Hi, my next sculpture

[KatyL]

Hello fellow sculptors, This is what I have been working on.

This is my second (finished) human, so I am sure I will get better.
It's about 14X25 inches. It took me the least amount of time to do about 45 days.

Unfortunately, this is white clay--so it does not photograph well. a mistake. I waited till nine o'clock to get the last photos. I've never been good at photographing these things.

Tell me what you think?

[raspero]

Looks good Katy. It's alive. I'm always amazed at how long it takes. It's those final details that seem to take weeks.

R

[fritchie]

Very nice, Katy, and highly dramatic, with all the muscle tension that shows.

[rika]

Very nice, Katy, you certainly do stunning work without references as you mentioned somewhere earlier. I do know the difficulty of it and the challenge. The danger in this approach is that one gets obsessed with getting the anatomy "right", and the technicality takes precedence over the personal aesthetic which suffers as a result. To me this piece doesn't transcend, while the birdman did. Maybe if you improved the way the feet/toes touch the ground would help (As Fritchie noted, the figure seems to be about muscle tension and strain). They don't credibly support the weight right now.

All in all a great leap forward, Katy, great to follow your progress.

[KatyL]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

And Rika, yes, it is hard for me to come up with a "gimmick." I don't understand the idea of "transcendence." Perhaps that is my lack of formal artistic training. Maybe you can school me on what exactly "transcendence" means, and why it is important to art. It seems to be a metaphysical thing. Anyway, I don't think I should care about it, if it is not a goal of mine.

I certainly also dispute the "feet" comment. Many gymnasts do floor exercises on their toes, at least portions of them. I have watched the Olympics many times. Also Ballerinas dance on their toes. Runners usually stay on the balls of their feet for the most part if they want to avoid injury. I think she is showing appropriate weight reaction for her light weight.

Anyway, I had her leading foot on the floor and she looked too heavy, so I changed it.

[scrapartoz]

fantastic work Katy. The view of the back as faultless. In the first photo the raised hand looks a bit "rubbery"/ artificial ( still better than what I could do) It may be the thickness of the digits or the angles of the individual joints.
My appologies if they are unfinished at this stage.
Also I never understood contemporary dance but in the last shot she doesn't look too confident? awkward perhaps . this maybe the thickness of the neck ( her left side) or the amount of head rotation to her right.
you have chosen such a difficult subject and you have done very well.

[mantrid]

Looks great, cant fault the anatomy just the physics.
I would alter the toes of the leading foot as I think Rika was suggesting. they are in a straight line with the foot. In this position the toes would naturally bend as it would be impossible for them to remain straight under the weight of the body. We dont have strong enough muscles at the underside of the toes to hold them straight when the angle of the foot is 45 degrees from the horizontal. Try it and see.
The only other way this would be possible is if she had just stepped forward and you catch the moment the front foot just makes contact with the ground but BEFORE any weight is applied. But the sharp bend in the knee suggests this isnt the case, it looking more like she has made the step and has moved forward onto the foot ie weight has been applied.

The only way the dance could hold her toes straight is if she was up on tip toe with the centre of gravity and weight directly above the toes in their vertical position.

[rika]

Yes, Mantrid, that was what I was going to suggest also. The toes on both feet would have to be bent in this pose. And the dramatic bend, that would match the muscle strain, would come across more forcefully as well in the overall appearance.
Transcendence is elusive, if it would be a rational, learnable skill, everybody always would achieve it. I think every artist has to exhaust their creativity maximally to transcend, and even then it won't happen all that often: but you, the creator, more than anybody else, know when it happens.

[chris 71]

i like it KatyL. you definently got some skills.
but i would have to agree with mantrid and rika, i thought the same thing before they said anything. only way her toes would look like that would be if caught in that moment in time where she might be weightless in her movement. but the rest of the pose doesent suggest that.
and its only because of your good sculpting that that even matters, and that we are saying this. it could be taking as a complement, even just because your sculpture is good enough that we are left to only really point out the fine details. you are working in the realm of realistic figure here.

[obseq]

Difficult to see some of the details of the hands, but your overall treatment therein is superb.
The figure straining for precise balance really comes through in the tight contortions of the hands.

Can we see some close-ups of the face?

