This last weekend at the Glendale Arts and Music Show was the debut of my latest sculpture. I’ve worked on this piece for months on and off. It’s not at all like what I had originally planned. Originally it was supposed to be quite abstract and modern. But it seems to have had a life and will of its own. I’ve learned with this piece that sculpture is a lot like mosaic, sometimes you just have to go with the flow.
My only clear thought was to create something serene and meditative. It started out much smaller but I kept adding things and it grew. It also lost its abstractness. It became more of a realistic face.
The early stage clay with the hummingbird
Months ago it even had a hummingbird nestled in the flowers that make up the “hair” of the head. At some point, I became totally frustrated with that little bird. It just didn’t work, it didn’t float, the angle was wrong, it was lost in the flowers and finally I decided that it just wasn’t needed. After careful consideration I removed it.
The finished work in clay before casting
Now the flowers were a puzzle in themselves. I wanted to have them overlapping and still feel and look flexible. I took a bit of artistic license and created flowers of my own, sort of like some flower or another but not distinctly identifiable, although I did base some of them on Plumeria, a flower I loved in Hawaii. The same happened with the leaves. No leaf actually looks like these exactly but I took liberties to get the lines and movement that I wanted.
The finished sculpture
And now it’s finished. I turned it over to Eric to cast and let him work his magic. Looking at it now, even though is far from what I originally expected to create, I’m happy with it. I wanted to create a piece that offered serenity. I’m into meditation now, and I imagined this lady meditating all these flowers around her face into existence and smiling about it. I’ve given it the title Floral Meditation. I want someone to be able to look at this piece and get a sense of serenity. I hope it has accomplished that.
Tags: abstract, Floral Meditation, Hawaii, hummingbird, Meditation, meditative, plumeria, sculpture
Yes, she’s absolutely lovely and invites one to be calm and peaceful. I like that idea of her bringing all those flowers into existence, it’s very poetic.