Hi all
Thank you for all of your comments.
It was my intention to reply yesterday before I slipped up on the ice and injured both of my elbows and possibly a bone in my hand, due to my local council being more useless than a one legged blind sloth climbing a greasy pole.
I would try to sue them but I would have more chance of extracting a succinct reply from a politician.
This is not a new or concept piece, the first one being produced (pictured below) several years ago. It now resides in a collection in Australia. In contrast it is covered with silver leaf as opposed to metallic paint but was less refined so I opted for spray paints this time around.
At no time do I think or do I intend my work to be classed as art. Sculptural and creative may be but I do not know enough about art to worry about it. I make the work I do as I enjoy it and for me to express my thoughts. If people see it as this that is fine, if they see it as junk that is also fine.
This silver bowl being based on the meditative mind, the silver arbitrary bowl represents the thought processes that often distract, with the marble being a centered thought.
Both the bowl and mind are vessels so I used this as my reference and starting point. Wood is just something I have the tools and knowledge to work, the lathe being just another tool.
David
Thank you for your honesty, as George has said there are a few forums where sideways snipes and destructive comments are common place, and iff we all like the same stuff then the world would be dull. People should be able to say what they feel in a constructive way, which you have.
There is as much turning in this piece as a pure square platter. It was finished to the same high grit abrasive as with a waxed piece before the further work. I have just added to it and taken some bits away, with there being no less of a turning in it. So it is only 10% as more has been done to it. It is the base form for the piece like much of my work.
Turning for me is a vehicle to remove wood, to produce base curves etc to build upon and to express myself.
My thoughts when I make are not to push woodturning forward, it is for my own satisfaction and for paying the bills. I would however look to the Australians and Americans and ask yourself why UK turning is trailing so far behind. And ask if the advocates of round and brown who have held back the more creative in the UK for fear of losing the key to their ivory towers have helped or held back our craft as viewed by the wider art and sculptural community.
I have never been able to have my pure work realise the same prices that my sculptural textured work does. I am able on occasions to make 4,5 or even 6 times as much than if the wood is showing but only if it is sculptural, the round even less. However, the commercial while it is an important part it is not the driving force behind what I do.
Bryan
I personally don't see why the wood has to be seen, its just a material and it is not as the native is a rare commodity . If you want to leave your work natural then that is fine as it is what you want to do.
Tibetan, Indian, Japanese, North American Indian wood sculpture, has been covered in colour and gold leaf for many hundreds and perhaps thousands of years. So colouring and covering wood is indeed not a new concept.
In short I make my work not for other woodturners as woodturners don't buy it. I make it as I want to, and to pay my bills.
I show it on the forums not for praise or to have it validated, but in my own way to show that wood can be used for a wide variety of work and to share what I make. If people hate it or love it is for them to decide.
Joey Richardson, Nick Agar, Bihn Pho, Douglas Fisher, Keith Holt, Derek Weidman to name a few also spend more time working off of the lathe than on. I doubt they worry too much about how much lathe work is in a piece, more whether they express what they want to in their work.
We can validate page after page our own thoughts on such a subject.. But I say make what you want and enjoy what you do. I do.
Thank you all again.
