Sculpture and a drawing for the little mother

This drawing was done to see if the little mother might work as a larger sculpture.

It would, but other projects have claimed my time. It sat in my studio till a friend saw it and fell in love.  It's gone home with her to help her start a family of her own.

Sculpture and drawings for The Cathedral of Childhood #2

So the base/pedestal a riff on a Romanesque Cathedral. The front is a architectural fantasy. 

The back needs to be as powerful since the little girl is facing the opposite direction. 

You can follow the evolution of my original idea to have a bird, and how it morphed into Harpy Boy.

I'd been batteling depression for a couple of days until I started on the color full scale drawing of him.

Somehow creating his vitality and bratty singing snapped me out of it. (Click on an image to enlarge it.)

Never underestimate the healing powers of your own art.

Sculpture and drawings for The Cathedral of Childhood

So how do you get anyone to notice a sculpture that is only 16 inches tall?

You find more of the story to tell....

This sculpture started just the small sculpture with the title of "the little queen." I then had the idea of the queen surveying her realm, which also happens to be built of  children's wooden blocks. Combine that with my ongoing investigation of Romanesque art and the pedestal somehow has become a Romanesque cathedral. Click on the images to see an enlarged view.

So here are three thumbnail sketches showing how the building has evolved. More next post.

Sculpture and The Cathedral of Childhood

She's come a long way from the cherry log she used to be.

Carving wood is an act of faith for me. I have to blindly trust in my original idea, holding fast to its essence, while doubts in my abilities and my other commitments grow.

I know the sculpture will turn out fine once it finally starts to look back at me. She has a presence now.

Sculpture and FractalForums

At first I thought that the orange juice had gone bad.

The OJ is OK, but I'm switching to tea after viewing this video.


It's the work of Daniel White and Paul Nylander. Check out their work on the blog fractalforums.
I found the link while exploring the wonderful designs on Surface Fragments

Also check out this TED Talk with Ron Eglash.

'I am a mathematician, and I would like to stand on your roof.'is how Ron Eglash greeted many African families he met while researching the fractal patterns he’d noticed in villages across the continent.

I love the section (11:9)where Ron is talking about being initiated into the Bamano Sand Divination ritual to understand how they use it. He found out that it is a pseudo-random number generator. Never underestimate the locals.

Sculpture and Techno-sculpture

Stop action animation sculpture using common every office tools. Notice how your viewing experience changes when the video changes from simple quick cuts to accelerated animation. Such is life in the 21 Century.

The video is a calling card from two blokes, Tom and Matt, looking for work in the "Creative Industry."

Next time you're at your work bench, just tell yourself, "I'm in the creative industry!" and see if anything changes.

HP - invent from Tom and Matt on Vimeo.

Sculpture and Alexander McQueen

Who says sculpture must be made of bronze or stone?
Why not made from human hair?
Why not rethink a shoe into alien goddess footware fit to gaga a lady?



Alexander McQueen (1968-2010) gave his own turbulent spin to vortex of fashion, reshaping everthing from footware to how we see and think about clothing. Look at
those butterflies. I don't even know what to call them, hats? headdresses? costume? camoflage?

Lindsey Baker writes about the fashion designer and includes plenty of photos on her blog Only style remains the same.


photos from Onlystyleremainsthesame.

Sculpture and Animation

Simple but not easy.

Flat paper cutouts fold, and move and tell a story. Brilliantly done. This stop animation video designed for the YMCA by TBWA Vancouver, Art Director was John Williamson.

Sculpture and Continental Communications

The blogging world is amazing.

I received an email from Rachel Larkin in Ireland, I'm on the west coast of the USA in Portland, Oregon.

Rachel had found my bronze relief sculpture of an oriental lily, liked it and made a drawing of it for a class assignment. That's my sculpture at the top and Rachel's drawing below. Pretty accurate, no?

It's amazing to be able to put out my sculpture to a global audience and then have an ongoing conversation with you all. Thank you.

Rachel's letter below.
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Dear Patrick,
I'm a 15 year old student from Ireland doing some research for an important state exam. Part of my art project is researching an artist with pieces of art with a similar theme to mine. My theme is flowers and I did a sculpture of a water lily, your piece, Lily Rondel, really caught my attention of being related. The other part of my project is researching the background of the artist who created my chosen piece. It doesn't have much information about you personally on your website and i was wondering if its okay with you for me to ask you some questions. I need the following information, if they are too personal to you, don't answer them:

When were you born?
Where were you born?
When did you create Lily Rondel?
What style is it? (realistic, abstract etc.)
Where is it now?

I hope you don't mind me asking these questions and i appreciate it if you answer them, Thanks, Rachel.
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Here's Rachel's water lily sculpture. Looks to be of clay, in the bisque stage. She says it will be painted, (or as we call it, "room temperature glazing".)

Sculpture and Louis Sullivan Architectural Reliefs.

I may not always know exactly what I'm looking at, but I do know when it's good.

This house in NE Portland is a beauty. Set into the hillside, it looks out to downtown Portland and the western hills. Sunsets and dramatic night lights.



The drama begins at the front gates. Custom metalwork, clean, a perfect foil to the fantastic architectural terra cotta relief set into the south facing wall. David Bales looked at my photo and said "Louis Sullivan. Either a damn good reproduction or the real deal." As soon as he said it, I recognized that curious thistle-like acanthus at the top and bottom of each panel as Sullivan's.

The paired shallow reliefs are wonderful. At least 36 inches tall, matt white glaze, and in perfect condition. Click on the photo for an enlargement.

Makes you really want to know their history, no?

Probably from a building in the early 20th century in the Chicago area. What building? How'd they get from there and then to here and now? History Mystery and aren't they beautiful?

The work we do lives on.....

Sculpture and Robert Austin Gonzalez

Sculpture doesn't exist in a vacuum.
It just feels that way when you are making it.

Getting all the forms to agree with each other, what I call "sewing it back into itself", making every part of the sculpture internally consistent, takes total concentration.

But once it is finished, it must jostle with every other object in the world. Art sites tend to show the object floating in space, in that gallery vacuum of shadowless white. Timeless, but also boring.



It gets interesting when sculpture is juxtaposed with other things, in this case an interior designed by Robert Austin Gonzalez found on Design to Inspire.

Even as I make this argument, this enormous carved wooden relief is reducing the mid century furniture around it to garish radioactive x-rays. It's a giant mandala of texture and patterning, humming with intensity. I can't imagine sitting with my back to it.

Sculpture on Buildings

I'm reading "Sculpture on Buildings" by Urs Boeck.

It's an old book, but but I'm finding valuable information in how Boeck sees architectural sculpture. He writes that the three elements of all building sculpture are the actual creative work of the sculptor, the formal relations between architecture and sculpture and finally the gift of meaning to the whole.

I love that phrase the gift of meaning. Without it,it's all gingerbread.

Sculpture and Art Propelled

It's a big world full of people interested in sculpture.

Art Propelled is Robyn Gordon's blog. She's a sculptor in South Africa.

She's got a great eye and sees the human connections between art and everything. Robyn says, "Art is my passion. When I'm not creating I am thinking about it." Check her blog out!




Photos from Robyn's blog are of the Church of St. George. It's entirely cut from stone. The roof is at ground level, they excavated to carve the entire church from a single block of stone. Amazing.