PORTRAIT SCULPTURE
I have had a great deal of pleasure over many years sculpting portraits and getting to know my sitters. I always encouraged them to talk while I worked so that I could see how their faces would animate with their memories, opinions and chatter. With my last two sitters we chatted so much that I am ashamed to say it took well over two and a half years to complete the portraits. They have both become firm friends and have forgiven me. It has been good but I’ve put away my tools now and am no longer accepting commissions.
I welcome your comments. Please feel free to leave me a message on the information page.
Dr. John J. Bradley FRCP, FRCPsych
I always encourage conversation so that I can observe the animation and expressions of a sitter’s face. Conversation with John was engaging and it was a privilege to hear the many stories of his long and important career in psychiatry. By the time the portrait was completed we were firm friends.
Dr. John J. Bradley
We had fun dressing the sculpture together.
Dr. John J. Bradley FRCP, FRCPsych
The man himself and his portrait.
Dr. Thomas Stuttaford OBE.
I invited my dear friend Tom to have his portrait done. He was wonderfully kind and his demeanor always dignified. He was the best listener I have ever encountered. I miss him terribly.
Dr. Thomas Stuttaford OBE.
Dr. Thomas Stuttaford OBE
Tom’s eyes always had a touch of melancholia. I believe he broke his nose playing rugby as a young man.
Dr. Thomas Stuttaford OBE
Tom was always dignified, always wore shirts with cuff links and braces and always wore red socks.
Taking the mold
Starting the casting process. Applying the silicone.
Progress
First layer of silicone with the wall in place. The sculpture looks like a macabre saint with a strange halo.
The final step
Silicone done, fiberglass mold in place.
The plaster cast
The plaster cast fresh out of the silicone mold on the left.
Opening the mold
Separating the silicone mold.
Gabriel Vigo
Gabriel unfinished, still on the turn table.
Gabriel Vigo
I saw Gabriel in a queue at the post office one summer. The folds in his neck were so beautiful I had to sculpt him! I introduced myself by saying I'd love to do his portrait and that he could walk around the corner and see several of my portraits in the window of my house. Two weeks passed and he came with his daughter as his chaperone! Well, I don't blame him, it could have been a bit of an unusual pick-up line! Like John, he and I talked and talked and became good friends.
Gabriel Vigo
For a lark we got him to wear my glasses.
Gabriel Vigo
Making the mold. The first layer of silicone with the wall in place. Pink silicone this time with a gold halo. A special saint obviously.
Berge Kouyoumjian
Berge on the sofa with his human counterpart.
Berge Kouyoumjian
Both looking rather Roman.
Ray Bucton
Ray was the General Secretary of ASLEF, the rail drivers’ union.
Ray Buckton
The man himself.
Ray Buckton
Looking quite grand.
Ali Pye
Ali’s portrait is sculpted in iron rich potters clay and simply fired. It has no surface treatment. The iron in the clay gives an orange-brown hue. quite suited to Ali herself.
Ali Pye
Ali Pye
Description Here
Bryan Kneale MBE
Bryan is an important British sculptor and was responsible for dragging the Royal Academy out of the 19th century rut. He was the power behind the first abstract work to be shown at the annual Summer Show. He was a professor at the Royal College of Art for many years. Bryan is a Manxman , (as was my grandmother). This portrait in now in the Manx Museum, in Douglas, on the Isle of Man
Bryan Kneale MBE
Cast in plaster and simply painted with an acrylic varnish.
Bryan Kneale MBE
Description Here
Dimitra Karadimitriou
Dimitra is Greek….she asked me to make her look tragic. I think I succeeded.
Dimitra Karadimitriou
Dimitra Karadimitriou
Bruno
The bust was being hollowed out so that it could be fired. I didn’t cast this one but fired it as one does pottery.
Bruno Mannini
Artist and potter, Bruno has a wonderful face.
Bruno Mannini
Dr. Thomas Stuttaford OBE.
Tom posing for the sculpture
Bruno Mannini
Bruno with his human.
Dr. Thomas Stuttaford OBE.
Tom looking at a small portrait of himself seated with a book on its lap. It was still in wet clay,
Marianne Walton
The plaster bust was painted to look like bronze.
Dr. Thomas Stuttaford OBE.
The small portrait finished and fired.
Marianne Walton
Marianne Walton
I am very fond of this sculpture. Marianne gave me a pair of her earrings which I painted the same as I did the plaster bust.
Jackie Morreau was a well know figure in British feminist art in the 19 70s and 80s.
Jackie Morreau
Jackie
Jessie
Jessy is a GP now living in New Zealand. This portrait is in fired clay.
Jessie
With her human.