Lori Kiplinger Pandy Sculpture

Refining the clay sketch maquette "State of Grace"

2012-02-05T18:50:00.001-07:00

I spent a little time refining the forms and attitude for this clay sketch. It is next in the series that I'm doing of rising women. The first, "Ascension" is nearly finished in bronze and releasing very soon. This sketch in clay is a study for the next to go to bronze. The simple armature is 12" - about the same size as "Ascension". The final for this sculpt will be 18" using the smallest of the TruForm armatures.

Overall, I'm pleased with the direction that this is taking, but will change the hair and cloth a bit on the final. I'll be taking this sketch down to Art Castings to have them look her over for any casting problems before I start the final. I'll also take the sketch into the Base shop to get some ideas before I go to sculpt that may change the fabric and the overall height. Once I've had a chance to discuss this piece with my bronze team, I can begin working on the final clay to size.

This piece will be titled "State of Grace". 12" armature - but with hair and cloth she is currently 18" tall.

Metal Chasing of "Ascension"

2012-01-26T18:01:00.001-07:00

The bronze has been poured then the metal shell smashed off. After it was sandblasted to clean off any lingering particles, they take the sculpture in and begin to weld the pieces back together. Then an artisan known as a metal chaser then works on
burnishing out the weld seams and any some imperfections that they find. Marker indicates areas that they will do some additional work.

I spent a lot of time at the Base Shop selecting the base (Nordic Green Granite) and how the sculpture will work with the base. We are going to go with a two tier base so that there will be room for the turntable (then the sculpture will rotate smoothly)

The sculpture is looking beautiful and I've mapped out my patina ideas - so once the sculpture has been custom fit to the base and the chasing done - it will be time to patina and affix to the base!

First Bronze Pouring of "Ascension"

2012-01-24T17:57:00.000-07:00

Today was the first pouring of bronze for "Ascension"! The shells had been built up over the hollow wax sections over a period of time. The shells were then placed into the furnace and the wax was melted out - a process referred to as "lost wax".

Next they took special buckets and collected the molten bronze and poured the liquid metal into the now-hollow ceramic shells. Once the bronze cools, they break apart the ceramic shells using hammer and pneumatic tools. After removing the hard shells, the sprues are then cut off using plasma torches.

Once that is completed, the sections of bronze are cleaned up by sand-blasting the last bits of plaster shell residue.

Finally, after the pieces are cleaned up they are ready to be welded back together.

Tomorrow I'll post photos of the sculpt being metal-chased.

Refining clay sketch maquette

2012-01-19T11:07:00.000-07:00

I got a little more work in on the clay sketch - refining shapes and forms a bit. This is Chavant's LeBeau Touche' HM (High Melt) plastelina oil based clay. As it's softer than my J-Mac Extra Firm, it's proving to be much easier to work quickly and the softness of the clay (when warmed under a light) makes it much more malleable. I originally started working with Chavant High Melt nearly 20 years ago when we lived in Sarasota and Placida Florida. At that time I was doing a lot of bas relief sculptures for Image Creations of Florida and found that the HM was the safest clay for me to use in my studio and then transport in the high Florida heat to my client's offices nearly 2 hours hot drive from my studio. Other clays would sometimes literally melt in my car during the commute.

So if you work in a high temperature climate I would highly recommend Chavant's HM (High Melt) clays for your use.

Maquette - clay sketch for next scuplture

2012-01-17T12:19:00.000-07:00

While I have my 18" Truform armature set up and ready to go, I'm still working out the pose in my head. I decided that some sketching was in order but instead of breaking out the sketchbook, this time I decided to sketch in clay to work out some of the mechanics before I go to finish.

Anyone who know me know that I am an unlikely mix of spontaneous impatience (I want to get started NOW!) and relentless perfectionism (it must be as good as in my mind - no better, Better, BETTER!)

That can make for some frustrating work habits. So I'm killing two birds with one stone - starting work NOW and accepting that it can't be perfect because it's only the maquette (small clay sketch).

I am using an inexpensive 12" wire armature and some old Chavant LeBeauTouche HM plasteline. While this plasteline is perfectly fine, I do like Jmac quite a bit too. Since the LeBeau is softer than my extra firm Jmac, I though it was a good choice for clay sketching - it is quicker to warm up to workable consistency and softer/easier for my hands to manipulate, facilitating a faster, looser approach. Hopefully that will lend more life movement to the sketch and yet make it easier for me to stop at a less-than-finished state and then move on to my 18" final model, using the sketch as my reference.

Preparing board and Truform armature

2012-01-16T15:35:00.000-07:00

Time to get my new armature ready. I went to the hardware store and got my flange screws. After deciding the placement for the armature, I marked the board, pre-dilled the four holes, then screwed the metal flange in place.

Next I attached the metal armature rod from my 18"Truform armature. I bought this a while back, but have been busy working on other projects and haven't had the chance to try this. The head is removable but the rest of the armature is not. In the larger sizes, you can take off the arms and legs, allowing you easier access to work on the sculpt - a real plus in certain poses.

I do know it was very tricky trying to get to certain areas with my "Ascension" so it would be beneficial to be able to take the arms and legs off of this armature. Since that isn't an option on this size of armature, I've been experimenting with creating my own system for making the extremities removable. So far 3 of my four designs failed, but the 4th is showing some promise, so I will do further experiments before starting this sculpt.

This will be a new experience for me, as I made my own armature using multiple aluminum wire for "Ascension".

Also, as I had some difficulties with the hands getting bumped, I'm building some wire armature hands to put on this piece, which may be very helpful or just a big pain in the butt - time will tell.

Getting Jmac clay ready for next sculpt

2012-01-12T14:42:00.000-07:00

Time to prepare for my next sculpt. This one will be done in similar style and fashion as "Ascension", however I'm trying out a new armature, which I'll be showing later.

I spent a week purging my studio of past projects and art supplies that I'm no longer using. The local people on Craigslist are very pleased about that ;-) Still needing to improving my lighting for sculpting, as it's imperative to have good, strong directional lighting to cast shadows on the sculpt to reveal the forms. As I do most of my sculpting standing - or even standing on a stool for added height, I need a light that I can move around as needed - plus my ceiling is rather low (basement studio) so I don't have a lot of hanging options. I'm thinking of getting a boom for photo lighting and clipping a light onto that. It would be useful for lighting and photographing the sculptures later too.

Time to get my materials ready to work. Every artist has their own methods of working. David Lemon (check out this guy's blog - it's delightful to watch him work and his sculpts are crazy good) likes to chunk his clay into pieces using a knife. I suspect he's bigger and stronger than I am, plus my Jmac clay is extra firm. I think it's left over from when I was living in Florida and needed something that would say firm even in high heat. I can't possible cut through it. This may be way firmer than I will like working in for a figure, but want to try and use it up before purchasing another block in a less firm formula. So instead of trying to cut pieces off the block, I place a lamp on it to warm and then shave pieces off and collect them into a foil lined box. This box has a lid (great for keeping out dust and hair) and the foil helps hold and reflect the heat from the lamp to warm the clay. The small strips warm up very quickly compared to larger sections. I can then easily mush the strips together into manageable lumps for easy grabbing later as I'm sculpting.

Time consuming and a bit hard on the hand, but will make the actual sculpting process much smoother so worth the time and effort now.

Attaching wax sprues & making ceramic shell

2012-01-11T18:22:00.000-07:00

Jeanne from Art Castings foundry let me know that the sprues were being added to my wax Ascension today. So I grabbed my camera and drove down through the snow to get some shots of the process. Wendy was working on the piece as I walked into the sprue room. She showed me how she evaluates each section to envision how the bronze will flow into the cavity left by the wax, then creates different sized channels out of wax (sprues) to act as the funnel for the bronze to pour down.

