Snow Tree Ball

I have been reading sculpture books I got out the ECA library. Inspired by David Nash, Richard Long and Andy Goldsworthy, since last Friday I have been working on my own stick scuplture in my garden. I have been trying to construc a ball or sphere from sticks which came from a tree in my garden which split in two under the weight of the heavy snow last winter. It proved to be trickier than I thought as the sticks are quite dry and so snapped easily, making it difficult to achieve much bending.

Anyway, today I took some photos of my "sphere" as it was today, in situ in the garden and with Blackford Hill viewed behind it. The large twisty stick is from an old gorse bush which was being chopped down to clear a new path on Blackford Hill by the rangers last winter.

Today I went out sketching on Blackford Hill. Glorious sunny morning and the light was beautiful but it was REALLY really cold! I did four sketches and took a lot of photos, mostly of trees and branches. I am into tangles of branches at the moment.

I did a sketch of the Agassiz Rock (a rock famous for having inspired a Swiss geologist to conclude from its grooved markings that Scotland was shaped by glaciers).

I found this cool fungus though and tried to sketch that too.

It was all exhilerating and makes me want to get back out there again soon.

Starting Blogging

Hello World,
This is my first ever blog about my journey in art.

My name is Sheila Chapman and I am two years in to a part-time art degree course at Edinburgh College of Art. I usually do a lot of drawing and 2D mixed media work, but this term I am starting a sculpture class for the first time ever. I think it will be fun to document my progress in this new (slightly scary!) 3D world.

Last term I was working on several pieces based on drawings of chestnuts and I made some small spherical objects using thin wire and tissue paper/PVA mix. My plan with the sculpture class is to explore further ways of making spheres, and different ways of displaying them.

In next weeks' class we will be working with plaster, so today I am thinking about ways to try and mould sphere-like bodies out of wet plaster.

If anyone out there has any helpful tips or advice I would love to hear from you!