Making of the Sculpture of Pope John Paul II for the Community Centre in Bicester.

It was late summer 2010 when Faather Paul Matin came to visit my studio. He was very taken with my life size bust of Sir Thomas More which I had made usung Holbein's famous portrait of More for my information. He originally had another commission in mind but on seeing that he asked if I could make posthumous portrait bust of the late Pope. I believe that was the moment when he decided on the name for the planned community centre.

I had to amass as many photographs of the late John Paul II as I could.I decided to portray him as he was around the year 1982. I had to find enough consistent photographs for the expression I wanted. The building was only just having its foundations marked out at this stage. My brief was that the bust was to be positioned in the foyer of the building, which at that time I had understood was to be a larger space than it actually turned out to be.

I did not want him to be lost in a huge roome full of people when the place was in full swing. For that reason I decided to make him 10% larger than life. This would mean he could be positioned at stand higher than the average person.I also wanted him to have his head bowed and looking at his people in that benign, charismatic way of his.

I began making the scuplture in January 2011. Working soleky from photographs is extrermely intensive and takes considerable patience. I finf my concentration needs frequent breaks. I was aware from the beginning that because he head was inclined downwards this could cause a technical problem with the effect of gravity on the weighty clay which has to be kept malleable for working. I progressed with the scuplture over the next few months. I was nervous about leaving it for a couple of weeks over Easter, but on my return all was well. Then at the end of Aptil disaster struck. I walked into my studio one morning to discover my worst fear: the face had fallen away.

But perhaps that was Pope John Paul II's second miracle (the first being a reported cure of a nun with incurable illness) - the face was intact and I still have that mask.

But the long and short of the story is that I had to begin again. This time the face held on. I was satisfied with the resiltant piece to have Father Paul come to view it in late September. He gave his approval. The sculpture was booked for moulding and then the foundry in October. Unfortunately there was no way to could be finished in time for HRH Princsess Royal's visit to open the Community Centre.

The casting of bronze is a very labour intensive system which has changed relatively little since the Ancient Greeks on the 400s BC. That is what makes bronzes costly, noy so much the actual metal itself.

In late January 2012, the foundry had the scuplture ready for the final touch - the patination. This is the application of an appropriate chemical undef a hot flame torch to make the intended colouring. This was done out of doors with snow all around at that time.

Rosamund de Tracy Kelly.