It's amazing how much work and time goes into the creation of each and every bronze. This whole process is created for every one in an edition and also means that no two bronzes are 100% identical.

Once all the wax spruces are in place, Wendy adds a pipe to the bottom of the pour cup and takes to the slurry room and places them on tall poles called 'trees'.

Next John will take each wax section and dip it into a slurry mixture, let it drain a bit then take it to a sand box and shake silica over it. The slurry and silica are built up layer, by layer over a period of 1-2 weeks, creating a hard shell encasing the wax. They are placed on the trees to dry and harden.

Once the shell is complete, it's off to the furnace to burn out all the wax and pour the molten bronze.

Wax Chasing & Lessons learned

2011-12-23T11:03:00.001-07:00

I worked on the first two wax castings of "Ascension". The folks at Art Castings were very helpful and Mac did some good work on the chasing. However, he was working blind, as he got her in pieces and had no real idea how she went together. Can't imagine doing that! So I learned that it's a good idea to provide a series of photos for them to work from.

Another issue was that there was some confusion over how the bronze was to be mounted onto the base. Since they didn't have a photo, they thought it was one way and realized that there wouldn't be enough metal to support the floating woman. In reality, there was, mounted the way I had planned. So I had to go back and carve out all the wax that they had added.

Never worked with wax before so after a few hours at the foundry, I decided to pack her up and take back to my studio, since it was taking longer than I thought. You can see my desk with the various tools. The hot tool that is plugged in on my desk proved much too hot to use on the sculpt much. It vaporized the wax and melted much too aggressively to be much use to me. So I kept it on and placed my metal tools on the hot tool to heat the metal carving tools. That worked much better, overall.

It still took many hours, but that is mainly due to my inexperience and I'm sure it will go much faster next time. I may even chase the entire wax next time to gain even more understanding of the practice and to familiarize myself with what casts easily or harder to incorporate into my next sculpt. After finishing her up I took her back to Art Castings. Luckily for me, Jeanne too a look at the photoshopped image I had made explaining the mounting process - she didn't think it would work - that the stone would chip!

So I buzzed over to the Base Shop and spoke with Brian. Thanks to Brian and Jeanne, we were able to come up with a solution that will enable me to mount the sculpture as I had planned, with a bit of extra effort, and another lesson learned!

Finishing ceramic clay portrait of Harriet Tubman

2011-12-16T18:18:00.000-07:00

Harriet was very inspiring to sculpt. I took longer than I needed because I tried out different sculpting techniques from very impressionistic to fairly tight. I have to say that I really liked the looseness of the impressionistic version - so full of energy. However, as she neared completion the strength of her personality and her face competed with the strong strokes of the very loose version.

So I continued to refine until I felt that I struck a balance of free strokes and polish. The clay is a very heavy, firm, groggy clay called Chestnut that I got at Mile Hi Ceramics. It's an interesting clay to work with but the heavy grog can be a bit sandy to work with. I find that the grog (sandy, pebbly particles that add body and strength to a clay while reducing shrinkage rate when firing) comes to the surface when using sponging or brushing with water on the surface. However, if you push on the surface using wood or metal tools or pallets, the grog is pushed deeper into the clay and the surface is smooth - or at least smoother. I found this to be an interesting combination as I burnished a few areas where the skin would be most taught, giving a tighter, more light-reflective property to the clay and leaving the more textured, groggy clay for other areas. Very tacticile

This portrait bust of Harriet Tubman was very satisfying to sculpt. I plan on doing a 3/4 figure of her soon and the bust was a way of getting familiar with her face and features before expanding into more of the figure later.

She'll need to dry for a while before firing, so that won't take place until sometime in January.

Wax pour for "Ascension" Bronze casting

2011-12-13T12:57:00.000-07:00

It was quite foggy this morning and I nearly postponed my drive down to Art Castings in Loveland. But, since I'd already filled my travel mug with hot tea and charged up my camera, I decided not to wait and I'm quite glad!

When Jeanne greeted me, she knew just where my work, "Ascension", was in the maze of other sculptor's molds and waxes. They had just poured the first two waxes and Mac was starting to chase them.

In the montage photo:

1) collection of rubber molds inside the mother-mold

2) the mother mold encasing the rubber like a clamshell

3) you can see that the rubber comes out of the shell

4) the mother mold seams together tightly

5) hole where the wax is poured in

Here are some photos of the hollow wax that was poured. Mac is working on taking out imperfections in the wax. He will also fix where the armture came through. When he reaches a certain point in the process, they will call me and I will head down to spend the day doing finish chasing and detailing until I am satisfied before preparing the wax for the bronzing process.

You can see the whole process of making a bronze at the Art Castings site http://artcastings.com/casting-process.html http://artcastings.com/casting-process.html

Harriet Tubman Sculpture Portrait Demo

2011-12-01T11:41:00.001-07:00

Sorry so slow to post....this is from a week or more ago. I let the clay firm up some more and then cut off the top of Harriet Tubman's head to continue hollowing out more. The clay is quite heavy and thinner walls fire better taking some of the excessive weight out of the finished sculpture. As I sculpt and make changes, I can add on a lot of additional clay. When I feel the portrait getting heavy I know it's time to hollow again.

By lifting the sculpture up, I can feel not only the increased weight, but where the weight is. That allows me to target an area for additional hollowing, which keeps the piece centered. Something you'll want to keep in mind when the piece is fired and ready for professional mounting..

Here I am repairing the area that was sliced off to gain access to the interior for hollowing. After putting the piece back together, I carve out a section of the join, add more slip, then some fresh clay.

Harriet Tubman Ceramic Portrait Bust Demo

2011-11-07T10:15:00.000-07:00

Here is an update on Harriet's progress. I let her rest over the weekend after having hollowed her out. She was a bit over-dry when I checked this morning, so I've soaked some cloth to drape over the driest parts and misted well before beginning work again.

I can see I've got to work on the symmetry a bit more, but she is making progress. I intend for the surface to retain a lot of looseness and energy, so the challenge will be to bring it to a level of completion that pleases me and stopping before I overwork her. Estimated time to date: 5 hours.

Hollowing out a ceramci portrait bust

2011-11-03T07:15:00.001-06:00

One of the things that must happen when working in ceramic, or water-based clay, is that the piece must be hollow before firing. I find that many times when I'm working on a piece, the clay tends to shift or perhaps I change the angle of the neck or something to create more tension or drama.

The results are that the piece can become very thick in some areas and fragile and thin in others. This was the case with my Harriet Tubman bust. The addition of all the clay to the back of her head holding her scarf was pulling on the sculpt and I was supporting it with wood while it stiffened up.

At the same time, the neck area near the clavicle was quite thin.

So, although this piece wasn't at the leather-hard stage, I decided to do a preliminary hollowing early. The clay is still very soft and wet, so very easily distorted. First, I took my wire tool and cult through the sculpt. Then I removed the newspaper that I already

had in there.It was easy to see just how thin parts of the neck here - it was clear that it would have been fragile to continue to sculpt. After I separated the two halves, I lead them on foam covered with plastic to cushion it pieces. Next, I used a wire loop and tool and carved out the excess clay. Thin areas, I built back up to make stronger.

Finally, I took a fork and poked holes throughout both halves, to reduce the change for air pockets and to facilitate even drying. Then scored both edges, added slip and filled the head cavity with shredded paper and reassembled the two pieces. I added the paper into the head because the sculpt is still quite wet and will be prone to distortion. I can remove it later through the opening at the bottom of the neck. After the clay rests a bit, I will continue with the sculpting.

