Now You See Me

Much of what I normally create are dramatic posed fairies with long hair, fighting the wind or dancing. When you create something dramatic, it sort of trumps the detail. No-one looks closely at the attention to physical form or the little touches of detail, all they tend to see is the overall drama. There’s also a cruel irony that the dramatic ones take great photos, but only from the aspect which best frames the drama. The reality of owning a sculpture is that you want it to provide interest from all angles. As I’ve gained experience, I’m tending to make the sculptures that I want to own rather than simply feed a social media appetite for that spectacular image.

I’ve wanted to create a fairy glancing over her shoulder for a long time. I like the body language and the unspoken sense that you’ve caught her off guard. But every time I’ve worked on a design, I’ve backed away as there no much going on in the scene.

As and artist, If you create something with less drama, there is nowhere to hide. The audience will see every detail, because the detail has trumping, the lack of drama. I needed to make her physical form; realistic. I liked the cross over legs idea, but again, I have to nail the detail. The muscles on each leg are distorted as they press on each other (difficult to get right in wire).

In the last few years most of may fairies have had some form of cloths and I think they are better for it. But having worked so hard to get the form right, it seems a shame to hide that form with a flowing skirt. So I thought I’d try a sort of catsuit approach to provide clothing, but not hide her form.

I made the mask for her to wear, but the second I put it on her face it was obviously not going to work. So rather than waste the mask, I turning it into a Venetian masquerade mask which also triggered the idea for her name: Now you see me!.