Smoking Hat

This is the first of the hat series.  I made the sketch long time ago for a drawing group and forgot about it. A while ago I came across the drawing and thought they would look good in 3D and I could even use colour.

The initial fun idea turned into some kind of a statement, though the message has been overused, chewed to the bone as the Hungarian saying goes. Still, I thought the approach was different and the viewer would be able to use one extra sense not usually associated with sculpture: smell, as I used incense sticks for producing smoke.

Unfortunately,  the smoke proved difficult to photograph, so I’m including an earlier version ( third pic) where the smoke is more visible.

The Race: Mixed media wall piece

Paper mache relief on canvas, aluminum foil, acrylic paint:

Gallery Showing

A few of my sculptures at Station Gallery in Whitby:

Mixed media

Paper pulp experiment with minimalist approach. I felt it needed colour, but now I can’t decide whether it was a good idea or not. 

Stages of a bust in progress

A few pictures to illustrate the development of a work in progress. On first picture the paper mache is still soft.

The second one after the mache is dry.  Though I knew very well the shrinking process will hurt the face, I almost broke down in tears when I saw this:

It looked hopelessly behind repair.  For the first time I was considering giving up on paper mache entirely.  But loved that face and reworked it by patiently adding small pieces of soft mache until the reconstruction seemed satisfactory.

On the next photo she gets ears and a neck:

I couldn’t decide on  hair treatment so started experimenting with different ideas for a headdress:

The twenties look of the above was striking but too rag-like. After two days of frustration I improvised this one.  It seemed right: 

Hiddenamongroots, hope you enjoyed.

The Humanist

Encounter: mixed media sculpture