Clay sculpture portrait demonstration Harrient Tubman

2011-10-31T12:29:00.000-06:00

Making progress on Harriett Tubman bust study. This is at about the 3.5 hour mark. The clay is wet and heavy so I have sticks pushed into the heavy areas to help support while firming up. Once I'm fairly satisfied with the forms, I'll cut her up and carve out the interior to hollow out then reassemble to work on her some more.

Harriet Tubman ceramic clay bust study

2011-10-28T11:44:00.000-06:00

Inspiration comes from many sources. I remember once, back when I was doing a lot of paintings for galleries, that someone asked me why nearly all my subject matter was women or groups of women. Surprisingly, I'd never noticed that fact before! When an artist chooses to paint or sculpt, it's usually something that 'speaks' to them. In my case, the women were probably representative of my mother and sisters - we're so different yet so very close. I love how women are so supportive, collaborative and giving and that is often a theme in my work.

Anyway, as I as nearing the completion of "Ascension" (yet another woman ;-) I was pondering what or who I wanted to sculpt next. As I love to read, I often have several books that I'm reading at the same time and on the day I was pondering, both books, totally unrelated in content, mentioned Harriet Tubman. Well that was inspiration enough for me! So off to the library to get books on this amazing woman.

I'm going to do a study in water-based clay first so I can 'get used to her head'....a phrase that makes total sense to me but had my sister laughing at it's weirdness. But it's true, I want to get used to her head, her features - I want to feel her strength and personality come through my fingertips and onto the clay surface. After this ceramic clay study, where I'm 'learning' Harriet, I will begin a 3/4 figure. I've already worked out the sketch, which I'll show when I start that piece.

So, on to the work. I'm going to try to photo this piece as I work on it. In the photo above, you can see that I've printed out a few photos for reference. Most are from her later years and I'm going to try to portray her in her prime - we'll see ;-). This stage is about 45 minutes. I've started to rough in the shape.

Above you'll see the forms of the face are blocked in more. I've started roughing in the nose, mouth, chin. This is old clay that I've re-wet and it's a bit heavy at the moment. This is roughly 90 minutes into the piece.

And here we are at the 2 hour stage. Getting more volume onto the face and beginning to block in the eyes a bit. At this point, I had to stop work for the day, as I'd gotten a late start. So I lightly misted and bagged her up for the night.

Ascension Figurative Sculpture is at the foundry! ~Lori Kiplinger Pandy's first bronze

2011-10-17T18:35:00.001-06:00

After some delay, my sculpture, "Ascension" has been delivered to the foundry at Art Castings of Loveland! They will be making a multi-piece mold of her. Then they will cast her in wax. Next they'll chase the wax. After that, they dip her into plaster and sand many times over a period of a week or more. Finally they'll melt the wax out of the plaster shell, then pour in the molten bronze. After the bronze cools, they'll smash off the outer shell to reveal the bronze pieces.

Finally, they'll assemble the pieces and weld her back together and chase all the seams. Last of all they'll apply the patina, giving her the final colors and attach to her stone base. Each an every bronze sculpture will require this process: from pouring the wax to attaching the base!

She measures approximately 10" tall (without base) by 15" long and 6" wide. She will be supported only by the fabric that drapes from her hips. The fabric will pool onto the base, flow over the edge of the base and onto the table."Ascension" will be an edition of 33 plus several Artist's Proofs. Number 1 of 33 has been pre-sold already!

If you would like to see the entire actual process of developing a bronze from mold-making to final patina, you can view the short video from Art Castings here.

The entire casting process will take about 10-12 weeks. I have to study some patina choices but I have something very specific in mind and will post that soon.

I must say that I am very excited to finally have her at the foundry. Being somewhat OCD about my work, I have a hard time letting go ;-)

But I must say, I loved, loved, loved, sculpting her! Even when a mishap came along to destroy
her hand or her face, I had just as much fun sculpting her again as I did the first time. In fact, the sculpting itself was very rewarding and relaxing. The hardest part of this sculpture was learning about armatures and the ways of working with this particular medium, Jmac Classic Clay.

I learned so much from working on this sculpture and am looking forward to using that hard-won experience on the next piece.

Once the sculpture is final, I will release the retail price along with the new photos.

Juried into the Women Artists of the West

2011-10-05T08:17:00.001-06:00

When you're in your studio, trying to keep up with deadlines, it's easy to let tasks slide. One of my goals this year was to join more professional organizations - it's a great way to grow as an artist. I've been an associate member of the National Sculpture Society and I am happy that I was just juried into the Women Artists of the West. Luckily I've been trying to use my task-manager more and was able to remember to get my application in before the deadline, as they only jury in new members once a year!

It's nice getting in to these organizations, but I haven't yet been active. My next goal is to take full advantage of what they have to offer, enter their shows and contests and get more involved - time to make a move from 'associate' to 'full' member in every sense of the word.

Sculpting on "Ascension" went so well last night that I was loathe to stop and turn in at 1:30am. I admit that I've been noodling on her for far too long - it's hard to declare done ;-). My goal is to have her at the foundry this afternoon or tomorrow morning - with new photos posted!

At the Loveland Sculpture Invitational Show...

2011-08-13T19:25:00.000-06:00

Sculpting is calming and freeing for me. So I brought my working in progress, "Ascension", to the show to give me something to do.

Thanks for Mr. Tom Carter for snapping a couple of pix while at my booth today!

"Ascension" is getting a nice reception from the patrons and I'm really excited about finishing her next week and taking her down to Art Castings of Loveland to start the bronze process.

In the mean time, I was happy to find a new home for "Hint of a Smile" today. She was purchased by a lovely lady from Texas. It was satisfying to see her pass my booth, pause and declare, "She's mine!" Makes one feel really good to have created something that she really connected with.

The show is amazing, of course I've known that from visiting it, but from an exhibitor's prospective, I can see that it is beautifully run and the volunteers are the best.

Looking forward to what tomorrow's show brings!

Patinas and bases

2011-08-11T12:37:00.000-06:00

I didn't have enough time to set up and properly photograph the sculptures on their bases with the patinas prior to taking them to the show. But I did a rough shoot within 30 minutes, so while not great photos, at least it's something. Didn't get my white balance quite right but I will try to photo them later at my leisure...

Jet lag and sculptures are not a good combination...

2011-08-10T18:04:00.001-06:00

Bummer.....I'm seriously exhausted, having just returned from Europe and having hubby and daughter sick. I picked up my little gymnast to pack her up for the auction at the Loveland Sculpture Invitational this weekend and dropped her.

While ceramic sculptures can be quite sturdy, this was a wicked drop. I wouldn't mind so much, but I was counting on donating her for the auction and I had just put had the sculpt mounted to this nice stone base. Well, I might be able to salvage the base for future use.

At least I didn't smash any others yet ;-)

I got the rest of them down to the show and will finish the final set-up tomorrow. Then I can post some photos of the booth at the show later.

Sculptures mounted to bases!

2011-08-09T19:09:00.000-06:00

Today I picked up 7 sculpts from the base shop. Finishing touches and photography in the morning, then heading down to Loveland to set up for the big show. If you're in area, you might want to swing by Sculpture Depot for their Art & Education Extravaganza. Lots to do, see and learn!

After Italy...

