Wednesday, May 02, 2012

Interlude: more maquettes


I'm really delighted to say that the indefatigable Clive Hicks-Jenkins, whose praises I cannot sing too highly so I'll just shut up (well, I might one day), has seen fit to include my maquettes in his glorious feast of an on-line exhibition on the theme.  As well as the original donkey and Molly prototypes I made a while back, I finally, and at the last minute, made a full set of Musicians of Bremen figures, on which I spent much of this last weekend, including a new dog and donkey, all made using the same medium (good old Inktense pencils) and colour pallette, to scale and facing the right way, so they could be assembled into the classic Musicians of Bremen animal tower, as they are shown in the sculpture in the town of Bremen, and in most illustrations of the story.  I think some of the appeal of the story is in this stacking up of the animals from large to small; give a child a set of animal figures like this to play with and they will inevitably end up trying to get them to stand up on each other's backs like this.

It was an interesting exercise, the cat ended up with more complex articulations than the dog and donkey, including eight separate joints in the tail alone, because that was the only way to convey anything at all of the fluidity and flexibility of a cat.  It was surprisingly difficult to find many pictures of a cat at full stretch showing exactly how and where it moves to draw from, cats are more often than not curled or twisted or hunkered or asleep - I have been drawing cats fairly competently since I was about three but still found I needed reference.  While all vertebrates are basically made on the same frame with the same number and orientation of joints,there's a wide variation in how they use them, of course.  But the complicated ones were the more satisfying, I really enjoyed making the cockerel too, and studying the colouring and patterning of these handsome creatures carefully.

There's a larger version of the picture at Clive's Artlog, and also separate collages of all the figures in different positions.  There are also many more really stunning contributions by other extremely talented, imaginative artists of whom I'm very proud to be seen alongside, everything from the eerie to the endearing, and much more.  The range and standard and originality of all the work so far is truly outstanding, and there's more to come.  Clive's put enormous time and effort into this at a very busy and productive time for him, for no personal gain or glory, so hie thee on over to the Artlog and enjoy.  So far there have been parts one, two and three, and so far he's been posting a new batch every day.

Every time I think blogging might be losing its lustre, something new and terrific comes along to make me fall for it all over again...

11 comments:

NT said...

Wondeful!

Fire Bird said...

oh these are just gorgeous!

Anonymous said...

I saw these over at the Artlog this morning, they're fabulous!

Dale said...

I was stunned when you first posted your Bremeners, and the casual way you spoke of it. Happened to have an hour or two free and went from tyro to mastery in a new art form, ho-hum, sorry for troubling you with my hobbies! I crept about daunted for weeks :-)

Rouchswalwe said...

Wunderbar!

Roderick Robinson said...

Alas, I stand on the absolute periphery of this subject, being all thumbs when it comes to make something pretty, worth hanging on a wall. But what's this? When did I last buckle down and conjugate the verb hi/hie which you used in the imperative (assuming your mind was thinking in English at the time) or possibly subjunctive if under the influence of a French miasma. Does it take a final e or not. My Penguin dictionary (It's a legitimate intellectual's dicker with 1642 pp) does't accord it house room and the Chambers is downstairs. There are limits to my curiosity. Yet again one of life's little challenges is going to slide by. Happy marquetting.

zephyr said...

Lucy!
these are terrific!!
So charming. i want to reach in and play with them.

marja-leena said...

Lucy, your maquettes are just absolutely gorgeous, and so well-made, creative and artistic. Your beautiful rooster is my favourite of your musicians of Bremen. The story was always a family favourite, and I've seen the statue in Bremen, a favourite city where husband's wonderful cousin lives. And yes, Clive has inspired and is so very generous with this online exhibition!

marly youmans said...

I've enjoyed the whole maquette series so much--very glad you played, and that Clive curated! Such great and inspiring variety. I love your Bremen pieces!

Jean said...

Congratulations! These are just woderful - Dale sums it up. And the whole online exhibition is fabulous.

zephyr said...

i keep coming back (and over at Clive's) to study these. i think i shall have to make me a cat...but after i get home, since i can't find any suitable paper or paper fasteners on island.