Musical Embrace

It was a few years after I made this sculpture that I saw my future wife on stage performing the lines from her self written play, Lauren Begone

He had a sideways look that told her he'd be great fun.
He reached out his hand and stroked the back of her neck and asked her if she wanted to go outside.
There was a devil on her shoulder that told her how much Mr. Hollywood knew about a woman's body. How he would play it like a fine musical instrument, make sounds on it that would delight her and urge him to play more. She wanted to lie down and have him play her, she wanted to dive off that cliff without a parachute. She was ready for the bang.

When I heard these words I remembered the sculpture I had made in Valladolid, Spain and knew we were on the same wavelength. I was compelled to meet her after the show with the hopes that one day we could form our own musical group.

Our courtship revolved around us putting together a little movie of this section of the show. I tried to capture the atmosphere of when I first saw her. Jayne Mac, I'm a lucky man! I will do a fuller post one day about this video.

My sand sculpture was a bit of a stretch when it came to the theme of Music but I really wanted to explore the emotion that music can convey. It was my second time to Valladolid and with a theme like Music I knew I had to draw on other sources to bring it to life. This sculpture is also a part of a series I am making about relationships and rather than just make some static musical stuff I thought it better to throw myself in and see what music meant to me.

Music engineering

My figure carving still left a lot to be desired but I think I was getting better, Trying to hide the support of the sculpture in the composition can always be difficult especially with naked figures. Making it so her arm is supported by his arm, by her knee and down to her other leg can be quite complicated as you still try to keep it looking natural. Not having the luxury of adding clothing as a support can be limiting. This sand is also not the strongest and one false move could destroy the whole structure.

I also wanted to be careful to not make it too sexy and made sure the naughty bits were covered. This was a public square and there were children watching. Trying to be sensual rather than sexy was what I was going for.

The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plains

The sand, as I said was not the strongest and I must admit that in the rain we got during this project I was very fearful that I would lose a head or arm. Many gathered around just to watch the sculptures melt in the rain but luckily mine survived.

If music be the food of Love, play on.

Thinking of different elements to include was fun. Different parts of the body have a certain tactical feel and I wanted to associate them with different instruments in the way they were caressed. All these things, as well as being supports hopefully conveyed the touch involved as the musician plays.

Hiding in plain sight

Unfortunately the sand I was given was the sand I had to use so I had to think creatively on how to include it in the composition. I really would have liked to carve down to reveal the legs and feet, to just have the figures in a musical embrace but no, I had a couple of tonnes of sand I had to hide somewhere in my little paddock.
I got a little bit more free-form and turned it to sound waves coming from speakers. Not sure how I feel about them now. I think it makes the whole thing too busy.

It was a fun project to make and although I can see it's many faults I think it hit the right note on the day.

Ps

Thanks for reading. I use Steem to document my work as an ephemeral Sculptor of sand, snow and ice, amongst other things. This will hopefully give it a new life on the Steem blockchain. Below you will find some of my recent posts.