STEPPING RIGHT OFF THE PAGE
Or Where I’m Allowed One Wish…
It seems like ages ago that the original of Gandalf the Grey was stolen from an exhibition.
http://www.john-howe.com/forum/smf/index.php?topic=1905.0
I’ve often been asked if I could paint it again, but you can only go once to places like that.
However, Gandalf is on his way back.
I’ve put in an order.
One Gandalf, please.
(And hold the onions.)
Let me start again; several months ago I saw a most exquisite one-third scale figure of a pirate who looked like he had just boarded an enemy ship and was really looking forward to business at hand. Not only was the detailing astounding, but the movement and personality were incredibly well captured.
Amazing, I thought, but I’m not THAT fond of pirates…
Luckily for me though, the artist sculptor Oscar Nilsson does accept crazy commissions, so while I may never get the Gandalf painting back, I’ll have something perhaps even better.
Oscar lives in Stockholm, and has been sculpting professionally for museums and collectors for over a decade. He habitually works in one-quarter or one-third scale as well as full size. I won’t pile on the compliments ad infinitum, his work speaks very persuasively for itself. He has a new web site under construction, but you can visit the present one at [url=http://www.odnilsson.com]http://www.odnilsson.com[/url]
Best of all, he has granted me permission to post images of the Gandalf-in-progress and has promised to keep me well supplied in jpegs. If all goes well, they will also be published in a book on model-making, but more on that later.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve been practicing holding my breath lately. Can’t wait.
More next time.
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Top left and centre: Rough sculpts of Gandalf’s face. The face, from occiput to chin, (not including the beard) is about 7.5 cm.
Top right: Stick Gandalf (I’m pretty sure it’s not finished yet…)
Bottom left: Pirate, one-third scale (photo: Lars Heydecke)
Bottom right: A 17th century gentleman (photo: Lars Heydecke)
All images © Oscar Nilsson
Blast From the Past:
I recently received a copy of THE STUDIO, which was more or less the book I dropped off to sleep with for most of my art school years. The book, published by Dragon’s Dream (remember them?) was a kind of New Yorker’s Neo-Pre-Raphaelite collection of four artists’ work: Jeff Jones, Michael Kaluta, Barry Windsor-Smith and Berni Wrightson, who had all assumed demi-god status in my eyes. Then several years later, I lent the book to a friend and of course never saw it again… until last week. Now, if I can just track down the guy I lent the other one to…
Festival Fare:
The NIFFF is fast approaching. No, it’s not some deadly new contagious disease, but the Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival*, from July 1st to 7th. I love this festival for many reasons, firstly because it’s not often that Neuchâtel has festivals, but mostly ‘cause I can attend on my bike. (Neuchâtel doesn’t have a lot of parking either.) This year’s NIFFF has two incredible astounding amazing international guests – Richard Taylor of Weta Workshop and Lord of the Rings fame, and Ray Harryhausen, who is the king of frame-by-frame animation and still pretty spry at 80 or so years of age. (I’ll be there too, once I get my bike parked.) There’s also an exceptional selection of films and enough café terraces along the lake to last the whole week.
My gallery show will be the whole week in Neuchâtel, at the Théatre du Passage, cocktail Friday July 4th at 7 p.m. if you want to come and chew the fat. (Yuck, where did an expression like THAT come from, eh?) More info to come.
(* I love that title. Does it mean that the festival is fabulous or that the films are great? It does, though, aptly bear witness to the near-impossibility of translating some terms and genres from one culture/language to another. Nothing crosses the Atlantic – either way – unchanged. Ooooh, now there’s a good subject in whose deep, murky and well-stocked waters it would be good to trawl. Where’s my windbreaker?)
Reading glasses:
Felt like I needed them after struggling though Kant and the Platypus by Umberto Eco. I hope I understand a bit more of it when I try it again. Luckily I picked up Serendipities (alphabetical order by author’s name to the rescue once again!) which is more my style (i.e. slimmer volume, short chapters, easier to read, does not require latin studies).
On the drawing board:
A huge castle. If I could only figure out some painless way to do all those tiny little bricks…
Re-enacting Up:
The Companie of Saynt George is participating in a big event in Bern, Switzerland in mid-August. (Too far for me to go by bike, but a great chance to get away from the drawing table…) More on that in a month or so. In the meantime: http://www.companie-of-st-george.ch
