Cereamics and related
I've produced a few ceramic sculptures over the past - yikes - 30 years, and have been a passionate collector of studio pottery. I've done 'pot-portraits' of some of that collection, particularly of Crich pottery pieces. The main sculptures have been life-size (or more than life-size) pottery heads, most of which are completely weatherproof and make splendid garden sulptures.
Shelley's Grandpa: Len Guppy
My good friend Shelley showed me a photo of her grandfather: I immediately wanted to sculpt a protrait of him. Working from photos Shelley took for me, I produced one of the best sculptures I've done. Reluctant to lose the detail in glazing, I finished the sculpture in oil paint instead, capturing the weathered look of his skin with a speckiling technique. The head was finished only a few days before the 'Twenty-two portrait heads' exhibition at the then Julia Heffer's Gallery in Cambridge, and sold within 30 minutes of the opening.
Len Guppy II
I had so enjoyed builiding and then painting the fiorst Len Guppy sculpture, that when it sold on the opening night of the 'Twenty-two portrait heads' exhibition, I was devastated to see it go so soon. I started building Len Guppy II the following day. With a second firing and a Lucie Rie glaze, he was less vulnerable to damage, and although inevitably a little of the sharpness of the first painted piece was lost in the glaze, this sculpture is completely weatherproof.
Tchulema
Tchulema, a friend of my pottery teacher at the time, had a wonderfully sculptural head. This was one of the first portraits where I added eyelashes. Not wishing to lose detail in a thick application of glaze, I used oxides instead, and finished the piece with layers of coloured wax, polished to a sheen. (Indoor sculpture.)
Amerbach
I'd been doing a series of pencil and chalk drawings on a pink ground, after Holbein. Amerbach was one of these. I then set myself the rather daunting task of making a sculpture based on the drawings. The overhanging hat was a bit of a challenge, but the sculpture worked well. The piece is finished in a limited palette of oil paint. (Indoor sculpture.)
Crich II
The second in a series of five 'pot portraits': groups of Crich pottery by Diana Worthy. All use the same set: the corner of my studio, with pieces arranged on a paint-box with a palette, and with a silvered frame to the right. The precariously-balanced Crich mug and the small jug bookend the main pieces: the plate and the cheese bell.