Girdle and buttocks

The changes I have made this week have been too small to show up in photographs so no images on this one.  I prefer to give you an example of decisions I have been grappling with.

Every figure composition presents key areas around which the mood swings.  With this statue, I think it is important to communicate certain aspects of Matthew Flinders and what he is up to.  I want to show his dynamism....he has been described as a powerful personality and you certainly don't sail to Australia and spend months mapping a coastline, pre-GPS, without possessing a determined and dynamic approach to life.  I am getting this across with the lean and turn of the pose in general and in the angle of the left leg and, as it will develop, the left arm and hand in particular.  Staying with the leg, it was working from the front and the side, but the back view looked flaccid....bit of a mystery.   When I got the model back, I noticed that he was uncomfortable putting his weight on his right heel. To ease this, he had let his buttocks slip over the heel so that the shoe was effectively wedged in his bum crack (see rear view in post below).  The effect of this was to weaken the sense of purpose from the back and his right side.  Now I have seen and corrected this, the dynamism is there.  The pelvic girdle now marries up with left leg.  The left leg has a lovely turn to it which not only sets up a good diagonal for the overall bell tent composition but conveys a sense of forward movement.  When I get onto the subtleties of the shoulders and right arm, I will write further about what I am trying to do there.

This is an example of why maquettes are so important...you can get to know the composition and make changes comparatively swiftly.  And by the time the full-size happens, you have an understanding of your sculpture and what you want to convey of your subject.