Casting in plaster:
I do enjoy working with plaster. I love that silky creamy feel of the mix as it starts to homogenize from water and powder into a creamy consistency – unlike with the jesmonite, where you use a large, heavy, noisy mixing blade and end up with a grainy slop (admittedly the graininess is the marble in it, which of course, is optional and my choice). None of this measuring out and weighing like you have to do with jesmonite, just a simple process of gently sprinkling the plaster powder into the water and then slowly mixing it to a smooth consistency. Once solidified, plaster also has a luminosity about it that seems to elevate the sculpture to a higher plane. (That's not to say that the marble jesmonite I use doesn't have its plus sides: the marble specks also give a similar luminosity - slightly harsher, but then it needs to be harder if the piece is to survive outside [plaster is no good outdoors] - and the etched and untreated version looks very serene, almost like natural stone; quite beautiful actually.)
Anyway, about the plaster 'Acceptance': I was tempted to post a picture of the plaster cast, but I've decided it's best to show the completed piece at this stage in the process of logging the work progression. I am now at the stage of near-completion. What I think will be the final coat of gesso is going on today. I'm then going to use a darker colour on the 'outside' of the form, leaving the inner space white. This will draw the focus on the inner space, which is what I am increasingly interested in - what happens inside the outer 'skin' of a form (my relief exploration is delving deeper into that; but more about that later).
The trick will be to get the colour right, not too dark and dense, otherwise it becomes excluding, rejecting, and oppressive, which is the opposite of what I want to express: as I said in my initial explanation - (see the June 2010 entry on my Work in Progress page on my website http://www.rosemariepowellsculpture.co.uk/workprogress.html ) 'an initial generous, open gesture which is picked up by the embracing 'arm' across the top.' It is an 'embracing arm across the top', so it needs to be gentle, warm, generous.
And too light a colour won't achieve the embrace I'm after either of course, because it won't enwrap sufficiently, and it will seem as if the white inner space is left to dissipate.
