During the Málaga art day I spent the day sculpting from my heart. I didn’t know what I was going to make before hand and felt a bit anxious, as I have only done one previous public display of making art before. Usually I am shut away in my art studio alone, so working in public is a scary thought because when I’m battling with a piece, normally there is no one else around to see. I always struggle with a piece to bring it into fruition. So I just got on with the show and let something materialise. Read my blog about Art Day Málaga.

Introducing Ellen

The sculpture seemed to look like a duck quite quickly, though at one point it was veering towards looking like a seagull. I knew who this duck sculpture was immediately, it was Ellen. She was the rather large, plump, pure white, duck from my friends organic farm. She didn’t lay any eggs, so her fate was to become our Christmas dinner. We did do her justice though, as she became part of what we call a Tri-Bird, a quail in a chicken in a duck, each de-boned and laid flat with a different layer of stuffing between each bird, then tied up in a roll and roasted.

Relationship

Because I had sketched her from life, in her enclosure  as you can see here and I had also photographed her previously too, during her life and because I am a complete towny, I only tasted one morsel of her. I felt bad for eating a friend. I had ideas to paint her but then she manifested as this duck angel sculpture instead. I think I might use this sketch as a guide, to give her those glorious feet.

Challenge

I came back after lunch to find her slumped and broken into about 7 pieces. I didn’t hesitate to fix her up again, even though it was tempting to just trash her. I gave her better posture because she was a bit of slouch beforehand and I had been struggling with the aspect of her being top heavy.

Another sculpture with a huge motherly cleavage by Miss Plunkett!