New work!

[Alfred]

This is a portrait of my wife that I did yesterday. I'm getting ready for the Richard Macdonald Master Workshop and I hadn't had any time to get in some practice sculpting. I decided yesterday that I should at least get one thing done so I asked my wife to sit for me when she got home from work. Four hours later and this is the result. Crits welcome!

Sorry I don't know how to make the pictures bigger when you click on them.

[fritchie]

Beautiful, Alfred. I still marvel at how fast you work. A fine overall feel, and that's probably the main reason for sculpture.

[tapit123]

Marvelous detail. Congrats...

[HappySculpting]

Alfred- I like this a lot. Good job and in such a short time. I like the mood. My take on the expression is that of pleasure with a tad of blushing in there. She seems to happy to get her portrait done but a little bit shy about it. I like the eyes cast downwards. I like her eyebrows and how they add to the mood too.

The only thing I was noticing for a critique is that the width of the nose seems pretty small. I know their are a lot of variances in faces but wasn't sure about that part of it. Nice lips!

Hope you tell us all about the Macdonald class. :-)


~Tamara

[GlennT]

Very nice work Alfred. Four hours? Good thing you are not a symphony conductor, you'd do the minute waltz in 20 seconds!
This bust would look very nice in marble.

[Alfred]

Thanks for the kind words everybody.

Tamara - Yes my wifes nose is that narrow. I calipered it like three times because I kept making it too wide. She also has a very turned-up end to her nose (I find it kinda cute). The expression is of timidness, as my wife is also shy, but a little bit mischieviuos.

Glenn - Thanks, I think... I do take my time at things that require a bit more patience. When it comes to sculpture, however, more time means more chances for me to screw the whole thing up. I've trained very hard to be as fast as I am and I hope to only get better (not neccesarilly faster). There are some stone carvers I know who have been bugging me for monts to take a class with them and do a portrait. Most of them are abstact stone carvers and the few who have done figures have not sculpted them realistically. Stone carving requires patience and a lot of time. I would want to see results so soon that I think I would give up before I could finish.

Gracias!!

Alfred

[underfoot]

Alfred, beautifull work,
Would it be asking too much that when you next do a portrait
that you post a few work in progress pics.
I would love to see the process.
cheers underfoot

[Alfred]

Underfoot, I would love to do that for you. Figuring out at what intervals to take the photos might have to be something to work out, but I think I can do it. Usually I'm sculpting quite rapidly and I look like some kind of lead singer of a rock band, because I stand with my legs far apart (front to back) and I lean in and lean out a lot, keeping the sculpt between myself and the model. I rarely have time to think about photos, but I will try. I've been trying to convince my cousin (who has a great head for portraiture) to sit for me so that I can sculpt him as a faun. Perhaps that sculpt would be a good one for WIP's. I'll try when I'm back in my studio at the end of July.

No Worries!!

Alfred

[ironman]

Hi Alfred, 4 hours for that? Doesn't look like you need Macdonalds workshop.
Sometimes I think those fast ones turn out better than more finished work. They maintain a freshness and liveliness that can get lost in longer, sometimes overworked pieces.
Have a great day,
Jeff

[Merlion]

Originally Posted by ironman

Hi Alfred, 4 hours for that? Doesn't look like you need Macdonalds workshop.

I agree with this. And I suppose this workshop would not come cheap.

[Alfred]

IronMan, thanks for the kind words. I also believe that some of the best work comes out of sponteneity. I can't tell you how many times I've been in a class doing half-life studies when the instructor says we're adding another day to the pose (on an already long pose to begin with). I should walk away, but my love for being in the studio and working from the model drives me back and I noodle the piece into boredum.
As for the MacDonald workshop, I'm not really looking to sculpt like him or trying to find ways to sculpt even faster; no... what my career needs is business scense. I need tools for helping my sell my work and get in front of the right people. His class offers "The Business of Art" and that will be my main focus. Of Course I will be taking te sculpting very seriously and I hope to learn a lot of techniques I can apply to my style of work.

Thanks again,

Alfred

[Mikko]

Alfred-

Your work is awesome! It is clearly evident that you know your way around the human figure. As for the Richard MacDonald workshop, your ability will be unrivaled (as far as participants). I attended a few summers ago and absorbed every moment of both the sculpting as well as the 'business' sessions, benefitting tremendously from both. Richard's drive and energy is unbelievable!

I am currently "devouring" a book by Caroll Michels titled "How to Survive & Prosper as an Artist,...Selling Yourself Without Selling Your Soul", an excellent book on marketing.

Best of Luck!

[BobClyatt]

Alfred and I had dinner tonight in Carmel with the other students from MacDonald's workshop, (actually this week it is Andrew Cawrse's flayed man workshop). You guys would love Alfred, and now I get to see the work he forgot to bring pix of. Great work, Alfred! I'll tell you in person tomorrow if you don't see this first.

The MacDonald operation is amazing -- no matter what anyone thinks of his work, I think he's helping us all as sculptors by helping more people learn to buy figurative sculpture at healthy prices. Maybe there will be a trickle down effect?

[Alfred]

Mikko, thanks for the kind words. This has been a humbling experience so far but also reassuring. Humbling in the sence that I am finding out that what I thought I knew about anatomy is still not enough, but reassuring in the fact that everyone up here thinks my work is really great and most feel that my work is at the top of the class. Today was the last day of the anatomy workshop, so I'll be resting this weekend getting ready for next week. I hope that all I've learned this week will be internalized and then brought out in a form of understanding, but more importantly, in an expression of the beauty of the models they have up here.

I also have the book you mentioned and I couldn't recomend it more!! It's a great resource for artists and I started applying some of the principles to my career.

Cheers to all!!!

Alfred

[justme]

Hi Alfred,
Your work is terrific. I love the line and shadows. You certainly work fast. Do you always use natural clay? It's so much faster and such fun. I miss the texture, the smell, the flexibility. Since I work large and am quite slow, I use KleanKlay. But you sure make me miss the real thing. I checked out your website and really admire your work.
Best of luck, J

[StevenW]

She looks like a beautiful woman, you must be very lucky. Terrific work all around, it's pretty easy to get a 450x300 jpeg up on this site. I wish it were size restricted to 600x400 and not file size though. Some 450x300's can run above 80.5kb depending on the pixel resolution and changing them can be a hassle after awhile... Most art forums permit 600x400 jpeg these days, but I don't know the bandwidth or server space on this site.

[Alfred]

Justme, Thanks for the compliment. I only use water clay when I'm working life sized or larger, I like the ability to build fast and not have to knead or warm my clay before I put it on. I use Chavants La Beaux Touche for all my smaller work, or for anything I know I will not be able to finish or cast right away. I love water based clay for half life studies too. I think half life studies are the best way to build speed and accuracy, and water clay allows for those things.

Steven, My wife is a very beautiful woman and I do consider myself a very lucky man. I miss her terribly and was not able to sleep the first few nights up here without her in the bed with me. We talk every night but it's not quite the same. As much as I'm enjoying my time up here and I know how important it is to make progress in my career, it has been very dificult to spend so much time away from the one that I love so much. Two weeks is a long time...

Best regards to everyone, hope to be able to post photos and stuff in a couple of weeks.

Cheers!!

Alfred

[Berinje']

Your portrait of your wife is simply lovely. The loving feeling that you have for her comes across beautifully. It has an almost Madonna feel to it.