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.

Crich III

For this one the star is the red ginger jar by ?Tony Pugh (I'll check that reference!), with a Debora Cane black brush pot, and then two Crich pieces: the jug and the plate. I let a few tubs of oil paint muscle-in on the composition.

Crich V

In this final one of the series of five, I returned to the butter dish and brush jar, and added one of the glaze-test domes, a cookie jar and two plates, including the central piece, with its irridescent glaze.