The Viewer Needs the Sleeves!

The sleeves are basically done.

All humans around the world need clothing! If we do not wear clothing, something is very wrong and we end up arrested. Regardless of the colour, or the kind of fabric it all behaves more or less the same. The fabric covering our body is pulled, pushed, stretched, wrinkled, folded and draped in a variety of ways. For anyone doing any artistic representation of the human figure, dealing with clothing and it’s many wrinkles, is a must.


Because we all wear fabric, examples of how it looks is all around us. The observant artist will after a little while begin to understand the basic look for the type of folds around the bent limb or torso etc.


When you consider the many sketches and studies done by the Masters, on just the way the clothing draped over the body you know how important it is. If the folds look convincing it will have a huge positive effect on your work.


As you can see in the picture above, you see the green towel in the background, draped over the angled rolling pin. I used this as a model to simulate the position of the two sleeved arms I had to deal with. I did not wish to copy the towels folds exactly but to have a model to make simple smooth folds that work with the composition of the piece, and so they will be realistic with arms raised in a similar position.


I don’t want to make the folds too dramatic as I will also have a rope draped over the arms. That rope (and the feathered hands) are to get the attention, not the folds.


In my past life, in camping I used to do magic with the kids. They always wanted to know how the magic happened, and since I always wore a colourful jacket they concluded it had something to do with the sleeves. I must have had whatever up my sleeve. An easy solution to come to for understanding the magic tricks. One day, I experimented and did the show without the jacket, so without sleeves. Several members of the youthful audience became very frustrated since now the easy solution to how the tricks were done had also disappeared. I decided, I needed the sleeves, not necessarily for my self but for my audience. It made life much easier for me and the audience was much happier with themselves, and my show.


Here, sleeves would also actually not be necessary, but they do enhance the piece. They give movement for the flying motion. They dress up the arms and with pleasing folds make the look pleasant. Also, it gives the piece a heavenly look and feel. Somehow, we all feel that heavenly beings all wear flowing sleeves. With the sleeves there it all makes sense and it all is as it should be.


“His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow...”
Matthew 28:1-