Sometimes an image just sticks in your imagination. I was going through an online website set up to help you practice your figurative drawing and sketching skills. You enter a number of parameters for the images you want to sketch from (eg, male/female, clothed/nude, static/action, etc.) and a number of minutes for a timer. When […]
When I create a title for a particular figure sculpture I am working on, I have developed a practice of spending time sitting with the sculpture, letting the sculpture itself tell me what its name is.
It’s a step of faith to put a piece, representing days or weeks of work, into the kiln, close the lid, and bring up the fire.
I started following the Proko educational art site several years ago. The site is primarily dedicated to resources and videos for drawing, especially around the human figure, but they recently added in an emphasis on 3D art and sculpture. I enrolled in their first sculpture class, watching the videos and doing the homework assignments. This […]
As an artist, I often find my journey following odd little twists and turns. As a Christ follower, the Holy Spirit is the one who owns my creative process, and the manner in which even the little bits of beauty I try to create find ways to speak life to those around me. Some time […]
An artist friend said something a little while ago on Instagram which made me stop and think.
I have always been fascinated by how our arms and shoulders silently communicate our thoughts and emotions. Working with clay forces us to deal with the fact that the arms are the most slender feature of the body, and thus pose some serious technical issues
Drawing dancers in their tutus, and the layers and layers of translucent tulle has always been a challenge for me … Trying to sculpt this in clay, … that was a technical challenge I had never been brave enough to attempt.
I have spent a great deal of time pondering the process of attaching a title to a piece. I wrote a post some time ago, bemoaning the title of “Untitled” which people sometimes use, and talking about the significance of a title as it becomes an integral part of the work, giving us a window […]
There is something very ancient, even primal, about working with ceramics and the process of earth and fire. As much as I appreciate the advent of computerized controls on modern electric kilns and the ability to precisely control the firing profile, with the resulting high degree of predictability in the outcome of one’s work, I […]
Some people have asked me about my work process when I sculpt a figure. I took this opportunity to capture a few photos along the way as I was working on a figure sculpture, showing the various steps.
One theme you may notice here is the reclining figure, drawn close to the axis line, with a lot of foreshortening. In the “Drawing from Life” sessions that I have been in (from which many of these drawings come), we are doing mostly around 20 minute sketches of a live model. The room is arranged […]