02/05/04

Done some more work on The Angry Man.

I used the same basic pose as the last one, but this time I've placed the hand as if he is about to strike something.  I left the hand unfinished in this one. As I was working on it I thought it would be more effective if I left it looking like a club or some sort of blunt object rather than an actual hand.

I've also been working on this little guy too,

I'm calling this "One Eye"

The other piece I'm working I haven't thought of a name for it yet.  It's mounted on to the board now.  Once it's dry I can prime and paint it.

I'm waiting for some 7"x18" artboards I've ordered.  Once I have those I'm going to try some complete figures.  I've got some ideas for pairs of figures.

02/04/04

I'm finding myself wasting a lot of time, but I've manage to get a bit more work done.

Hands are a real pain to make out of this clay.

I find that once I actually sit down and start working I'm fine.  The problem is getting to sit down to work.  It's amazing all the things that seem to be more important when it comes time to get some work done.

For myself I find the computer to be one of the biggest distractions I've got.  How many  hours have I wasted on computer games, forums, or just surfing the net? 

Part of the reason I'm doing this is to prove to myself that I can use my computer time for more useful activities, something that might actually help me get more work done.

02/03/04

Having a bit of a picture problem here. This is the photo that should of loaded for the last day.

And here's another head I'm working on as well,

I make the figures in sections to avoid cracking.  The clay shrinks a lot and I've had problems with that.  Making parts to assemble seems to be the easiest way around this.

I like the large ear on the lower photo.  I'm thinking of calling that one "The Angry Man" since he looks kind of pissed off about something.

I've got the morning to myself to get some work done.  I seem to be spending more time in front of the computer than working though. 

02/01/04

I'm working on three pieces at the moment.  So far I've just finished the heads.  Here's a photo of one of them.

With the larger scale I've been able to create more details in the faces.  In this one I've used black wooded beads for the eyes.  I've found trying to make the eyes out of the clay doesn't really work all that well.

Both of the heads now have hair something which I've never included before.  The heads up to this point have been very plain and basic, an abstracted idea of a head.  A lot of this has to do with the size of them.  They were just too small to add a lot of detail with the type of clay I'm using.  I've played around with polymor clays which do allow for more detail but I've never liked the look of it.  It always looks like plastic toys.

I've also got to start thinking about the background for this work. 

I've been thinking about the need to start showing work.  It's a trap for me because it takes my focus away from the work at hand.  I start thinking about how much work I should have finished.  It's never enough, never good enough.  All I really need to be thinking about right now is the piece I'm working on, not how it will fit into a show, and not how people will think about it in that show.

First entry

This is a piece I finished last year.  It's a good place to start I guess.  There are a few different things I've been trying to improve on.  One is the material itself.  I've been using air drying clay to make the figures.  For the most part it works. The work above is only 5 x 7 inches and  I find I have trouble with finer details.  I can only do so much with my fingers and tools just seem to crush the soft clay.  I've decided to work on a larger scale to get around this problem.  I don't think I can work much larger with the materials I'm using.  Larger pieces tend to crack when they dry.  Increasing the scale by only a couple of inches though seems to help a lot.  I'll include pictures of what I'm working on right now over the next couple of days.

The other thing I've been working to improve on is the painting of them.  When the work is finished it should be seamless.  In the end this work is really just a three dimensional painting and so has to work as one.  So far I've been using colour to highlight the work.  I haven't taken it much farther than that. 

I'm also thinking of using other materials to add texture and such. I've been thinking of things such as papier mache and plaster wrapping to build up different types of surfaces.  I need to experiment to see how these materials will hold together.  I'm also thinking of using found objects in the work, but I think I'll leave that for now.

One of my biggest problems when working is keeping my focus.  I want to go try all these different things and in the end all I have is a bunch of unfinished dead ends.