2011-08-06T12:19:00.001-06:00

left Lenno, Lake Como, Italy, probably a few pasta pounds heavier. Avoid was lovley and views more lovely! We rented a two bedroom apartment in Lenno and did a lot od walking and one full day of ferries between towns on the lake. Awe left a day early because we had scheduled our train too close for comfort with getting back to Zurich for our flight out.

good thing, as our travel day was not without problems. first problem is our complete lack of Italian! Second being our inexperience with trains. Long, long day...but back in Zurich. we'll see a bit of the city before catching our plane to Frnkfurt tomorrow and then back to Colorado.

looking forward to getting ready for the Loveland Sculpture Invitational show this week!

Enjoying the food in Italy

2011-08-05T01:49:00.000-06:00

Left glorious Switzerland for Italy. We're in the Lake Como region. Sadly we've not been in any museums to see any sculptures. Since we don't speak Italian or know the region, getting around has been challenging. So we've concentrated on walking the beautiful alleyways and eating great food!

Also come to the conclusion that Mario Andetti was simply an average driver from Italy ;-)

European Vacation

2011-07-29T10:51:00.002-06:00

I've been out od town we are one a long-awaited trip to Switzerland and will return just before the Loveland Sculpture Invitational show. The sculptures are all getting the bases made and will be ready when I return. I will be posting photos as soon as I get back...

Off to Switzerland!

2011-07-25T06:36:00.000-06:00

My husband, daughter and I are enjoying a re ip to Switzerland & Italy for the next two weeks to celebrate our 50th birthdays, our daughter's 16th birthday & our 20th anniversary all in one year! Currently sitting I Frankfurt airport waiting for plane to Zurich...then off to interlaken tomorrow!

I did pull some verrrryy late nights getting the last two sculpts fired and all the Latinas done so that I could get them in for mounting the bases while I'm gone. Good thing, too, since I will be setting up at the Loveland Sculpture Invitational show only two a days after returning!

Wish I could have poste the new photos before we left, but
Completely out of time...

Small scale full figure gymanst in water based ceramic clay

2011-07-14T15:32:00.001-06:00

In order to help the clay firm up and dry out a bit - plus to make it easier for the sculpt to hold its own weight, I cut her up to hollow out more. Although I did use a small bit of newspaper to bulk out her core, I find that in sculpting and moving the position around, there areas can build up thick in some areas. Surprisingly, this one was pretty symmetrical.

I removed some more of the clay from the core and the pelvis region. Once the clay firmed up

more, I was able to reattach her and continue sculpting.

Today she was strong enough to remove from the prongs that had been supporting the weight and stand on her own. I am working on finalizing her now.

Small scale full figure gymanst in water based clay

2011-07-12T16:29:00.000-06:00

Time to start a new sculpt. This one will be a gymnast. It's currently measuring close to 9" tall is being sculpted using ceramic paperclay (CT3).

I started this same sculpt a couple of days ago using Chestnut - a highly grogged terracotta clay. The first attempt sagged so much that she kept having the weight press down on her legs and squash them. The clay is stiff and I had trouble getting it to twist when I wanted to move her pose a bit.

So after a day of modeling, carving, adding and fighting with it, I smashed it up and returned it to the bag for use in another project another day. Then I immediately started her all over again in the ceramic paperclay. This is much lighter and holds its shape on such a small scale, so I'm glad that I scrapped the first. I got twice as far in half the time on the second attempt.

The sculpt has an 'exterior armature', profiled in Bruno Lucchesi's books. The Chestnut clay was heavy and kept pulling out of the two prongs that are holding her weight. The papercaly is holding up better, but it may still need an internal rod added to her leg from under the base after firing to support the weight - time will tell. This sculpt has tiny fingers, so I'm hoping that it holds up well to sculpting and firing because in dance any gymnastics, the finger attitude means so much.

You can also see the hollowing that is going on. I rough in the shapes and then as the piece starts to dry and firm up, I can cut of the rough arms and head and hollow out and reattach. I've already hollowed her head and put it back on. The one arm is in place, the other is still off and drying a bit to be more firm.

The legs are still clunky because I really need to mass there to support in the early stages. Then I'll start to refine and take the forms down.

Figure Sculpting Demo - young dancer in ceramic clay #8

2011-07-11T00:07:00.000-06:00

After letting the sculpt sit overnight I came back to it with fresh eyes. Something had been bothering me and I finally came to the conclusion that the dress wasn't quite right. So I spent some time adding clay and changing the way that the fabric moved. That seemed to make a pleasing difference:

Figure Sculpting Demo - young dancer in ceramic clay #7

2011-07-08T17:06:00.000-06:00

Making progress on the sculpt and generally pleased with her. There are some areas that need a bit more refining. The lighting is rather harsh because I just grabbed some quick pix in the studio. .

When she's fully completed I will set up the photo lights and get better photos,

I really enjoyed sculpting her and have titled this piece:

"Her first dress rehearsal"

This was my first sculpture of a child and I have to agree with other people - kids are challenging. I did not work from a model which can add to the challenge of a piece as I try to imagine limbs in the round. The thing with children is their softness. It makes it hard to find the forms sometimes.

This was so enjoyable that I'm certain that I'll be doing more dancers and hopefully gymnasts too.

2011-07-05T17:00:00.000-06:00

I have hollowed out the second arm and attached it back onto her body. Then I fleshed her out a bit more and started to define her ears.

She needs to rest a bit and firm up more. Next I'll block in the hair mass and dress before heading back to start any refining.

It was quite fun to chop off her arms and move them around. I probably took them off and on about 5 times until I had both working in the direction that I was looking for. Really looking forward to the rest.

One thing I will say about paper clay is that it re-wets readily - sometimes a bit too easily and can become water-logged...but with a little time and the proper amount of circulation, you can get the firmness of the clay back to a workable consistency.

Arm placement and hand position make a difference

2011-07-04T12:44:00.000-06:00

I've re-attached one of the hollowed out arms. The hand is roughed into place. The new placement of the arm is more graceful and in tune with the attitude of the sculpt.

The whole body must be in agreement, or the figure will simply look wrong or awkward - so I often revise as I'm working and will change the placement of the body in order to better tell the story, emotion or intent.

What to do when you drop your head?

2011-07-01T18:58:00.001-06:00

Start over, of course! Yep, after I reattached her head, I bumped the sculpture stand and tipped the figure precariously. Consequently her head dropped to the floor with a big plop! Naturally it did a real face-plant so there was no real salvaging her. Quite gruesome, actually ;-)

Oh well, I enjoyed sculpting her and felt she was a bit stilted in expression anyway.

So I sat down today and created a new head. I also worked on her arms by cutting them off and hollowing them out. Then I started to rough in her hands. I've decided to change the position of the arms a bit, making her a bit more expressive, too. Have I mentioned how much I love the second chances you get with clay?

Happily, the new head is in place, the body has firmed up better to support the weight and I have one arm and hand attached again. The battery on my camera needs charging so I don't have enough juice to get more photos in today....I'll photo and post the progress soon....in the mean time, I'm happy with the progress of the head and face and feel that the second sculpt is better than the first.

I'm planning on having this sculpt more 'painterly' in the finish so this will be a new challenge on to over-work the surface.

Stay tuned!

Figure Sculpting Demo - young dancer in ceramic clay #6

2011-06-28T18:44:00.000-06:00

Off with her head!

Yes, it does seem a bit brutal. However, there are several reasons to to mutilate your sculpture. In this case I wanted to hollow the head and neck more and I wanted to work on the face "off sculpt".

By removing the head, I have easier access to the skull and the features ~ sometimes sculpting on the full form can be awkward and space limited, so by removing a piece from the overall sculpture, you can get to it easier.

I will sculpt more on the head and re-attach later. Ears and hair are sculpted later, since they would be squashed in handling anyway.

