A series of portraits and faces sculpted within a quarter of a century.

By Susie Hartley

More than 25 years ago, I sculpted my youngest daughter in clay as she slept and subsequently created a plaster cast from the original clay model.

Fast forward 22 years, I sculpted my daughter again directly from life (below) whilst reading a book. I allowed the clay head to dry, hollowed it out and then fired in the kiln. I decided not to glaze the portrait as I love this warm pink colour from the bisket fire.

At the start of this year, I produced two separate studies (below) made working intuitively thinking about fragmentation of the portrait. The study on the left is made using terrocota clay and the study on the right is crank clay. Both fired in the kiln to a bisket temperature. It's interesting how both clays have such different finishes at this stage.

This autumn, I was inspired by the antiquities and wanted to make a three quarter portrait to be placed in a corner of a room or mounted on a wall which can be an interior or exterior feature. I chose to use a rich green mottled glaze to give it a natural earthy look.