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    Last weekend we organized a Sculpture Workshop, working with clay, with Alan Somerville[/URL] at the Hawkesbury Community Arts Workshop. Alan would have to be one of Australia’s best known Sculptors (although he is actually a Kiwi).

    I was probably the least proficient in clay than the other dozen or so participants there, having only used clay once before at a workshop with him about a decade ago.

    I organized the model for the two days. She did a pose for about 25 minutes while we sketched her from four different angles. The pose was going to be a bit ambitious to hold over two days so we did another one as well. Then we had the model pose for us, rotating her every now and then and using the sketches as a reference as well.

    Our model is also a photographer and took some really good shots of as we were working on the sculptures. I have been waiting for her to send some to me but so far she hasn’t sent any so I’ll go ahead with what I have.

    sketches from 4 different angles

    working on the first one

    Alan demonstrating how to hollow out my first one

    starting the second one we were supposed to build it in ‘sheets’ which totally bamboozled me (my son working to the left created a brilliant one!)

    the second one… as far as I got

    It was an enjoyable weekend, I wasn’t very happy with my results and think I would need a lot more practice before doing anything that I would want to keep!

    Mac

    #717766
    dawnra
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        Mac,

        You might not be happy with the clay work but it looks great to me. Fantastic bunch of sketches as well. I am hopeless with clay but at least when I give it a go it helps me think in 3D. I am very jealous oh and she’s a keeper.
        Excellent work

        Mike

        [FONT=Garamond]As I paint I talk to my canvas, in the hope that one day it will reply! http://www.laoisartist.blogspot.ie

        #717759
        ArtistOz
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            Good effort Mac it all adds to the library in our heads. Drawings can be put under the bed, paintings can be stacked but where do you put sculptures, they take up to much room for my liking? :)

            Bill,
            https://www.flickr.com/photos/artistoz/
            Instagram, billwperry

            #717763

            Oh, Mac I am so jealous! I love to work in clay as well.
            I did a 5-day printmaking workshop years ago and Alan Somerville was the drawing teacher at the Ku-ring-gai art centre.
            What an amazing sculptor and a wonderful, generous teacher he is!

            I tell an embarrassing story against myself from this workshop…
            I was chatting to Alan at the beginning of the workshop (there were only 5 participants) when he said he was a sculptor (I thought he was just the drawing teacher) I told him had just been to see some amazing sculptures and was describing them to him- a pair of ballet-dancers that was just so incredible.
            He said that he though he knew the sculpture. I said- Oh have you been to this gallery? He wasn’t sure.
            He lived close by, so after lunch he brought back his portfolio of photos of his sculptures. He was showing the various stages of his sculptures from maquette through to the foundry- then the installations… of course I saw all the famous sculptures from around the city!
            He pointed to one photo- was this the sculpture? Of course it was! How embarrassing that I did not know who he was! He was so gracious and had no ego. He was also running trips to Italy to carve marble at that time.
            Thanks for that reminder.

            bethany
            moderator in figures & portraits blogs: artbybethany life-presence
            website www.bethanyart.com
            My inspiration is art... because without art, we would just be stuck with reality. ~Daniel R. Lynch

            #717758

            thanks Mike, I think like most things it would take a number of attempts to grasp what I was actually doing with clay, the figures are drying out in the Workshop at the moment but I be happy to roll it all together and try another!

            I agree with you there Bill … unless of course by some fluke I turned out something really good ;)

            Bethany yes an extremely humble and easy going man. I discovered from one of my life drawing group members who goes to Alan, (and didn’t go to this workshop) that Alan doesn’t normally use clay, he uses Plasticine for his sculptures. Alan also said to us that he hadn’t tried the technique before, which we used on the second one… so it was more or less an experiment!

            Mac

            #717761
            vhere
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                looks good – I’ve never done sculpture

                #717765
                Constance
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                    Looks good to me too! Especially the 2nd one. Is this the standard process of sculpting? ie. sketch from life and sculpt from the life drawings?

                    Instagram: unsuspectingstrangers

                    #717762
                    trevors
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                        :thumbsup: Looks good Mac

                        #717760
                        greenhoop
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                            Very impressive Mac !!

                            #717767

                            As only your second ever sculpture session it must be in your blood Mac :)

                            Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art - Leonardo da Vinci
                            More than happy to receive C&C on anything I post
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                            https://www.instagram.com/the_henson_gallery/

                            #717764

                            Looks good Mac. I hope you had fun.

                            Nathan.
                            C&C always appreciated.
                            My art on Instagram

                            #1291274
                            Herm Rediess
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                                Interesting that you sketched the model before doing the sculpture.  I never found that helpful in my sculpture.  I do a lot of sketching which helps me in three dimensions but never of my sculpture subject.

                                Your sculpture is very good.

                                Herm

                                #1303896

                                thanks for the comment, it was a workshop so I guess that drawing the model from the different angles first was  a way of conditioning us ‘newbies to sculpture’  to the concept that we would be trying to build up the figure from that all around perspective. and we had the drawings to relate to when the model was in a different position .

                                 

                                Mac

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