Bird

Pixies

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Above, three pixies, each face about two centimetres

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Fragments

I'm playing more with the idea of making fragments deliberately, chasing Rodin,(and the whole of modern sculpture I guess). And chasing the idea of work which is non-monumental, intimate small work, whose strength lies in ambiguity, almostness and allusion. I'm making animals but trying to avoid the sweetness that this often seems to necessitate.

At what point does a work of art become so slight, so quiet that it ceases to be a work of art, and remains a dormant affecting no-one? Is there a minimal level of physical intervention?

Birdshead revisited

Returning to an earlier set of pieces: the birds.

 I had worked on them and they had become more and more like very obvious toys. I like toys, but the toys I like have a sense of abstraction about them, which is what lends them their charm (contrast Britains' very realistic animals and soldiers and cars with the far more abstracted tin soldiers and cars of earlier epochs).

I'd forced the pieces, making them far too explicitely "fun" and decorative when I should have let them be, allowing the viewer more space to draw their own interpretations.

Thus, in the guise of Redon, I return.

I also began making some horses: again I haven't found quite the equilibrum between a sort of Giacometti abstraction and realism, and they became too cute: I shall persevere.

Moth: tableau and materials

The mask has been worked on slightly to include further modelling of eyes and lips.

Some of the Moths have had slight additions, though they are waiting to fully dry before they recieve the main trasformative element- the addition of antennae, which will be made from the materials seen below:



This tableau ia about 60 cm across: I shall gradually work on additional elements so the final tableau is about 1.5 metres in length.

Moth, revisited

Moth as Christ, Christ as Moth

Though I shall work a little more on these pieces, I shall probably not paint them instead leaving them in a less defined state.

"Moth" is a recurring theme for me: I attempted to tackle the theme in monotype two years ago but was not satisfied with the results, then more recently visited it with paper cutouts. The results with the cutouts were nice, but they did not convey the utter horror that these creatures bring me, they were much too cartoonish. This time I intend to combine the moths with other items to make a grand, gothic tableau.

I have picked up from somewhere the idea that moths are Christ symbols: but there seems little evidence to support this as a traditional iconography. I found this, however: http://truthmarche.wordpress.com/2010/02/09/blinded-by-the-light-the-parable-of-the-moth/

I quote:

"Are we, like the huge Cecropia moth, blundering on in the darkness, oblivious to the universe which is all around us? Are we ignorant to the realities that present themselves in our everyday lives, simply because we aren’t really paying attention to what is going on around us? "

There is also, of course, Thomas Harris's magnificent "The Silence of the Lambs" (one of the cases where the film is greater than the book) where the moth is seen as a symbol of transformation through life, and between sexual conditions. These notions have a pagan ring to me, bringing to mind the Green Man, so beautifully represented in Rosslyn Chapel, Penicuik, near Edinburgh.

Birds and mask: "gesso" experimentation

I'm experimenting with a mixture of P.V.A. glue, water and Plaster of Paris, which is similar to traditional gesso.

The more water in the mix, the more liquid the paste and the longer it takes to dry. Using just glue and plater makes the mix thick and makes it dry extremely fast.



When this "gesso" dries it is slighly malleable, and can be sanded quite happily, leaving quite a smooth surface.

Strips of paper can be dipped in this "gesso" and used like bandages, to help sculpt the piece.



There is something strange about these pieces that is lost with painting.

A selection of finished birds; painting the birds

The birds are nice to hold, and striking to see.


The enamel paint that I used is smooth and thick but can disguise only the slightest surface irregularites. So, for the birds to achieve their true potential, their surfaces should be much smoother before painting.


The paint is too thick to allow delicate detailing, so the birds' designs must aim for boldness over complexity.


In general, I am happy with this batch: the birds are bold and amusing, and there are inevitably hitches in any new projects.

And craft processes proceed in very definate stages, so if you screw up in one of the stages, you usually have to take several steps back to rectify your mistake; given that each stage usually has to dry, experimentation can become laborious.

Birds

A finished bird*

Wire legs inserted, a papier mache bird prepares itself to be covered in a plaster/pva/ water mix in an experiment for improved surface smoothness.

Three birds and one boy are covered liberally in the paste, whioh has the consistency of double cream....

...then they are hung out to dry.

This is attempt to improve surface smoothness of papier-mâché. The enamel paints I use do disguise a multitude of sins, but not enough to make such experiments redundant.

*Chateau Esclimont, photo by Frederick Evans, pub. Mitchell Beazley 1994 in "The Chateaux of France" by Marcus Binney.

