Human Form

Well at moment I am enjoying the process of finishing lots of bowls and platters which I find very relaxing as the process is repetitive and fluid. They are destined for numerous outlets that I supply as well as those that I supply my more unusual pieces.

Lots of teaching and writing to do which I also enjoy very much. Needing to pull on different skills keeps the mind working and helps reinforce other aspects of my work. The writing helps clarify techniques during teaching and visa versa, etc etc.

As one of my interests in in creative work, outside of the round with enhancements I am always playing around with ideas and trying to find new ways in which to work. The ideas are generally not new in themselves, but being able to use them so that I can apply my own interpretations and express an idea through them in a visual medium I very enjoyable.

This being one of the reasons I enjoy writing woodturning articles as I am able to share my ideas with a larger audience.

Another related interest is reading source material, watching documentaries and researching any thing and everything of interest.

At the moment on BBC1 on Sunday evenings is a program looking at how the four modern masters have influenced our society, much of the time without us realising it.

The first program this Sunday gone was about Matisse. It was brilliant and any one interested in looking at artists and how they work to transmit their ideas should watch the remaining three programs.

The work of Matisse I found very inspirational. The way he smashed convention and broke the rules making up his own as he went along and the resulting works he made I found another avenue or inspiration.

The piece above while not inspired by Matisse and I am in no way saying it is in the same realm as his work, struck a chord in my mind while I was watching the program.

The way in which Matisse revealed a picture in a few minimalist strokes of his brush or scissors was fascinating. For some time I have enjoyed looking at how to produce a subject matter with as little direction being given to the viewer as possible, so that the subject can be seen, without me telling totally what it is about. Thus leaving the viewer to interpret its message/content.

The sculpture above is one such group of works that I have started experimenting with. It is designed to represent the human form. I had in it's a certain attitude that I wanted the sculpture to express. This was based on the teacher figure within the Pink Floyd Wall video. However I wanted to see if people would see what I saw in it and was pleased with the response, so I have now drawn up several new pieces to work on.

The sculptures are made via offset turning on the lathe. Two separate sections are made with abrasives and oil being the only other additional tooling/sundries used.

It was finished in oil and specifically included cracked oak wood to add to the organic/natural life based form.

So hopefully some more will be out of the workshop soon to view and go to the outlets.