'Life is a roller-coaster.' so said the great Irish philosopher Ronan Keating. Such words of wisdom, which will surely be passed down through the eons of time. I understand exactly what he means, life has its ups and downs. Sometimes it can be scary and other times fun, Just make sure you enjoy the ride.
My work is also like a roller-coaster, sometimes I make a piece which I am happy to share with you my dear readers other times not so much. Mostly for me doing these posts I like to have something a bit deep and meaningful to write about when it comes to documenting the piece. I think it helps get across what motivated and inspired my to do the sculpture in the first place and I try to get you into my head-space at the time I made it. Of course there will be times when I just have to make sometime for a client and I have to leave myself out of it. Just do the job and move on to the next. But, although it may not have any deep meaning I use these times as an opportunity to push myself in other more technical ways and see what I can achieve in the time I've been given.
This is a sculpture from the 2009 Duncannon, Ireland sand sculpture festival and pretty much it does what it says on the tin. Nothing more and nothing less. The festival has always been a bit of a family friendly project and trying to push the boundaries artistically would usually fall on blind eyes.
Life is a fairground (so there, Ronan!)
The theme was Fairground and so I decided to make this Roller-coaster. Having only three days to make the piece I should just have taken it easy but like always I bit off more than I could chew. Doing all these little details had me carving like a mad man to get it finished. Making sure every time I moved my tool it resulted in a finished stroke was the mission I set myself to give my mind something to work on while the piece was pretty mundane in concept.
For those playing along at home this kind of sculpture is called softpack, the sand is just piled up in a pile (for want of a better word) and then you start carving from the top down, Just imagine me like a little printer working left to right and then down a step at a time until all the sand is carved.
In the end it Looked pretty good, even though my photos don't really do it justice. It was really a speed carve exercise for me and to do all those support beams brought my mind into a sense of zen where I was just doing and not thinking. Although, maybe not a piece for my portfolio it did exactly what needed to be done for the project at hand.
What I learned, besides the point is that I didn't have to be always fully engaged and that relying on my inner sculptor to get the job done can produce half-decent results. But this kind of coasting is not the kind of sculptures I have a passion for.
Ps
Thanks for reading. I use PeakD 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 Hive Blockchain. Below you will find some of my recent posts.
Oxfam Climate change sand video
Catch the wind - sand sculpture
Breaking the surface - sand sculpture
I hope you'll join me again soon
@ammonite
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I love this roller coaster, must be one of my favourite ones, and I'm starting to notice a style in your people sculptures now.
Always wanted to ask, how do you make sure your sand doesn't collapse when you're 99% done with your work? Just water?
Sorry for delay, I hope over the years my figures got better it is something i have always struggled with. This one was made very quickly so even for me I think they are very rough but they got the job done.
Many of my sculpture have fallen near the end of carving or very soon after. With all the different types of sand it takes some time to get a good feeling for it and know the possibilities. Some sand can be much strong so you can push them further but the honest answer is I just don't know and the biggest fun is trying to find out. I you know what I mean.
This requires lots of patience. How much time does it take to finish such a sculpture?
Hi @creativemary. This particular piece took around 3 days. Usually I would prefer more time, a week is perfect to really get lost in a piece and then find my way out. Thank you.
They look amazing, I took a closer look at your works, loved the ice sculptures too, you are a talented person, keep it up😊
This is an extraordinary sand sculpture. I was amazed to see this statue. I agree with Ronan Keating's words. Life is like a roller coaster. but that's the name of life. anything must be faced.
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Well you're the pro so I'll take your word on the portfolio piece XP and if you have the kind of deviantly wired brain like I've got the biting off more than you can chew thing is necessary to be able to pushy/develop I think XD
otherwise I would still be doing animanga style art though hopefully I would have at least gotten better at it
The roller coaster looks pretty cool. And the description of you as a little printer is hilarious XD