Figure Sculpting Demo - young dancer in ceramic clay #5

2011-06-28T09:03:00.000-06:00

No time to work on Monday and only an hour this morning...so not much change, but refined the form and the arms a bit. Later today I hope to have enough time to start her hands.

Then I may remover her head to make it easier to sculpt, be sure of my wall thickness and reattach - we'll see how far I can get....

Figure Sculpting Demo - young dancer in ceramic clay #4

2011-06-26T18:07:00.000-06:00

Last post today. Would have preferred to go further, but hubby just got home and the last of my Studio Tour visitors recently left so will call it a night!

Having people come to the studio and sculpting in front of people was a fun experience! Though I didn't get as much sculpting in, as I stopped often to talk with people and show them around, I feel like I've got a good start to this sculpt. I'll let her firm up overnight and get back to work tomorrow. Plan on trying to have her done by the end of the week so check back to see her progress....

Thanks for visiting everyone - I had a great time at the tour and plan on doing it again next year. I think I'll book a model and try to compete a figure pose over the two days next year....

Figure Sculpting Demo - young dancer in ceramic clay #3

2011-06-26T14:08:00.000-06:00

Here is the progress - her arms have been attached. The clay is still quite wet. I would be further along, but as it's a studio tour, I stop working to meet with visitors to explain my work and methods ; -).

There is still 3 more hours of the tour, so I will continue to work and post photos the rest of the day - come on out to visit until 5pm today~

Figure Sculpting Demo - young dancer in ceramic clay #2

2011-06-26T12:12:00.000-06:00

Here is the progress - I've continued to move the sticks around at the form takes shape. The clay continues to sag and slump and I am continually bringing it back up to it's original height.

Next I will begin forming the arms and putting into place.

Stop by today to see the progress in person - I'll be sculpting until 5pm today as part of the Fort Collins Studio Tour!

900 Marble Drive.

Figure Sculpting Demo - young dancer in ceramic clay

2011-06-26T10:37:00.000-06:00

For the Fort Collins Studio Tour I'm doing a sculpting demo. I'll be sculpting a young dancer with an attitude using ceramic Paper Clay. Here I've just started. The armature is a steel pipe attached to a board. I've put newspaper around the steel post and wrapped that with a slab of clay. The stick are temporary supports - the clay is wet and heavy and slumps while at this stage. It will be a couple of hours before it's stiff enough to support the weight and the sticks will come out. Will be updating the sculpt all day as I progress.

Come on out toe 900 Marble Drive in Fort Collins today from 10am to 5pm to see the progress!

Fort Collins Studio Tour Today!

2011-06-25T06:16:00.001-06:00

It's a beautiful day for the tour. Finishing up a few details before the 10 a.m. opening!

Ceramic Paperclay Fox Sculpture

2011-05-03T11:53:00.001-06:00

You may remember that I sculpted a small fox in oil-based clay. I'm still working on the wax pour of it for bronze. I decided that I wanted to make a larger version of this fox and sculpt it using a water-based clay for firing. Since Mile-Hi was out of the CT3 clay that I had planned on using, I opted to try this in water-based ceramic paperclay instead. I didn't do any measuring - I just dove into sculpting. While I did use crumpled paper for filling out the body, there was some distortion and I felt that there was too little clay in some areas and too much clay in others. So I cut this into pieces, hollowed out and reassemble before I completed the sculpting.

I was pleased to find that A) it was as much fun to sculpt the fox the second time around and B) I had no trouble enlarging the sculpture while keeping the same look and feel using a different medium. So, now it's drying in preparation for firing later.

Ceramic Sculpture turban wrapped woman

2011-04-21T13:51:00.001-06:00

Finished sculpting "Hint of a Smile" today. This is water-based clay called Chestnut that I purchased from Mile-Hi Ceramics. It's rather groggy but that can be interesting. This one dried a little faster than I would have liked, due to my deadlines for illustrating my book - so there are a few cracks in the turban. However, that too, may end up being a desirable thing - won't know for sure until it's fired.

I will consider using some epoxy to put in the suggestion of a pupil highlight after firing also.

With the eyes hollowed out, there is additional venting for the sculpt. I'm hoping that offsets how thick the turban ended up. I did cut her in half and hollow her out but added the turban later so that part is fairly thick.
This sculpt is just under life size. I'll post again with her after firing.

First wax pouring of miniature fox sculpture

2011-04-15T10:58:00.000-06:00

This is my first time pouring wax in preparation for the lost wax bronze process. I have an old crockpot that I'm using to heat the wax. This wax is something I bought an embarrassingly long time ago and can't remember what kind it is. Karen, at Sculpture Depot, assured me that pretty much any wax will work and different kinds can be intermixed. I thought I'd be really smart and put the block of wax in an old metal can inside the cooker to keep the cooker from getting wax all over it. Nice idea, but it dripped and got wax it it anyway ;-)
I'm using the pour mold (commonly called a dump mold) that I made of my miniature fox (you can see on earlier posts). After melting the wax, I took a small cup, dipped it into the melted wax and poured into the mold. Then swirled the mold around and emptied the wax back into the pot. A layer of wax remained inside. I did this several times to build up layers.
1) crockpot with melted wax in can
2) wax in the mold (I tried tape to secure the mold but it didn't stick very well - rubber bands worked better)
3) the wax mold of the fox - it has flaws and the base would need to be trimmed.
4) I was anxious to see the wax and demolded too soon - the wax was still quite warm and broke.You can see how the swirling of the wax creates a hollow casting.
5) I figured it would take several tries to learn the process enough to get good results. Luckily I can simply melt down the rejects to reuse the wax.
6) Back into the pot for remelting. I tried again that night - but the wax wasn't hot enough so it was a tad lumpy. The results were another imperfect casting so will try again later.

New terracotta clay bust in progress

2011-04-04T22:42:00.001-06:00

I have been swamped with designing the layout and illustrations for my newest book for Operation Outreach USA. Love illustrating for them, but wishing there were more hours in the day. Also got word that my other book, Nana's Silly Goats has been printed and is currently being shipped to the states. Nancy said it's gorgeous and I must say the color proofs we reviewed earlier looked great so I'm really looking forward to seeing them. I'll be posting some of the art on my website soon.

Currently I'm working on a new bust of an African American woman. This is sculpted in Chestnut. It's clay left over from my class with Andi Mascarenas and so was a bit stiff to work with as it's rather old. But I couldn't stand to waste the clay, so while it was quite hard, I soaked it well and let it marinate for a couple of days, then wedged it a bit to work the hard bits into the mushy bits.

This was actually started nearly 8 weeks ago and shelved when deadlines hit. When I got back to her, it had gone well past the leather hard stage, so was a challenge to get working again. I had a heck of a time cutting her in half to hollow out! Once I finally got her hollowed and put back together, I worked in her shoulders and started her scarf. These are some early photos and I should have newer ones up in the next day or two showing the progress.

Still not sure what I think of Chestnut. It's a rather stiff and very coarse clay. You can really see the grit and grog. Sometimes I like the earthiness of if it, but other times I find it distracting. I'll probably compare it with some other clays after firing. The plus-sized woman that I sculpted earlier using his clay fired nicely. It comes out a very, very dark brown color, which is interesting.

I've been accpeted into the 2011 Loveland Invitational Sculpture Show!

2011-03-04T09:24:00.000-07:00

It's been a niggling dream for nearly all the 20 years that it's been operating. I remember seeing the articles about it in Southwest Art magazine way back when as I was living and struggling as a young artist if Florida. I always hoped to participate in this show but didn't believe in myself enough.

