Studio Visit, Remaking to Get it Right
Yesterday I cut a section of a palm tree with climbing flowers out of clay. This is a part of this large mural project that is consuming my studio life these days, and if this is new to you scroll down for some photos and links to previous posts to offer some context.
I proceeded with my plan to carve out the date palm sections with texture and to round them with the form of the trunk.
After a few hours I stepped back and looking I was not sure if it works as well as I hoped. It had the possibility once glazed of looking too broken up and not cohesive. In such moments I usually call Rob (@greyhawk) over to take a look. It's very helpful to be able to check his impressions against mine in case I am not seeing things as they really are.
But even after he said he liked it I still felt “eh” about it. It just doesn't look great and could be difficult to understand what one is looking at so I decided to try a small area of another approach. I wanted to try to maintain the rounded form but without the texture.
I drew up another section and 3 hours later - cutting/carving areas is not what I would call a speedy endeavor! - I had enough to judge from. Here are the 2 styles to compare the look:
and … I like the new approach to the left MUCH better so I went back and recut the first area + some more.
This morning the first thing I did upon arriving at my studio was to look at this cut tree with flowers. I'm so glad to have listened to my instincts and taken the extra time to create a better look. This kind of reworking is part of what makes these hand made mosaic murals so time intensive but I also love this learning and process of figuring out both the art and the craft of making an image, a concept come to life in 3 dimensions!
Some photos from this 6 month project showing the original drawing of the whole piece in process, cutting from wet clay, glazing and putting sections together:
[]
[]
https://steemit.com/art/@natureofbeing/studio-visit-glazing-the-hawaiian-landscape-mosaic
https://steemit.com/art/@natureofbeing/news-from-my-studio-revisions-and-beginning-to-cut-the-pool-house-mosaic
https://steemit.com/art/@natureofbeing/it-s-all-in-the-plan
https://steemit.com/art/@natureofbeing/2-inside-the-drawing-phase-of-a-mosaic-commission
I am always so grateful for your support of my blog and thus life as an artist, all of you Steemians make it possible!
It would be very good to decorate the outside of the home
I suppose that is the role of the artist. You are the Chief Engineer and Top Dawg. Your name goes on it so it should be as you envision and wish it to be. Interesting and also inspiring that even you pros do re-do's!!!
hi @old-guy-photos and yup, being a pro isn't much different than a semi-pro except that the decisions are better and answers come more quickly ;-)
Wow! This is really amazing... Now, I am one of your fan!!!
:-), thank you!
<3 All those tiny grey pieces coming together to form a giant colourful piece - it's true magic to me! Awesome I can learn through your posts how much labour goes into this, it builds up even more (!) respect than I already have for all the manual work artists do all day every day to make our world look that much prettier :-)
Thank you and hearing this means a lot to me. Truly, thank you
Wow such intricate and beautiful work, I would not have the patience for something like this so I admire your work even more!
thanks @vtravels, patience yes!! sometimes I think it's a little nuts quite frankly ;-)
Hahaha no definitely not nuts! Its worth it for sure!
Wow, what a project @natureofbeing! 🙏 It's so fun to follow the journey and be able to see you create piece by piece.. I also prefer the sharper look of the second palm tree 😍 It gives it a lot more structure and punch! Happy creating 😊
Thank you @mayasky, glad to hear which you prefer!
When you showed the two styles side by side, my first choice was actually the right one. But after looking at them again at some time, I can understand why you prefer the left version. Truly, they're both good so it's really difficult to choose.
-upvoted-
Thanks for your comment, I actually appreciate hearing that you liked the right better. I went back and forth a few times and have wondered if I would choose the one on the right side if I gave myself a chance to look at this with fresh eyes in a week. I don't have the time though so I had to take a leap, but I agree that the textured one has a certain magic and maybe if I made more of it I would get the carving executed better and like it better overall!
Anyway, thanks :-)
Wow you are gonna fill up that wall? Huge project! Looking at the green-coloured parts I'd bet the finished product will look even more gorgeous.
thank you and yes it is a ton of work and will be finished pretty soon :-)
I still can't wrap my head around putting this all together once all the pieces are ready. Amazing!!
You'll see it in real time ;-))
Lovely details with the leaves.
thank you :-)