Garden Angel

16 x 20 oil on alkyd primed canvas.

A couple of weekends ago I spent some time at the Serra Retreat center in Malibu, CA. The gardens were spectacular and they had a great collection of stone and concreted sculptures. A friend of mine studied at the Waterstreet Atelier in New York with Jacob Collins and had sketchbooks full of studies they did of Stone sculpture. The studies were of just a foot, a bust or a hand. The school uses the curriculum of Charles Barque to establish good structure. I was fascinated with the approach and made a mental note that I would give it a try if the opportunity presented itself.

One of my favorite songs is Calling all Angels by Jane Siberry and KD Lang. When I can across this little statue, something inside me connected to it and I decided this was the one to give the Barque approach a shot on. I had a good time painting it and felt quite challenged to get the values and reflected light correct.



This is the working drawing that I used to get familiar with the structure and a general value plan. It would have been easy to get carried away at this stage and take the sketch allot further.



Last but not least, the location where I found the subject. The light was amazing and created some interesting opportunities for study.