I read something today by Luann Udell about determining the “Why” of your art, and it started me thinking. Why do I sculpt animals, and not people?
The practical, surface reason is that I’m not very good at sculpting people. The few I’ve tried looked rather like aliens. But the first couple animals I sculpted were rather crude too… And I kept trying. I’m drawn to create animals and the natural world, and even though I keep telling myself I should take the time and practice making faces, I haven’t done it yet. I’m not drawn to faces, or at least not now.
Animals are innocent, uncomplicated, free, and beautiful. People can be. But they can also be layered with t00 many motivations, too many demands, they can be judgmental, malicious, petty… I like people – at least in small doses – and maybe someday I’ll take the time to sculpt the good in them but not now.
Now I want to sculpt the clean, blubbery, Mona Lisa smile of a beluga whale.