The harvest sun is swelling the pumpkins in my veg patch and mysterious mushrooms dot the lawn in the damp mornings.  A new season heralds a new project in my studio...

For many months now I have had an idea darting about in my head, a flash of silver and elusive movement, a building of inspiration.  Now, with the onset of autumn, I have begun to put my ideas into reality.  I am sculpting a mermaid.

I love to sculpt, I find it refreshingly immediate compared to my usual painstaking fine tickling of the pencil on paper; it is more physical and dynamic to model in three dimensions.  I enjoy the problem solving aspects of balance, and the different materials of wire, wood, oil-based clay, pliers and modelling tools.  Or perhaps it is just that old adage of 'a change is as good as a rest'...

I am trying to capture that fluid feeling of weightlessness, so I did not want to sculpt her static sitting on a rock.  My mermaid, and she is called 'Atlantia' is twisting upwards through the water; I want her to have a sense of graceful power.  She is a benevolent water spirit, not the traditional sinister depiction, and I want that goodness to shine from her being and her face.  If I can make her a positive symbol of feminine beauty with a fish's tale then I will feel very happy. 

I have been looking at the power and grace of the sculpture of Rodin, and the exquisite delicacy of the Jewellery of Lalique as sources of inspiration.  Once she has been cast in bronze I hope she too will have a classical timeless quality. 

At the moment, as I begin my third week of working on her (and she still needs long flowing hair and fishy scales, both essential mermaidian features); I continue to labour over honing the shape of her tail and the sweep of her brow.  What is changeable now in grey wax will be set forever in bronze once she has been cast, and I don't want anything to niggle me when it's too late. As Scott Adams said;

         "Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes.  Art is knowing which ones to keep".

I will endeavour to try and make sure I keep the right ones!

By Paul Kidby

Ragged Elf

"I have been in the business of 'creating' for almost all my life.  It all started with plasticine, paper and glue during my early school days, progressed to a brief period of creating havoc during my teenage years before moving onto the creating of false teeth as a school leaver; this was followed by creating hand-painted roller blinds in a factory and then greetings cards.  By my early twenties I had left London and moved to the Somerset countryside where as a young father I spent my days creating magazine covers in our living room surrounded by toddlers and squeaky toys.

It had been a full 29 years before I was able to combine my implicit desire to be a creator with full job satisfaction; and that was when I began a career as an artist for the fantasy series of 'Discworld' books by Terry Pratchett.  I was given a free and generous rein by the author to wander his universe with my sketchbook to hand, which resulted in the publication of a variety of illustrated books and products.

These days I still dip into the ingenious world of Sir Pratchett to illustrate book jackets and various commissions, but most of my time nowadays is spent working in the realms of my own imagination. 

Moving to the New Forest and marrying my wife Vanessa helped to open the doors into a new world of deep inspiration.  Fuelled by folklore and a taste for the peculiar, inspired by nature and coupled with the oblique squint of my own perspective, (rather like those joke spectacles that give you the vision of a fly, or a fairground mirror) I have recently been painting and sculpting the mythology of faerie, enchantment and magic and it feels like I have at last found my way home to being a creator in my own right.

My recipe for a happy and creatively busy artist (but yours might be different)...

Jokes and ridiculous conversations - sometimes they spin into the absurd and trigger an idea.  Can be very useful and the laughter is invaluable, even if it doesn't lead to any eureka moments.

Cake - but it has to be home-made, just don't eat too much.

Going for a walk, we have a dog so there is no excuse not to get out there whatever the weather and we are always thankful to have done it.

Exhibitions, invaluable, whatever the subject matter... it's always great to see the creative processes other folks gets up to, whatever their style.

Movies, for the same reason.

Music, the right music playing in the studio helps me capture the right feel in my artwork.  It might be anything from my large and eclectic collection, but just lately I have been listening to The Fleet Foxes, The Mummers, Goldfrappe and REM.

A veg patch, it's very grounding to get your hands dirty and work in the soil when you do a sedentary job like mine.  Growing stuff is one of the best feelings.

Sleep and enough of it, if I don't have it my eyes go pink and itchy.

Family, mine's a large and jumbly one but they are all inspiring in their own unique (and sometimes infuriating) lovable ways.  They always bring a fresh perspective too.

Going away on holiday.  It's fascinating to go to new places, eat new food, see new art and architecture hear new languages and smell new smells; and it's always wonderful to come home."

 

Paul has been a member of Enchanted Folk since February 2009

members.enchantedfolk.com/paulkidby

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