A Small Sculpture, Kneeling Woman - Sarah Myers

Kneeling Woman, Sarah Myers
Sculpture in stoneware

  She kneels back on her heels, her arms outstretched to catch a garland of silver chain or whatever is placed in her delicate fingers. She looks down – intent and tranquil at the same time, head turned a little aside.

    This tiny sculpture is barely 13 cm high, its details formed with a gentleness appropriate to its size; but in the stretch and the simplicity of position there is a hint of monumentality, and it makes her, for a moment's glance, a real statue expressing her own quiet vitality and gravity.

Kneeling Woman, Sarah Myers
Detail of back.

Kneeling Woman, Sarah Myers

Kneeling Woman, side
Sarah Myers

Kneeling Woman, Sarah Myers

Three Pictures of Pigeons - Drawings by Sarah Myers

Pigeon Strutting, Sarah Myers
Drawing in minimal charcoal on paper

    Three pigeons busy themselves in these drawings. Strutting, preening, scratching, the friendly birds appear in dark charcoal on the white page, descriptions of their everyday life rendered simple and distinct by the strength of a bright sun...

Pigeon Preening, Sarah Myers
Drawing in minimal charcoal on paper

Pigeon Scratching, Sarah Myers
Drawing in minimal charcoal on paper

Renaissance Condottiere - Sculpture by Sarah Myers

Condottiere, Sarah Myers
Sculpture in stoneware

Condottiere, Sarah Myers
Contemporary sculpture

     This Renaissance warrior in an impressive helmet may look slightly familiar from a profile among the incredible drawings of Leonardo Da Vinci. My sculpture of some years ago, along with being created in the round, also differs from the Old Master's sketch in the height of the crested helm, which more closely resembles Spanish armour from fifty to a hundred years later. But the scowling, proud profile gazing from under the beaked visor bears a very close likeness, as do the fantastic animals which adorn the front of the burgonet and the breastplate.

     With these photographs I am revisiting a piece produced almost a decade ago. Some things I might do a little differently now, such as reducing the startling size of my signature. But I remain as intrigued by the Da Vinci design as ever, which indeed has been a source of excitement since I first found it in a child's book of Leonardo's art many years earlier still, where the drawing was printed in the small volume I looked at practically before I could read. And the sculpture itself is a solid presence that continues to fill its space admirably, I believe, and one that I remain pleased with as it stares out at me, gaze unchanging, from under the shade of its formidable helmet.  

  

Condottiere, Sarah Myers, detail in monochrome

Condottiere, Sarah Myers
Close-up.  Sculpture in stoneware.

Head of a Woman in Conte & Charcoal - Art by Sarah Myers

Head of a Woman, Sarah Myers
Conte, charcoal on toned paper

    Having finished this sketch this morning I thought I would post it here - the drawing of a face with luminous highlights pouring over rounded forehead and cheeks and leaving a spark in the iris of each eye, while outlining layers of curls and beaded ribbon above. The forward tilt of the head leaves the woman's neck in shadow; lower down the light falls very simply.

The hairstyle is a fantastical one inspired by the Italian painter Fra Filippo Lippi, but the portrait itself tends more toward the tradition of eighteenth century drawings and the mediums used are similar; conte in white, red and brown; charcoal, and toned paper of a light brown.

Head of a Woman, detail.  Sarah Myers

Three Renaissance Hats - Drawings by Sarah Myers

Woman in Renaissance Plumes, Sarah Myers
Minimal charcoal on paper

    In my collection of minimal line drawings I found these three women with elaborate Renaissance headgear; hats of velvet and silk, laced with pearls and topped by plumes, clasped with a jeweled brooch, or set on top of abundant, flowing curls.

All of these drawings are in charcoal on paper and come from a long series of sketches in simple line.

Woman in Renaissance Turban, Sarah Myers
Minimal charcoal on paper

Woman with a Renaissance Hat, Sarah Myers
Minimal charcoal on paper