Reward through effort

I started out thinking that in writing about my sculpting I was going to write about beautiful things. Yes....Sculptures are beautiful. But the act of sculpting..... it is beautiful, inspiring, invigorating and work. Hours and hours of work. Sometimes those hours go by like flash. Every place I lay my clay down seems perfect. My fingers fly. Thumbs pulling through the different body movements, fingers rolling and placing little clay strips, ...around and around the body I move and the little figure takes life before my eyes. Then there are the hours of frustration and second guessing and endless raking of clay off the figure only to re-applying it in a different spot.

There is a fine balance between this struggle and the heady rush of positive progress. I must learn to welcome this struggle and celebrate it because only through it will I find improvement.

From now on I will use this blog to document my progress and thoughts as I move forward.

I am currently still finishing the details on "First Bond". This Friday I will meet with at least one Foundry to discover if they will be a good fit with my work and get an idea of casting cost. Yes.. the moment of truth. : /

I was thinking yesterday about what first inspired me to want to sculpt.

I walked into Sculpture 101 thinking, "This might be the biggest waste of time but hey..maybe I can make something useful, perhaps a birdbath.." Instead, I saw a poster on the wall of a sculpture that completely captivated me. The energy was SO strong that it still makes my heart race whenever I see a photo of it or even think about it. It is Powerful. "Fighting Stallions" by Anna Hyatt Huntington. That a work of art could emit such energy and evoke such a strong reaction fascinated me. From that moment forward I was hooked. I knew that I wanted to create sculpture that hummed with energy. A life of of its own. This is what pulls and draws me. It is not about capturing a photographic likeness. It is about capturing life.....how we live and what we feel. The emotion and energy the courses through our living bodies captured in solid medium. Captured but not frozen...just vibrating.

I have not been to Brookgreen Gardens, home of "Fighting Stallions". Yet. One Day. : )