Arriving at a Bear
Sculpting uses and uncertain process to arrive at an indistinct destination
Some Bear , my current sculpture in Progress, has now obtained the stature of a bear. I like this stage in doing sculpture because it is for me the involving. The entire concept turns the corner at this point. And I begin to lock in on the structure of the pose. Keeping in mind my last post, of freezing an animation. The bear is shown in a seated position. His head is thrust forward, front legs folded across his chest, and legs crossed. I derived these positions through a process I define as frozen array. I start by visualizing the front legs (“arms” for this purpose) as if they were moving into this position. Not as they appear when the are already there. If the thought is to carve them as they are moving to position, then there is less chance for mistake.
I literally carve them to the stopped position. Or, to put another way, chase them to the frozen zone. This means I am always carving away the material that the limbs are moving away from. Not into. Working in this manner insures that I am not going to remove the wood from the place where I want them to end up.