Sweet Beast

Here's the little beastie himself
at the show posing with his finished
piece. I never saw this piece truly
vertical until it was hung on the
pristine gallery wall the night before
the opening. As you'll see below the
piece was built on a giant easel which
was slightly tilted.

I actually built this to look more hefty
and solid than the other two mural
pieces in the show. However, the
weightiness contradicts the tone of the
subject which is why I chose to paint it
like a cloud alternating layers of
translucent blues and yellows.

The detail to the left is an earlier blue layer.
The thick french cleat adhered to the back
of the piece suspends it from the wall so it
floats about an inch off the surface.

I love the depth within the image, the
vulnerability of the dangling arm and the
intrusive high relief of the wild boar.
Many of the Greek metopes are miniature
scenic sculptures with figures carved in full
dimension on a shallow plane rather than
contrived relief.    It was somewhat difficult
to stay true to this method of composing.
I made many small clay sketches to visualize
and correct the proper pose and tension.

The easel is still flat while the clay sets up.  Once firm it can be tilted almost vertical.  I started modeling from a thick slab slicing through and stuffing with shredded paper to plump out the figures.  The arm was coiled from the shoulder down to the hand.  When dry it was fired flat in one piece in an electric car kiln (my dream kiln) which happens to be the same identical size as the trunk of my car.