Figures from the Cyclades

My own clay copy of a Cycladic figure.

As it's the last week of August, I must squeeze in one last summer-inspired post. This week, it's the figures of the Cyclades, which is a series of islands in the Aegean Sea. The figures are simple human studies with perfectly beautiful proportions. I've always been fond of them.

Until creating my own rendition of one of these beautiful figures, I believed they were very simple, easily created objects. Boy was I wrong! It was not easy trying to recreate the proportions of these lovely figures. Compare mine to the real thing and notice many differences. The lines of the original are long and symmetrical, the indentations at the elbows and waist are at just the right proportion, the feet are long and have finely carved toes, the head is organic AND geometric. Of course, they carved theirs from stone, so they probably spent more than the 30 minutes I spent on mine!

What a great lesson, though! Copy a sculptural masterpiece and understand exactly why it should be appreciated!