Feel Free To Contact Me With
Questions or Comments
|
 |
About The Artist
Artist Alan Derrick lives and works in a wooded
mountain cove area of rural North Alabama. He dedicates all of
his
time and energy to
creating stylized fine art sculptures influenced by life’s
experiences.
Best known for his sculptures inspired by the common bird feather, he
also routinely experiments in other subject matter. His work can
be
found in galleries, private collections, and of course here on eBay. |
Alan Spot Welding
Alan Shaping Metal
Alan Preparing The
Surface
For Paint
Alan Applying The Paint
|
How I Make My Feather Sculptures
Each sculpture
is a
unique one of a kind piece. All sculptures are truly three dimensional,
meaning that there is no unfinished back or bottom. They range in size
from 24 inches to 10 feet in length.
In selecting the subject feather, I thoroughly researches the bird’s
characteristic behaviors, its
habitat, plumage, and survival status in the wild.
With fresh inspiration, I then develop a concept for my next piece. I
draw rough sketches, write a plan, and mock up a full scale
pattern with accompanying stencils.
The design is transferred to flat sheet metal and cut out using a
variety of electric and pneumatic hand tools.
I then take the two resulting halves of sheet metal to a hydraulic
press. A selection of several hundred punch and die tools are used to
press the rachis shape into the metal. (The “rachis” is that part of
the feather which forms its shaft or backbone.) It is worth noting that
you will not find other sculptors capable of creating a truly three
dimension representation of a feather with the sweeping, tapered rachis
found in my work. Other materials such as bronze, wood, or
porcelain do not have the strength to be so thin as a feather. I am the
only artist who has ever mastered the techniques required
to do it in steel.
Once the rachis has been roughed out, I must then “chase the
metal” using a variety of hammers and chisels to carefully refine the
rachis taper.
Once the second half of the rachis has been cut and trimmed of excess
metal, the two halves are held together with a special “jig” and welded
to each other zipper style carefully working from one end of the
feather to the other.
Once the resulting welds are ground down and filed to perfection, I use
a number of pneumatic and hand striking tools to shrink,
stretch, and other wise shape the blades. (The blades are the two thin
flat portions of the feather attached to each side of the rachis or
shaft.) I must take great care at this stage to achieve a
near perfect surface finish.
With metalwork on the feather complete, I then design and
fabricate the base or pedestal. Each one is unique to that feather
since each feather is a one of a kind piece. Dramatic display of the
feather can make or break the final outcome, so much thought and
visualization goes into this process.
I prepare the feather for primer and paint through media
blasting and then filling any tiny imperfections that remain.
Multiple coats of catalyzed primer
and repeated surface sanding at this stage gives the feather a flawless
appearance, taking on a hardwood like weight and feel.
This is when I brush on heavy acrylic lacquer achieving the
fluid barbed appearance found under the surface of all of my pieces.
One of the truly challenging aspects to this step is with the fact that
the acrylic lacquer begins drying almost instantly, which allows me
just a few seconds to lay down an attractive brush stroke before moving
on. (The barbs are the fine hair like strands which hook together
forming a feather’s blades.)
I employee a highly specialized type of paint borrowed from
the custom automotive industry. It allows me to create surface colors
and textures which feature candy like translucent coloration. This will
shimmer and glow like art glass when struck by a penetrating light
source. The unusual reflective qualities found in many of my works can
only be rivaled by nature herself.
Generally, I spray, splatter, and mist my paint on to the surface
avoiding the use of a brush. It is exceptionally challenging to achieve
the textured patterns I strive for. Upon close inspection, one finds
a chaotic mix of color which appears to be quite random. Step back and
you will see a beautiful feather with all of its flowing lines.
Start to finish, I will apply 25 to 35 layers of paint and primer,
typically sanding and then baking the surface a dozen times throughout
the process.
Since the feather cannot be touched while paint is being applied, I
must suspend it upside down by the quill tip in a special cart designed
for the process. When complete, a matching “cap” is installed into the
quill tip and the feather is placed in its matching base.
The last step is to write the statement explaining my motivation in
creating that particular sculpture and pen the title. |
|
View this member's Reviews & Guides.
View this member's My World page.
To create your own About Me page, click here.
|
)
