The Brain

Based on the same ideas of the Inspired by Life class ... here is The Brain

Scary Baby ...

Maria's baby has been causing a stir in the sculpture studio of late, causing several other works to smash without warning to the floor. More than one sculptor has run screaming from the room in terror!

Great Portraits & Cast Offs

I dropped into the National Portrait Gallery this week and was impressed with these two bronze heads, done in a rough and characterful style. They are John Betjemen by Angela Conner (1973) and Maxwell Fry by Gertrude Hermes (1965)
Meanwhile this is what I have been up to with more cast off clay. This is a maquette to test how the structure dries and what problems there are with it.

Fired Life Model

Here is the final fired Christine #1, inspired by the life model. I paid most attention to the middle section which I think looks good. The head and feet could have had more work maybe but overall I am happy with the piece as a first proper attempt.

Ugolino

Here are two version of Ugolino & His Sons by the French sculptor Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux. Ugolino was a 13th Century Pisan nobleman who apparently starved to death in prison with his sons and grandsons. Dante put Ugolino in the Inferno but with quite a different back story to the historical one.

Anyway ... Paul much prefers the maquette in the Musee d'Orsay (left) to the finished article in the Met in New York. I am not sure what I think. How about you?

Inspired by Ron Mueck?

A very speedy head made using the same techniques as the Christine life extemporisations, building walls, bridges and enclosed spaces, seeking to test how far the clay will support itself.

Inspired by Christine #2

Masks

A couple of masks made from waste clay I had at home. Don't throw your clay away! It can be recycled!

Les Grottes de Christine

Some of the structures I had made collapsed during the week so I changed the look of this piece and will hopefully now fire this version. It is more spiky & rugged than my original concept which was a more exact representation of the body proportions.