Painted Sculpture or Three Dimensional Painting?

September 21, 2023 Robert Meyer

I keep a large bin of left over EPS foam pieces that I rummage through from time to time. I often find forms that interest me. The joy is in playing with them, modifying them, moving them around until the pieces fit.

Sometimes this process can be so satisfying that once I know I have the bones of a good sculpture, I move on to other ideas scrolling through my head that I need to explore, knowing I will return to finish it later. In this case, I roughed out this sculpture in 2017 and didn’t come back to it until 2023.

At first I had to add spacers to some of the parts to make them fit, but it wasn’t even a question as to where the sphere needed to be placed to bring that sense of calm to the piece. I knew immediately where it should go. Hanging the sphere was something new for me.

After deciding to go forward with the piece, some forms needed to be added to, some sections removed. Another important step was to create an internal steel structural system to join the pieces together, and more importantly, to support the weight of the cantilevered sphere.

It took many layers of plaster and joint compound to create the final forms. Deciding whether to use plaster or joint compound is critical, as the joint compound can be easily removed or modified with water and the plaster must be sanded or carved away. The texture left can differ greatly depending on which material is used and which technique is used to modify it.

The decision to paint this sculpture was difficult. My previous work had been primarily monochromatic or natural materials and this was a big step for me. But once the dicision was made, it opened me up to all kinds of possibilities. I started with an overall wash to bring out the texture so I could decide what areas needed additional texture and begin to plan the painting.

After the initial wash, some areas were modified by applying more joint compound or plaster. Additional texture and thickening was achieved by adding layers of burlap or gluing thinly sliced pieces of EPS Foam to the surface. Each of the three forms was worked on separately, but constantly put back together to consider the overall look of the piece. There are as many as ten layers of paint, burlap and foam, and in some cases raw, unpainted joint compound, to create the colored, textured surface of the final sculpture.

The Finished Sculpture

3 Forms w/Sphere no.5
EPS Foam, Plaster, Burlap, Aluminum, Acrylic Paint.
28"H 24"W 6"D.
2023

From Sketch to Finished Sculpture: The Process

August 2, 2023 Robert Meyer

Sometimes I will see something in an old sketch that I didn’t see when it was originally made. I recently found a sketch from April 2019 and wanted to explore its possibilities.

The first step was to turn the sketch into a maquette. The maquettes are a way to “sketch” in three dimensions and allow me to work quickly without worrying about making a perfectly crafted piece.

Maquettes can be hot glued or taped together, added to or cut away. I use foam board, paper, cardboard, plastic or paper tubes, anything to help bring the sketch to life. Spheres can be anything from styrofoam to ping pong or lacrosse balls.

The next step was to build a full-size model out of Gatorboard. As a sculpture is enlarged, forms may change shape and size relative to one another. It’s as if the sculpture is a puzzle and I need to solve it by refining the pieces to make them fit. The full-size model is then used as a pattern for fabrication in steel.

Deciding on what the base should be is critical to the look of the entire sculpture. This piece posed a challenge because of its asymmetric, wing-like shape. After much experimentation, I decided on the long, thin base pictured above in the full-size model. As the finished piece took shape in welded form, something wasn’t right. I began exploring the use of angular bases instead of a typical rectangular base. The final result, shown here, is a base with beveled sides that reflects the angles and planes of the sculpture. It is now integral to the piece instead of just a platform for it to sit on.

With the welding complete, the sculpture was now ready for finishing.

The Finished Sculpture

No.14
Steel, Aluminum. Automobile Paint, Powder Coated Sphere.
30"H 30"W 11"D.
2022
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I Love This Form

June 6, 2023 Robert Meyer

I had just finished cutting out the pieces for a full scale model from a sheet of Gatorboard when I looked down and thought, “I love this form, but will it work in three dimensions?”

I added a circle I had laying around and... “This could work”.

The first step was to take the two dimensional cutout and transform it into a three dimensional maquette. It took a while, but I eventually had something that felt right.

The next step was to enlarge the maquette to a full-size, 28"H x 22"W x 12"D model in Gatorboard for fabrication in polyurathane.

In trying different color palettes, I began differentiating the sphere from the main body of the sculpture by using a contrasting color.

The Finished Sculpture

No.12
Machined Polyurethane, Wood, Aluminum, Enamel Paint.
28"H 22"W 12"D.
2022

From Two Dimensional Sketch to Three Dimensional Maquette

October 3, 2022 Robert Meyer

Sometimes I refine a sketch in two dimensions before making a maquette. The following illustrates taking one such sketch through this process.

This is the original sketch for a sculpture I want to do in marble.

For this sculpture, I enlarged the sketch in foam board to the finished size I envisioned. This gave me a feeling for the mass of the forms and how they related to each other. I could then refine the sketch by changing the shape and position of the forms. I also had to keep in mind that this is a two dimensional representation of a three dimensional sculpture. To help create a three dimensional effect, I floated the foam board above the work surface and used an actual sphere.

I photographed the full size foam board sketch and made prints of the photos. I was then able make changes to the forms by drawing, cutting and pasting over the image.

The final step was to make a plaster maquette, which enabled me to make refinements as the two dimensional sketch became three dimensional. This ten inch maquette will be used as a guide to complete the 26 inch sculpture.