Portrait Sculpture
05/11/2023
Longmynd Adventure Camp
I was asked to carve a larger than life portrait in memory of Bill Williams, working from photographs. I began by making a clay model in preparation for a carving in lime wood. The portrait has been commissioned to commemorate Bill's role in establishing the Longmynd Adventure Camp. The project provided inner city boys from Wolverhampton and Birmingham with access to the beautiful Shropshire countryside around Minton. Alan Scrivens has published a number of volumes describing the adventures these boys had under the watchful eyes of Bill and his team.
The block
The wood comes from a lime tree that had to be taken down in central Cheltenham in December 2019. The block is made up of three planks expertly laminated to create a very tight join. It was secured for carving using a bench screw.
Taking shape
It felt a long and sometimes dispiriting process carving the block - so much more difficult than building up the clay model. It was also challenging to work from a range of photos that looked quite different from each other!
Finishing
After consultation with the client we decided to leave the finish entirely tooled, giving a more natural finish. The eyes were inlaid with American Walnut.
