A wedgie at the YSP

A beautiful foggy Yorkshire Sculpture Park (with some fine sculptures by Nash Goldsworthy Moore
Ai Wei Wei not shown here)

and then the sun came out. It was the perfect day for walking and getting to see some fine sculpture

The performance piece was seeing the Kaws sculpture being dismantled

 

 the ultimate wedgie

 

and a glorious sunset to finish off. 

my new best mate and the AA2A

I am delighted that Chelmsford College have accepted me back with the AA2A scheme. It is an excellent college with great staff and facilities. Last time I made use of the kilns and this time I am planning to be best mates with the bandsaw. 

Brian Mercer exhibition

The private view for the bronze show was jam packed the other evening. Thank you everyone for supporting me and the other artists Mary Bourne and Richard Jackson, it is a real privilege to be showing alongside them. The whole show looks very fine indeed with 3 very contrasting artists. I had very positive feed back for these 2

       Kintinkiri (h16cm)

 Picell (h34cm)

EWAAC exhibition

I am delighted that my sculpture 'Cene' has been selected for the EWAAC exhibition at La Galleria, Pall Mall, Royal Opera Arcade, London SW1Y 4UY with the show opening on Tuesday 18th until Saturday 22nd October. Please pop in if you are in the area

still sawdust and more serenades

I have been at the plinths for what seems an eternity. West Ham have been singing 'I'm forever blowing bubbles' on a loop, it was there every time I turned off the chain saw. It was quite tuneful.

 shaping up

 with absolutely no help from my apprentice

 but my good chum Jenny opened the crate of bronzes when they came.

The show opens shortly! 

serenades and sawdust

While working on the plinths I have been serenaded by West Ham football supporters who are now in the new stadium close by in the Olympic Park. 

 I am ankle deep in sawdust where I have swept it to one side.

eucalyptus plinths

Prepping up for the show at the Royal British Society of Sculptors coming soon, I took delivery of 4 very large, very heavy fresh cut eucalyptus logs which weigh a ton! Many thanks to Charles and his team www.thetreefeller.co.uk who delivered them to me -they were relieved that they did not have to haul them upstairs. I think they eat a lot of spinach
I am not sure how I shall get them down to the RBS......
Tomorrow I spend some time cleaning them up to create plinths to support the bronzes.

branchron

Brancaster Chronicles in my studio, my current work and John Pollards paintings were under scrutiny in this series of artist discussions. See the films, read the transcripts, join the discussion online at https://branchron.com

 

yet more bronze

The bronze course at Morley College is running again, a highlight for me to be able to work alongside the incredible Terry Jones and great students as usual. I look forward to seeing the results tomorrow. 

 the pour

 cooling off

The Tassis Prize

I am thrilled that Esclise, a carved wood sculpture that has been scorched has been selected by the Tassis Foundry in Athens to be cast into bronze www.vptassis.gr. Thanks to Stavros Kotsireas for delivering it for me.  www.kotsireas.com   Greek venues are being considered for exhibitions, I shall let you know where and when! 

leytonstone

I am delighted that the show opening tonight looks amazing! Alex McIntyre, a very fine painter has superb paintings and the gallery has been extremely supportive. I am looking forward to the artist discussion on the Sunday 10th July which is being facilitated by Liz Ellis. All told, a great experience.

A brilliant day part 2, up in the mountains

After a fine morning seeing my sculptures patinated, I was taken out into the middle of nowhere.  I didn't think the day could get any better but I had the best ever tour guide, Fabricio, who decided that I needed to see more of this beautiful place before I have to leave. He knows these mountains, inside the hundreds of miles of caves and out all across the tops too, like the back of his hand. The weather was stunning, glorious sunshine and clear so we had superb views. 

A view across to the quarry where Michelangelo got his stone, now the skyline is protected and it is not permitted to cut the tops down flat like they were then. Carara is on the other side, we could hear some quarrying but it was muted

Looking the other way

 Moving on, we went through forest to a valley between the heights; Fabricio striding out across the summer pastures, I was reminded of my childhood reading Heidi. There were no roads, no tarmac for miles and it was so quiet! No traffic or aircraft. A woodpecker pounding away in the distance, a cuckoo possibly and lots of other bird song

 old terracing for vegetables

 a church in the middle of the pastures, we passed very dozy cows with huge horns to get here, I think they were thinking a la Noel Coward 'Mad dogs and Englishmen', it was a very warm day.

 Fabry

 A small town still being renovated after a devastating mud slide 20 years ago

Finally after a small hike through some undergrowth, we found this, an amazing waterfall that Disney would have proud of, 

 and yes I slipped but only had wet feet. Thank you Fabry, for a wonderful day

A brilliant day part 1, patination

This week has been excellent, my sculptures, which have been impossible to photograph properly while they are in black wax have finally begun to reach the patination room. They have been transformed from wax to bronze, cleaned up and sandblasted. Bronze is a very labour intensive process and there are no shortcuts. However, .........

 The end results! 

and how they got there........

 sandblasted

  patination in progress with Michela