Naked in New Hope

Today I finally sat down and plugged away at my nude figures for the New Hope Sidetracks Gallery in September. I was dreading and avoiding this project because I have always felt that I have a difficulty creating realistic looking forms. And of course, I avoid doing sketches or making patterns ahead of time, so it took me a bit of time and reworking to figure out the proper shapes and proportions. Something about sculpting with fabric seems so natural to me. I thought, after the fact, that I don't think I could have sculpted that successfully in clay yet I did a decent job with felt and cotton. There are some things I'd like to fix in the next figure. I think there will be seven in all climbing a tattered rope-like background. I can only hope the more I do the better they will get and the faster I will be able to do them. I, however, am not looking forward to doing the next one even though now I have a general idea of how to do it. I would love to learn more about soft sculpture and textiles in general. This is something that I never had the opportunity to learn as an undergrad but I think there are so many possibilities with textiles.