Thanks to the encouragement of my family and friends, I've started to apply myself to my sculpture last year. It was a real challenge to get my application and images submitted and I truly was uploading it at the midnight deadline ;-)

I am very excited about the opportunity and intend to continue to work hard, learn more and create the best I can!

Mad dash to enter the Loveland Sculpture Invitational Show

2011-03-03T00:50:00.002-07:00

It's been a busy month! After finishing my latest children's book, Nana's Silly Goats, and signing a contract for another one with Operation Outreach USA, I worked long hours getting my submission ready for the 2011 Loveland Sculpture Invitational. I had to purchase some lights and backgrounds and practice my photography, as I couldn't afford to go with a professional photographer at this time.

Having no other place, I set up a temporary photo studio in the garage (thank goodness we insulated!) and learned to control my white balance and lighting better. It took two trips to Boulder (pretty drive, but still a 2+ hour round trip) to Mike's Camera to get the softbox and paper.

Next I scoured off the patinas that I did in class that I felt were too dark and heavy. Since I didn't like the existing patina, I figured it wouldn't ruin it to try and take it off and do another. So I spend days doing glazes on the ceramic until I found what I liked. This seated woman, "Sitting Pretty" is definitely better with the new patina as the older one was very heavy and nearly black, obliterating detail.

The sleeping woman came out rather well - the patina is soft and warm and compliments the sleeping figure well.

Ascension is still a work in progress, but is coming along.

Next is Sweetness, my plus-sized figure and last is Contemplate, a seated nude.

Hopefully I made the deadline - it was midnight tonight, but I did have some trouble using Zapplication and by the time Paypal processed it was 12:01.

Well - I did the best I could and I'm glad that I tried. Whether I made it into the show or not
learned a lot and it's all part of the journey.

Now for a well-earned glass of wine!

Miniature Fox Sculpture with New Patina

2011-02-24T18:25:00.002-07:00

I wasn't satisfied with the first casting and patina of my miniature fox sculpture, so try, try again. This one came out much more to my liking and I earned a good lesson: solid colors show texture and form much better than variegated colors. Especially in such small scale (about 3"). I have a base that I'm preparing so when it's dry we'll see how it looks on a solid wood base.

My next endeavor will be to cast this fox in wax and chase it. I have an appointment with Art Casting Foundry in Loveland, where I'll be having this little guy bronzed!

I'm quite excited about that - I sculpted him with mold-making and bronzing in mind as I want to learn both processes.

Since this patina came out much better, it gave me the urge to work on some of my other sculptures. There were two in particular that I didn't care for how the original patina came out. Since I wasn't happy with the over all look, I decided that I could risk ruining them further by removing the patina and trying a different. It was a good choice - and I will post new photos of them soon.

Lastly, I've been struggling with my photography. On a shoe-string budget, I've been trying to outfit my photo area and have been making loads of test photos. Thank goodness for digital! Back in the day you could photo for a show, send the film off and not find out till a week later that they were awful! But now - Bam! upload the photos and see how bad they are instantly! ;-) Actually, I made real progress this week in getting white balance and lighting to agree - so new photos will be up soon!

Cast sculpture miniature fox

2011-01-15T13:59:00.000-07:00

This is the final cast piece from the mold I made of my miniature fox. You can see the original oil-based clay sculpt on my December blog. The instructions and process of how I made the mold are in the previous post.

This was cast using Smooth-On's Smooth-Cast 300 liquid plastic.

This is an easy product that is mixes compounds A+B in equal amounts. The plastic cures in a matter of minutes to a very white plastic. It demolded from the silicone very easily.

The down side is that, well, it's PLASTIC. Not my favorite substance. But this is a learning process . I painted the plastic casting using acrylics to mimic dark stone and the results are fine. I should have done a little more clean-up to the lines where the mold joins together, but for a first try at casting, I thought it came out well.

I could also pour melted wax into this mold, clean up the wax and take it to bronze at some point. We'll see ;--)

Miniature Fox Sculpture mold making

2011-01-15T13:49:00.002-07:00

I took the miniature fox that I sculpted in December and made a mold (often called a pour or dump mold). I used Dragon Skin mold-making products by Smooth-ON.

1). Dragon Skin is a 2-part silicone mold - you mix equal parts of A + B. I also used Liquid Gloves - it forms a barrier to protect your hands from absorbing chemicals or paint - it feels nice, goes on like hand lotion.
2) I cut the bottoms off of two plastic cups to form a cylinder around the fox sculpture. I put a small bit of clay on the bottom of the fox sculpture to help it stay in place, then put the cups over it and sealed the bottom of the cups to the base to keep the silicone from leaking out.
3) I also put the whole thing on a small tray in case it leaked - but this time I sealed it well and nothing leaked out.
4) Mixing Parts A + B
5) Poured into the cylinder and curing (left it over night)
6) I took this to class and my instructor, Rik Sargent, helped me to cut the cured silicone on two sides on a diagonal to get the clay out.

"Ascension" Oil clay figure sculpture work in progress

2011-01-07T10:33:00.003-07:00

I'm very excited about my first oil-based clay figure sculpture. It's the first time I've used a wire armature. This is loosely based on a life pose from the Art Students League class that I took under Rik Sargen t recently. I'm still getting used to the Classic Clay - rather sticky feeling in comparison to water-based clay.

You'll notice that some of the hands, feet, hair and cloth are a darker color. Rik showed me that you can mix casting wax with the clay to make a much harder clay mix that can hold smaller detail better than the oil clay alone. So even though I had fully sculpted her hands and feet, I cut them off, re-sculpted them using the wax/clay mix and reattached them.

Because I wasn't really basing the sculpt on any particular pose from the model, it changed as I aggressively manipulated the figure for more drama - thereby exposing some of the armature wire in the process. In addition, the pipe supporting her is also in the way. I will be making a mold and casting this piece in wax. Once I have the wax, I'll be able to sculpt away the imperfections caused by the wires and post.

Finally, I may make a mold of the wax and take it to the foundry for casting my first bronze. When she's complete, the flowing cloth will be her only support - she'll appear suspended in mid-air, caught in the moment of ascension.

Rik has generously offered to help me through the steps working with moldmakers and the foundry. If you ever have the opportunity to take a class with Rik DO IT! He's a very giving and inspiring sculptor and teacher!

Miniature Fox Sculpture in Oil Based Clay

2010-12-20T08:37:00.001-07:00

I need to start learning the mold-making process, so I sculpted a small image of a fox in oil-based clay. I chose the animal and the pose to make for as easy of a mold as possible - notice that the entire composition is very pyramid in shape. I made a simple armature of a nail driven into a small wooden disc. Then I used oil-based clay to sculpt the fox in a more stylized manner.

It was fun to sculpt something different from figure and interesting to try and capture the essence of a fox without worry of trying to be anatomically correct. The oil-based clay is still kind of new to me and the sticky texture is still something that I'm getting used to. The upside is that you can stop and start as many time as you wish and it never dries out like water-based clay.

This measures 3.5" tall and is sculpted in Classic Clay purchased from Sculpture Depot. Next I'll be showing the process that I used to make a pour mold of this sculpt. I learned this technique in the sculpting class that I took with Rik Sargent at the Denver Art Students League.

Contempative Woman - a ceramic nude sculpture work in progress

2010-11-11T14:21:00.002-07:00

I started this sculpt when taking Philippe Faurat's figure study class at the Sculpture Depot two months ago. If you ever have the opportunity to take Philippe's class then DO IT! He's an amazing sculptor and a hoot and a half too ;-)

So this technique is new to me - the sculpture is almost entirely solid. According to Phillipe - she'll fire just fine if REALLY DRY first. (Fingers Crossed) As I live in semi-arid Colorado, dry isn't really a problem here. I'd say that I had about 10 hours of model time on this piece and put in another 4 to 5 hours sculpting at home and she's about 80% done. I’m juggling illustrating a children's book at the moment, so I've kind of shelved her for a while and just misted her with water a few times.

