My year casting paper sculpture
Learning a new method, with all its surprises (both interesting and disappointing), in my drive for tactile plasticity in my painting.
In the last year, I’ve only fully completed two paintings, though I began four: one from my “Eden” series (not my best), another from my “Kimono” series (not bad but I could do better). I just finished laying the paper in the mold of my fifth attempt at casting paper (100% cotton linters) in a plaster mold. Its thick; two layers with additional pulp add to strengthen the more sculpted forms. Hopefully, this one will be the breakthrough I’ve been looking for. (See the video of the sculpture’s progress from first laying on clay to final finish, 1 min 32 secs.)
Over the last several years, I’ve experimented with bas relief sculpture mounted to canvas stretched over a hard surface then painted in oils. At first, the sculpture was cast using a gypsum based product, but no matter the strength of the plaster, it could easily be chipped, littering the surface with white specks and spots. As an artist, I couldn’t seriously consider selling it to a client—too easily marred. Last year, I stumbled onto the idea of casting the bas relief in paper. And so began my intense year learning how to make and prepare paper.
The Beginnings
First, what did I need? And where to acquire the materials? How to make it, including making it acid free and sized so when it dries it has good resistance to water, and the use of rice starch to stiffen it and give it a smoother surface. Once I understood and practiced that, next was its application.
The most common way of applying it is to hand press the pulp into the plaster mold, but the surface, when dry, can look uneven. I wasn’t satisfied. So I learned how to make paper sheets using a screen and deckle. (See my construction process video.) Laying down paper sheets became my preferred method—smoother surface and better picking up detail—but this method was definitely more time consuming.
The Next Phase
Now I love oils, but I experimented with other mediums such as acrylic (which I’ve never liked), egg tempera, watercolor, gauche, but it didn’t take long before I missed using oils. And this what I will use for this fifth work, For Study No. 3 from my Apple on a Beach series, I plan on glazing and keeping the tones very washed out. Normally, I paint almost exclusively with a palate knife, so this will be the challenge.
After I finally mount the work on the canvas stretched wood frame, I spend hours (days sometimes), unwilling to touch it with paint, just staring at the surface of the paper: I love the purity of whiteness, the subtle texture, the softness, of pressed cotton, the deckled edge…well, it makes my heart sing. I’m not settled on how to paint the surface—or if I should—and wonder if I should make the sculpture more intricate and leave the paper white. And mounting it to the canvas, leaving the canvas its natural weave and color, or lightly color the paper and have the canvas surface painted in a contrasting or complimentary color.
This is where I’m at after my year long exploration of this newly adopted medium. What do you think? Paint it or leave it white?
Anthony