Covering the wire: notes

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Notes

-The skin of the mask is not smooth enough. Plaster of paris does not work as a filler because it is too brittle, and papier mache cannot be sanded. I think the best thing is to continue to add layers of very thin paper so the ridges formed by their edges isn't too great

-There must be a product that is like a sort of thick cream which can be used in these circumstances, to provide a smooth surface to craft items, but what exactly I don't know. It can be quite messy experimenting with these things, but perhaps pva mixed with plaster?

-I shall also add eyelids and better the nostrils.

-A possibility I didn't explore is to use cloth- muslin, I guess, over the wire.

-The wire I used is too thick, so that large "knots" are created when wires are joined.

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It's very enjoyable seeing the "personality" emerging from the mask. At what point is the thing finished?: the suggestive roughness of the mask in its current state is evocative.

Papier-mâché birds - Final stages, finishing touches

All the birds need some last touches: from left to right: Woodpecker - detail beak and face; Blue- paint legs; White - detail the eyes; Blue (open beak)- make adjustments to legs/claws; Brown- repaint beak; Boy- paint; Small white bird - improve tail and eyes; Heron- repaint beak



This sort of work can go on and on: I suspect that folk art, which often uses labour intensive methods, came into being partly to use up time.

Perhaps because Papier-mâché is a new medium for me, I don't know quite when to declare the piece over. In truth, I don't really have the patience for very slow craft processes, aso anything I work on has to be finishable in about 4 stages or I go very much off the boil. Also, I think the charm of these things must lie in their hand-made roughness, and the level of abstraction that comes with it.

Papier-mâché has existed for centuries but there isn't - so far as I can see from the various sites- a real canon of Papier-mâché artists. This means one can make it up as one goes along.

This is something of a relief coming from the world of Fine Art, where one is constantly aware of a pressure to compare onself and compete, even with various "Masters".

When I've finished these birds I shall probably make some aeroplanes.

The birds on parade following their first coat of paint.

Here they are. I dont have certain colours, so my choices are limited. But in a way that is good, because it lends a sense of unity to the collection.

I feel that the simpler the bird are, the more likable. There is another weeks work in tightening up the details.

Papier-mâché birds - stage 3; some lessons

Two birds after he first stages of painting.

I have learnt the following things about modelling in papier-mâché and plaster.

1. An armature saves a lot of grief.
2. While plaster can be used to smooth surfaces it cannot be used to model them, as it is brittle and breaks off the paper mache surfaces. Plaster cannot, therefore be used for modelling details either.
3. A certain plastic glue ("Puttex") is good for smoothing surfaces. But it cannot be easily sanded, so you have to smooth it carefully before leaving it to dry.
4. The surface of papier mache is perhaps never going to be eggshell smooth.
5. Papier mache made with white pva glue and water creates a stronger form than that made with wallpaper glue. It is also smoother.
6. Papier-mâché is not good for detailed modelling. The forms made have to be quite simple.
7. The process is quite slow. Allowing drying time betweeen papier-mâché sessions, I suppose one should allow up to two weeks to make a little bird such as the one above.
8. Painting hides some blemishes, but not many.

Papier-mâché birds - stage 2 - leg surgery

Bird with leg implantations.

I am using polyfilla to help make the birds' surfaces smooth for painting.

The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Bird

The birds observe the leg surgery: Woodpecker's abdomen has been opened: he will subsequently recieve the wire implantation, which will then be bent to form limbs.

The Consultant Surgeon and Assistant Surgeon discuss procedure.

The Birds do not always balance easily. This Hornbill has cheated using blu-tack to hold on. Perhaps I will need to made a little base for him- I hope not, as this strikes me as inelegant.

Papier-mâché birds; toys and sculpure

Here's a collection of papier mache birds I've been working on over the last few days.

The thing is to find the right degree of anthropomorphism: the right balance between bird and suggested human characteristics for them to be fun.

They need to dry a little before I can work more into them, making their surfaces more even and improving their tails and beaks. Later they will be painted.

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At what point does a toy become a sculpture? At the point at which it is too precious or serious looking to be played with, I guess.*

Play is regarded with tremendous suspicion in our culture though it lies beneath so many artistic endeavors. I suspect play is regarded with suspicion because it is regarded as the opposite of work, and Western societies are very much in thrall to the Protestant Capitalist ethos, whereby all activities must have a known, profitable end- to the extent that people are encouraged to feel bad about themselves when they aren't working, no matter how unfulfilling the jobs available to them are.

*Alexander Calder is an exception to this. Paul Klee, like Picasso, is playful but you couldn't really play with his works. Perhaps readers have other examples?