This is a low-grog ceramic clay and it is 16" high. I believe that it will fire to a white finish and plan on doing a marble/stone look for the patina if she survives the firing. I'm looking forward to taking a few more hours to refine and finish before the long, slow drying process.

On another note – I may have a kiln! I’ve been looking on Craigslist for a year now and if all goes well, I should have it by next weekend….then I’ll be able to fire my pieces and be more productive – very exciting!

Next up, I’ll be showing you my first oil-based clay figure. It’s one I’m working on from a class from the Denver Art Students League with Rik Sargent as the instructor. Another terrific teacher – you really need to look at Rik’s work – his monumental bronzes are amazing and he’s been such an informative teacher – I’ll do my next post on his class and my new piece….

Sleeping Nude

2010-10-01T13:04:00.002-06:00

Busy, busy, busy. Unfortunately no time to post lately. I had a wonderful time at Sculpture Depot in Loveland last month. They sponsored a workshop with Philippe Faraut (my second). The first was a portrait workshop years ago, so I was thrilled to get to do a workshop on the full figure with Phillipe. It was a good class - a nice, diverse group of people to share the journey. We spent two days doing studies that I enjoyed, then destroyed ;-) Then a day doing one larger piece. I'm still working on that one at home from memory.

I'm getting better at letting go, smashing up studies or sculpture that isn't working. Don't get me wrong - I was quite pleased with many of the small studies, but the process and experience was what I was after, not the physical product. So I only kept one of the smaller studies. We had about 4-5 hours with the model in this pose, then I did the rest at home. This is water based clay with low grog and the piece is about 9 inches long. This one I sculpted solid and didn't hollow. I'll allow to dry very, very slowing and try firing it my my ancient, questionable little kiln. If it doesn't make it, well, it was fun to sculpt anyway ;-0

Patinas and Pedestals

2010-09-03T12:00:00.003-06:00

Finally - getting a few sculptures finished...

I had fired a few of the ceramic sculptures - then then them sit around as I dreaded attempting the patinas. I did a few using special Forton mixes with a chemical reaction. Since I only did a few, it's a little unfair to make a judgment. My first impression, however, is that the Forton mix is a bit thick and obliterates the sculptural surface a bit for my tastes. The outcome was very difficult to predict and I wasn't in love with the overall look of some of them.

I painted the Scarlet Robe in oils, which was messing and time consuming but the overall effect was nice. For the "Claire" bust, I opted to try many glazes of acrylic. Some of the layers, I spritzed with alcohol to break up the surface and create pattern - that worked rather well. Some of the layers I lightly sponged for additional texture.

The effect is pleasing and rather stone-like. With practice, I'd think that this would work really well on a lot of sculptures. Still working on my photography skills and lighting. As I don't have a dedicated space or the proper lights, it's still something that I need improving upon. The base was made by Imported Onyx in Loveland.

The Scarlet Robe - Oil Paint Patina

2010-07-12T11:03:00.000-06:00

I wanted something muted for the sculpture of the woman and vibrant for the robe, so I opted to try glazing with oil paints. The mistake I made was using Liquin to speed up the drying of the cadmium red, which led to a shiny finish that I didn't really envision. My bad. The woman is muted and and more in line with what I was looking for - a subtle finish. Couldn't really say how many thin oil washes I used, probably about 8.

I did find, however, that I probably could have achieved a similar look using acrylics, as the porosity of the fired clay knocks down the sheen that acrylics can leave. I would probably opt to try another patina using many thin layers of acrylics to compare.

Forton Metal Patina

2010-07-12T10:56:00.001-06:00

Whew....been a long time since my last post. We've been renovating some buildings and our house so time has been detoured.

Due to snow, I was only able to make a couple of the patina classes with Andi at the Denver Art Students League. The photos won't be very good, as I don't have a place to set up for photos at the moment. Hopefully I'll be able to get some better ones, with bases, up soon.

This sculpture had a base coat of Forton and bronze/brass metals. Then I used a mixture of several different oxides and patinas from the class. After the metal had oxidized, I buffed with a bit of steel wool to bring back the metal. It came out a bit darker than I had anticipated. I do think I like it overall.

Reclining unfinished nude - ceramic clay

2010-04-21T14:56:00.009-06:00

This was another 5 hour sculpt done in water-based clay. Sadly - it's the last one for the class. It's about 19" long and 10" wide. In this piece I worked her head "off sculpt" - which means that I cut her head off to hold upright in my hands to sculpt for a bit and then re-attached her head.

"Unfinished" because I'm experimenting with not sculpting 'everything'. Not sure how successful I was in not completing the arm and leg....what do you think?

I was more interested in the negative spaces and openings. I plan on making the base clay that she's lying on very light so that the dark forms and open spaces show up on the nude more.

Took a lot of liberties with this one. I had about 4 hours with the model, but her proportions were very short and rather chunky. At first I started to sculpt her as she was, was then I thought, why? After all, this isn't a commission. So about 3 hours of the sculpting process was capturing the woman before me (she had her hips raised on pillows and her head lower - both arms were up - with hands under her head), I decided to change things - so I lowered her hips to level, turned her head the opposite direction and put one of her arms down. It was too late at this point to give her much more in the way of length. If I were to do it over, I'd take even more liberty and really stretch her out a lot - I think it would please me more.

Anyway - she's currently drying and awaiting firing. Sorry for the photos - I just snapped a few quick shots and they aren't very good ones... (Chestnut water clay cone 6).

In the mean time - I'm happy to say that all my other sculpts fired beautifully. The one sad news was that one fell during the long drive home from Denver and broke her leg. A lot. I'm currently trying to repair it using epoxy compound. We'll see how it does.

Next will be my patina class in May! I'm looking forward to working with the patinas to see the different effects. They will also cover the repairs to the one sculpt with the broken leg. I'll make a post of her repair soon too.

5 hour Clay Portrait Study

2010-04-08T09:57:00.003-06:00

Here we have a ceramic clay sculpture portrait study. I did this in one quick session of 2 1/2 hours then another 2 hours without the model at home. I didn't get good photos because I forgot to photo it at home and had to take a quick shot at the class while she was partially dry (which is why the clay is speckled).

As you can see, her strand of hair broke off in transport. She's also a bit flat in the back because I was worried that the clay had gotten too thick and I'm trying to be careful about the thickness of the clay for firing. So if she fires okay - I may be able to repair the strand of hair that broke off. Hope so anyway.....but it's all a learning experience!

Crash and Smash

2010-03-13T08:16:00.002-07:00

Sorry - no photos today. You'd think I'd remember the camera on my phone ;-)
This week I did a standing 3/4 nude on a large scale. It was hard to keep the clay from slumping on such a large scale (about 26-30"). I was determined that on this piece I would do a better job with the paper core to avoid having to cut and hollow the piece. My goal was to allow for a lot more freshness and looseness on this piece. I probably got about 1 1/2 hours done on Wednesday. On Friday, I found that the sculpt had compressed a bit, the movement to the pose and back were still quite nice, however. Throughout the next three hours I was furiously and managed to get her nearly complete, including her hands, face and hair. The piece had a roughness and grace to it and I really made progress in keeping that fresh, painterly feel.

Since we'll be going on Spring Break, I needed to take the sculpt home. Bad call...while I was successful in transporting the other sculptures, this one probably had about 30 pounds of wet, top-heavy clay. Even with good bolstering in the car, she broke and collapsed on the way home. I was unsuccessful in fixing this time. Wish I'd have photoed before I transported.

