Inner Beauty

Dimensions:  17" h x 10" w x 9" d

Medium:  Bronze

Edition Size:  40

Availability:  Available

     “In water one sees one’s own face, but in wine one beholds the heart of another.”  French Proverb   [Quote on inside of jacket.]
     Rarely do people open up and reveal who they are inside.  We do this to protect ourselves but often end up hiding our best gifts.  In “Inner Beauty”, the character is opening his jacket to reveal his passion for wine.  I love how the quote and the sculpture complement each other.   Notice that I’ve also engraved a few of the wonderful wineries (that are close to my heart) from the Santa Cruz Mountains appellation.
     This was a technically difficult sculpture to create.  I usually start with an armature (metal skeleton or framework) and build a bulk of clay around it.  With “Inner Beauty” I had to construct the thin jacket apart from the armature.  Every time I worked it, it became distorted.  Ultimately, I used a series of thin wires to give the jacket enough substance to hold up to sculpting.  Also, creating the illusion of stretching on the back of the jacket was a challenge.  I had my daughter take pictures of me in a jacket in this position so I could see the folds.  Take a close look at the back of the sculpture and see what you think.