Now that I am working as a Sculptor, as well as a Painter, I’ve been getting asked quite often, “How do you transition from one to the other?. And, “How do they relate to one another?”.

This gets me to thinking: How many artists out there do work in a variety of mediums? And how would they answer these questions? I’m not going to turn this blog post into a vehicle for interviewing other artists, but if any of you reading this would care to comment, I would love to see what you have to say.

In my own case, I can tell you that sculpting was absolutely a natural progression for me. The way I paint, has led me to always consider myself a bit of a sculptor anyway. I sculpt the paint onto the canvas and manipulate it and distress it and “shape” it into the end form I desire. Turning my vision to a three-dimensional object just made sense. I have two types of sculpture I am currently doing. One, is the clay sculptures that are then made into bronze. These are a very solid depiction of the figures in my paintings, and to me, the relationship is very symbiotic and clear. The other form of sculpture is my steel (or copper or gold, etc.) wire figure. These are a tremendous amount of fun for me. Each involves hours of weaving, bending, and shaping of wire, until I am satisfied with the form. These are a lot like the figures in my paintings in the sense that they are “translucent”. You can see straight through them, they cast magnificent shadows, and they so clearly embody the idea of the figure as a spiritual entity…a ghost…a shadow… Therefore, my message is clearly the same in both painting and sculpture.

As far as how I transition from one art form to the other, all I can say is that I seem to have the attention span of a flea. I always need multiple things happening at one time in order to function well. I am usually working on up to ten paintings at any one time, and usually one sculpture at the same time. I just move from one thing to the next, as my attention shifts. I paint in a variety of mediums too, so I can have the India Ink paintings on a table, as well as some of my small acrylic or oil paintings. Then I will have several larger paintings on the walls. I do illustrating in my basement, often while my kids read or play games. And I sculpt in my kitchen, so I can work on that while I help the boys with their homework and cook dinner, etc. It all sounds a bit chaotic, and perhaps messy to some, but I will just add to that, that I’m also a bit of a neat freak, so everything stays pretty orderly around me. That’s actually very important.

So there you have it! Transitioning is not an issue for me at all. In fact, it probably helps in maintaining the relationships in the work.

Here is an article on Steven Derks, an artist who works in a whole bunch of mediums. http://azstarnet.com/entertainment/arts-and-theatre/multiple-mediums-show-artist-s-mettle/article_af69ce88-e5a9-564b-971a-aefe74661861.html

As an artist, how can we possibly ever feel limited to just one thing? Right?!!