It was an exciting day on Friday. I found out that the powder coaters had finished working on my sculpture and I arranged for it to be delivered. I had to race from work to meet the delivery team at my studio where they were dropping off the work.
The powder coating has been the only process through the making of this piece that I have handed over to someone else to do. However it has been necessary because I do not want the sculpture to rust over the next year when it is installed at Broomhill. I have always wanted to have something powder coated because of the vibrant smooth colour that can be achieved. The Broomhill National Sculpture Prize has enabled me to finally experiment with powder coating and I am really pleased with the result.
I chose two different finishes for the sculpture. The main body is coated in a clear matt lacquer. I wanted to keep the original colour of the steel to act as a neutral between the three coloured elements in the piece. The lacquer has made the steel colour deeper, which I hadn’t anticipated but I am really happy about. I chose the clear lacquer was because I like the burn marks from the different processes I used in constructing the sculpture such as plasma cutting and welding. I am interested in showing these processes in the work as it is a really important part of the development of the piece. I prefer to make as much of my own work as possible because so many decisions are made while I am cutting a shape out or welding sections together. My sculptures always change a huge amount from the original drawing or plan once I have started making them. I mistake with the plasma cutter might lead to a really interesting shape and this might change the whole piece.
One change I have made to my original plan for the work is that I have made the ‘Moss’ a separate entity from the main body. This was because I decided it needed some space from the main body. I want to play around with the positioning of the ‘Moss’ when I am on site and installing. Making it a separate section has also allowed me to powder coat it in a bright yellow to contrast to the steel and work with the red and blue pieces.
