These patterns are really taking shape now. They are tending to be fairly large grooves as the marble chips off at any fine work where the grain is running in the wrong direction. I often find that the stone dictates the form to some extent. Here it seems to be saying that the hills must not be too proud. I am happy to listen and to flatten them a little. I am reminded of Van Gough’s night skies. The golden firmament seen from the outside rather than from within.
I have forgotten how the pattern goes on these forms. It took me half an hour to work it out again. I thought that the swirls changed direction as they come off a hill and descend into a hollow but they do not. The pattern is just beginning to take shape here and will take a lot more working up next week. I am encouraged by what I see so far.
I got the ball pretty round in the end. I cut out a form in plywood to scrape over the surface. With paint applied to the form it comes off on all the high spots. I don’t claim that it was perfect but as the only part of the present surface is the high tops of the hills it was not necessary to get the surface any nearer to perfection. I have marked out the rings that will go on to form the high and low mountains and valleys. I still cannot be sure this sculpture will be a success but am anxious to find out.
I realised this morning that I have no clay that does not need lots of work to get it into a workable condition. I decided to try the idea out directly in marble. The first thing is to make a ball. Very difficult to do. As you can see I have made it round from two directions. Tomorrow I will work on the third dimension. I ended the day by gluing the pin that will hold the sculpture up once it is finished. This will be helpful whilst I am working on it too.
The birth of something new does not look like much yet. I have had feedback that my maquette looking like a figure of eight on it’s side might be too imposing in the suggested position. This is tricky as I spend most of my time trying to make sculptures that have lots of impact and that are striking to the eye. Here it seems we need something more gentle with less immediate impact. I am thinking of a form broadly spherical. The outline produced will be more gentle than the ‘eyes’ that goggle from the previous idea. The surface idea I have is one borrowed from an old sculpture of mine involving conical hills and conical valleys. The nails you see here mark the tops of the conical hills. I will apply clay tomorrow. The wire is to try and stop the clay falling off.
