished girl if everything goes according to plan. For more examples of my work see my website.