first failed attempt at long lankin form

Some images from the creation of my first attempt at the planned Long Lankin piece.

My post title says it's a failure. That'll be explained as I go.

The first image shows the broad form when it was just established. This was made of chicken wire tubes fitted together with small branches inserted. I think I like it more at this stage than in the completed from. But it's not what I wanted from a Long Lankin piece. It was and is quite intimidating in the right circumstances but not quite as visceral as I wanted.

The following images are small sections of the piece at this stage. I should explain that it is suspended from the ceiling and not free standing.

One of the mistakes I made was to later on remove the protruding branch in the image below. There were practical reasons for doing so but it might have been better to find a way to make it detachable so it could have been added or removed when I wanted.

The rest of the images I think are generally not as good. They show the form in its finished form. I simply continued adding branches until I felt it was complete. In fact I continued a little past that stage. In fact it got to the stage where I felt everything I added took away from the piece.

I do like the finished piece but it feels overdone and disappointing. There are some lines I love in it. It doesn't feel like it has very much to do with Long Lankin though.

The bit that looks like an arm was a late addition and an attempt to make the piece feel more like it had some relation to Lankin. I don't think it worked. It looks okay but feels wrong. I can't decide whether it's too cheesy and literal.

A different view of the leg that has some of the lines I like best.

Three views of a section of the piece from slightly different angles.

I don't quite know what to do with the piece now. I could dismantle it and dispose of the parts. I also quite like the idea of taking it to woodland somewhere and leave it in situ after taking photographs. But since I don't drive it's not a realistic option. The idea is one I've stolen from my friend Helen's Abandonments projects. Please do follow that link by the way. There are some amazing images and the project is fascinating and moving.

I haven't thought about what I'll try next to capture the feeling I get from Long Lankin. I guess I need to do some more sketching and playing with models.