Tuesday 11 October 2011

Past the half way point

The  picture here is of the latest piece that I have been working on. I would say that I am past the half way point but there is still a lot of work to do.

The main form has now been textured and colour to add more depth to the piece.

It has been an interesting project. For some time now I have wanted (as I have said in previous posts) to change direction to more sculptural work. I wanted somthing unique that I had not seen before and with this piece believe I have found it. The the idea  has not come of any other work by any other maker and happened purely by accident and was very much a serindipity moment which has made the whole process more exciting.

Amongst the excitment there has also been several dreaded moments where I was not sure if what I was attempting would work at all. On these occassions I found thinking about going back to working within my safe zone but realised that if I did not push myself  that I would possibly not progress the piece, ( I even had a sleepless night worrying about if it was going to work or not.

This has been a frightening experience but also very excillerating. I am not sure if you can get an adrelalin rush from creating but I have certainly felt one during the making of this piece .

The carving and texturing have taken around 11 hours to date not including the making of the main form and other parts so I guess around 15 hours in total have been racked up.


Hopefully the end result will be worththe work put in. Obviously showing the piece in such a clandestine way with snippets here and there could be a recipe for my failing and falling from a great height. But one thing I have learnt through out my short time making and in previous vocations is that without taking risks I can't push the apron.

Failing is a big part of the process and I have had to alter my intentions as I have continued. Some things worked some did not, but the amount learnt is worth all the sweat and anxiety.

So  another 4-5 hours work and it should be complete, but even if it does not turn out as I intend then I will post pictures to show the end result.

You may ask why I have included information about how excilerating and frieghtening this process has been. Well a fellow creative maker who has help and continues to help me challenge the way I think told me a long time ago that as a maker I need to continually challenge and push outside of my comfort zone, to explore and investigate nw ways of working and that only by doing this will I move forward.

So this blog entry and process is more about how I have tackled the project that the physical form itself and hopefully it will give others an insight into how I am working more and more.

3 comments:

George Foweraker said...

Very interesting Mark.I lioke what I see up to now and look forward to completion.

Lee Robert Sneddon said...

Hi Mark,

The path that you find yourself on now is no different to any other path you have travelled. It is you who has changed and it is refreshing to see how the change is coming out through your work.

The process of creativity is often a very personal one and it is exciting to see you developing an idea into a reality.

Get into it mate!

Cheers,

Lee.

Mark said...

Hi George & Lee

Thank you for your interest. Hopefully the piece will work out and it will be the start of a new direction for me.