[KatyL]

Thank you all for looking in. -- I am still working on fingers, toes, ears, hair, refining the face and other things as I find them-- Agree with the too straight following toes, the rubbery raised fingers (those little knuckles are hard). I will look into her confidence level(I think it is the eyeballs). Thick neck? I'll also do some pictures of the face. I should have been done with this already, but the last week has been non-stop appointments etc. & other stuff to do. Anyway, yes, I will still work on the flawed areas. I'm just a beginner at figurative sculpture, and have never taken a formal class, and I can't afford models, so each time I do something new like this, I have a leaning curve-- but I know what I want as far as a finished result. I can be very fastidious in some areas, and sloppy in others and have to learn how to get it all at the same level.

Thank you for the better definition Rika. The definition you gave the second time has a "transcend the materials" feel to it, while I was thinking you meant something metaphysical-- which I don't really get. I agree that I am not at the stage of 100% transcendence in everything I do. It's a goal of mine though.

[KatyL]

Here's a few of the face:





I'm sure that the face needs work also.

[evaldart]

Well achieved gesture, and the attention all the way down to the fingers really makes it happen. The face is fine...I woudnt belabor it...not really all that important in the big picture of this piece.

[KatyL]

Originally Posted by evaldart

Well achieved gesture, and the attention all the way down to the fingers really makes it happen. The face is fine...I woudnt belabor it...not really all that important in the big picture of this piece.

I'm a "big picture" kind of person.

[Kilkenny]

Haven't seen your work before. I am intrigued by this pose. It isn't hackneyed, for a start. I sense a figure in a state of joy and perhaps exuberance. There's a feeling here, as we often see in dance, of someone expressing an inner state in gesture. There is also a fine transcendent aspect to the face looking upwards, with that far-away focus - I see this in religious statuary at times. Nice. Better than nice. I'd have it onsite just to suggest to visitors the quality of feeling I want onsite!

[KatyL]

Thank you Sam, I need all the help that I can get. I have an awful lot of things to work out. I have done, generally, pieces that are somewhat "off balance." The more pieces I do, the more the general theme seems to be that of motion/ imbalance. I think of motion as lack of entropy (thus death), and imbalance to be representative of homeostasis, (thus life), and so in a generalized way, all these pieces are about "being alive." I do not know a lot about philosophy, so I think more in sensory terms. I am hoping when I get to 20 pieces I can be in a group show somewhere. Good to know you like my work. Thanks, Katy. (C R Larkin)

These are my other better recent pieces:

[Kilkenny]

I see what you mean - no entropy here! The first image of the horse again offers a pose that I haven't seen before, and also as a result a fresh sense of the equestrian theme. The fresh pose invites us to look again, to see the horse anew, to pause. I think it's good to STOP the viewer! This sort of thing does it.

Your modelling is nothing short of superb, and you seem to be able to translate a profound knowlege of musculature and anatomy into something poetic - such effortless adds to your theme of defying gravity; and I like the 'Bird man' theme!

[MarvRaps]

Looks great. Tell me about white clay.

[KatyL]

Originally Posted by MarvRaps

Looks great. Tell me about white clay.

It is just Roma Plastiline by sculpture house in "natural" which does not show up well in photographs. It is "medium" grade, which to me, is soft. I prefer to work in hard, or extra hard.

[cougar]

Its been so long since I played with clay or metal I may have no place commenting at this point.
I think you have a great eye for structure and intensity. I was looking through my old book of Michel Angelo and one thing I notice in at least some of his drawings is that you become very aware of the resting muscles also, Kind of a yin/yang thing. Where you pull from one side you release from another I think it gives a resting place for the psychological eye. Some times I think he dramatizes this as much as the intensity of muscles, for contrast. This may not be your intention , but this would be mine if this where my piece.
I congratulate you on your beautiful work !!!

Another thing Ive noticed when you take a still photo of an action the movement may look very smooth and fluid, but the still sometimes looks odd, non real because you cant account for the momentum of a still image and I think that is where it gets difficult in some sculpture my work sometimes looks very stiff because of this.

[KatyL]

Weight, counterweight, torque, tension, falling, catching oneself. I think this is why I am more attracted to "living" subjects (aka: figurative) but, I have had some thoughts about "abstractions" which I would like to try out as well.

I think ten sculptures from now, I will have improved.