Seed Flight 1

I made this medal first - before the other one that i posted yesterday.

I made this one before i left Ireland actually. i modelled it in wax and was down to limited resources at that time as most of my equipment and materials had already been removed to storage. But i did have an old bag of Plaster of Paris so could at least make plaster moulds of the two sides of it.

I brought these with me to Norway and have been guarding them carefully since then until a time that i was in a position to take an impression from the mould and make it into a medal. Which I have now done.

Now that this is a bit more permanent - made from Super Sculpey as it is - i feel a lot happier and it will go into my cache of medal models for future bronze casting.

I think you can see that this medal is a different style from the ones I have been making lately - there is less detail but perhaps more raw expressiveness. i like the sense that the little girl is being lifted off the ground by the great big dandelion fluff and is going to be carried away in the sky to land who knows where?

Good weather seems to have returned to Stavanger again - it was really warm today. The sun is full out now as well - I hope it lasts. Going for a cycle in the morning is much easier when the weather is good and i really do not like cycling when it is windy.

Once the frosts come in the winter I will try to sell my bike. It is hopeless trying to cycle when there is ice on the ground, especially with the hills here. I will not be able to take my bike to Spain with me, which is a pity as I am getting quite fond of her now. I try to remain aloof, but the more you cycle a bike, the more you grow into them. It is always the case and we are getting to know each other better and better every day - i will wake up one morning welded to the saddle I know it and what will become of me then!

Still I am getting ahead of myself - i am intent on enjoying the next few months here. I need to use the time as productively as possible and get as much art work done as possible, because when i get to Spain I will be very busy getting our house sorted there before i get the time to do any work. So for now it will be model, paint, cut and print and enjoy the Norway summer and the clear Norwegian air.

The Shadow

This is a rather expressive painting that I did some years ago now.

Although it is not a brilliant painting it does have a certain atmosphere in it which i think makes it quite interesting and worth talking about.

The first thing that strikes you is obviously the figure of a young girl curled into an almost foetal position. A protective gesture. her face is turned away from the viewer and she holds her hands across her chest - but seems to be doing something with them - fiddling her fingertips, or praying? Her knees are drawn up and her legs extend from these and end in large earth-bound feet. Her feet are crossed as well which closes her body up even further.

So here she is - this rather enigmatic, closed up and turned in figure who appears to be almost floating. The strongest shade in the painting is her cast shadow and this for me is what the painting is really about. The Shadow that takes on a life of its own. The girl is rather faint and ambiguous, but her shadow is strong and powerful. It has a distinct form of its own - I will leave it to yourself to interpret what it might be - and her body seems to skim on the very edge of it - like an insect which hops or floats on the surface of a pond.

I can't draw any parallels to the day I have had today though - i just saw it in my folder and thought you might like to see it. I don't feel like curling up in a protective gesture and I don't feel that I am a shadow lurking anywhere and i don't feel like an insect skimming on a pond.

Today has just been a busy one, preparing some reference pictures for a large-ish relief piece and finishing off another medal - which I will photograph and show you tomorrow.

I have not had the time yet to go hunting for those other beach photos I promised you either - the day is just too short and I have far to much to do every minute.

A suitable picture might have been of the White Rabbit rushing around clutching his large pocket watch and declaring himself 'too late' for i spend a large part of the day rushing around too, trying to fit it all in and sometimes falling short of the mark.

But I wouldn't have it any other way.

Jimmy's Girls - a commission

This is a bit of a change of direction.

Every so often I get a chance to do a commission. Sometimes it is a medal or a sculpture but this one was for a drawing of 'Jimmy's Girls'

I was really quite pleased with this. Portraits are not always easy, but this one turned out well.

I admit - it is not a real portrait, as in from a live model with sittings and all that - that is really difficult, but of course gives far more interesting results.

This is a simple copy from a photograph of the two girls.

Still - I was happy with the likeness and happy that the figures came out looking quite round - working from a photo often results in a flatter picture.

I wanted to include this in my blog just to show that there are more strings to my bow than just what i am currently doing. I can turn my hand to portraiture should the commission arise. I enjoy the challenge and enjoy trying to get the likeness. However, I would prefer live sittings, however frustrating, in order to be able to try to capture the real person rather than just copying a snapshot - because that is all you get - a copy of a snapshot. That said, this was a very nice snapshot - the girls have an aura and distinct personalities.