Oh well, I went into the class expecting everything to crash, explode or fail, just to make myself do the work for the sake of learning, and doing the work. Very freeing and I'm glad that I'm sticking to that goal...

Plus-sized nude model

2010-03-09T20:49:00.012-07:00

We had a plus-sized model this week. Again, I had just a little over 4 hours with the live model. I took the sculpt home and worked another 7-8 hours from memory - including time to cut her into pieces, hollow out and reassemble.

I was too excited to start sculpting and forgot Andi's paper cores...I started sculpting her solid and once I'd gotten a ways it was too late to turn back. So I went ahead and sculpted solid for a little while, then cut her into three pieces for hollowing out. I'll be sure to try and be more restrained on the next piece and really try to get the paper core down and this time, with thicker walls of clay to better support and have less problem with paper coming through to the surface... ;-)

The large model was a new challenge for me. I've never worked with heavy models before and the mass and weight and gravity were new and interesting. It was a different way to sculpt and see things since I usually work with more muscular or thinner more angular figures.

Another area for me to work on is my photography. Granted, these were done quickly to document the stages of work, but the photos aren't very good. Hopefully I'll get some better photos done when I fire and do the patina.

I also wish that I was able to keep the freshness. I'm at war with myself; one part of me wants to really work out the anatomy and the other part of me wants a looseness and spontaneous feel. While I like the mass and roundness of this piece, I think I missed the mark with going for a more artistic feel. I think that having to cut into pieces for hollowing and then repair the damage from the cutting encourages me to get too fussy over the finish and obliterates the stokes and marks of the clay - making it too 'rendered'. Well, there's always the next one...always the challenge...

Nude and Drapery Sculpture Study

2010-03-04T12:21:00.014-07:00

This week, at the sculpture class with Andi Mascarenas at the Denver Art Student's League, we did a nude study using some drapery. I had about 3 1/2 hours with the model and then continued the work at home for another 4 hours. The drapery was challenging, as every time the model took a break the drapery was different when she came back to model. I had the usual challenge of the paper core coming through and a few places where the wall of clay was very thin. When I got the sculpt home, I endeavored the remove the paper and had quite a bit of breakage that needed repair. I think it goes to show that I'm starting with the wall of clay too thin from the start, so will try to correct that problem on the next sculpt.

Another problem that I encountered was slumping. Because we're trying to work so fast, since we have limited class and model time, there isn't enough time for the clay to firm up much before we sculpt. I found that the weight of the top part of the sculpt was causing the bottom, her legs, to smash down. In order to correct that problem, I had to add more paper and then more clay to the base in order to bring the overall height back up. Unfortunately, I also over-corrected for that slumpage and you may notice that her lower torso is elongated. The proportion of the lower torso being too long isn't terribly unpleasing, at least to me, which is surprising since I tend to be a perfectionist.

But then, that is something that I've been working to overcome and one of the main reasons that I'm taking Andi's class. Good art isn't perfect. It's beautiful or evocative, or interesting, but not really perfect. So I'm trying to force myself to produce a lot more art and to learn something from each piece and to try to find the interest or emotion, or thought for each one, instead of the exact reproduction of what is already there.

Puppy Distractions

2010-02-25T08:42:00.004-07:00

Well, I did a new portrait study in class but due to bad driving weather, was unable to get back to Denver to finish it. So I tore it up, recycled the clay and jumped into a nude with some drapery. I'll be back in Denver on Friday to work from the model and will post some photos of the sculpt in progress at that time.

I was hoping to do some more sculpting on my own in my studio, but a new addition has been keeping me quite busy. We have a new puppy, Cody! He's 13 weeks old and is a bi-colored Sheltie.

We're currently in the potty-training, don't chew everything, please stop jumping at the cat phase, so it's been kind of hard to squeeze work in....;-)

However, I plan to start a male nude sculpt today, so will post my progress as it starts....now to take an inventory of my clay on hand to see what I can use!

On some sadder news, I just heard from Nancee at Good Neighbor Press that Childcraft publishing is now closed - how terribly sad for everyone affiliated with the publishing industry.

Portrait study hollowed out

2010-02-16T20:50:00.002-07:00

I mean to get some photos of the hollowing out process, but that will have to happen on the next one. Because of the class schedule, I rushed the drying of this piece quite a bit. One minute it was too wet to hollow and the next it was dangerously dry to hollow.

Because of the interior support, I ended up having to cut her into three pieces. When I was hollowing out the interior I gouged a few sections and had to do some repair work. Luckily that went okay. Not that she's been hollowed out and reassembled, she'll dry for another couple of weeks. Then the real test will come with the firing....I'll know if I was able to hollow and reassemble well enough even though it was a bit dry.

Back to class in Denver again tomorrow. I believe we'll be doing another head study before moving back into full figure work.

4.5 hour Clay Portrait Study

2010-02-12T17:05:00.009-07:00

In today's class we did a portrait study. I had the model for about 2 1/2 hours, then continued working for another 2 hours from memory. Not a very good memory, apparently, because when I was typing this I had a good view of that ear. Monster-sized and too high ;-)

So, tomorrow I believe I'll be ripping off that ear and cutting it down to size, literally. Oh well - that can be fixed. I'll still have to hollow her out, so I expect that I'll encounter a few disasters that will need fixing as that goes along anyway.

This clay is very firm and has a very high grog content. I believe it is Chestnut, a medium fire clay from Mile High Ceramics in Denver.

I hope to get an hour or two in over the next couple of days to tweak her and hollow her then. Then I'll take some better photos to post.

Continuation of figure study

2010-02-09T13:48:00.005-07:00

I spent another four hours refining the sculpture study - which may or may not be a good thing as I was working from memory and not the model. In that time, I found myself carving away quite a bit. Probably it would be much better for me to be working additively, instead of subtractively, but it's a learning process. By subtracting the clay, I found that I often went too thin and broke through to the crumpled paper. I would poke the paper down with a tool and add more clay, but knew that the thin walls could be a problem.

Well, that was an understatement. My next mistake was trying to remove the paper and hollow it out too early. Not having much experience with water-based clay, I was worried about it becoming too hard to repair when the time came to cut a hole and remove the paper. So in I went, through the bottom of the sculture. The first wad of paper wasn't a problem, but cutting up through her legs and torso, I found that the clay was easily punctured and holes formed where it was very thin at the junction of the legs and seat. Additionally, since the clay was far wetter on the inside where the paper was, the torso broke open around her belly and that ripped her arms off at the wrists. Ouch! Lastly, since the clay was not firm enough to support itself without the sticks and paper, I found some slumping and sagging. Most noticeably in her repaired support arm (It's a bit bowed now) and her folded leg (which collapsed a bit without the paper inside so is a tad flat).

Lastly, I'm a bit concerned about being overly fussy and loosing the freshness of the study. I think that comes with removing clay more than adding it, something that I will be trying to address in my next study.

Overall, not bad for a first attempt and I'm really enjoying the class and the medium. I totally loose track of time and become lost in the moment of the art. I stand for 4 hours at a time without real pause and never even notice that time has moved. In fact, I do feel a bit grouchy that I must stop at all ;-)

This isn't necessarily a good thing. Great art can be done quite quickly when it's inspired and when trained and experienced eyes and hands are working well together. Sometimes spending a lot of time on something is simply fusssing and noodling and doesn't improve the piece. But I figure that at this point, you gather that training and experience by practice - sometimes that piece will work well and improve, sometimes not - but it helps to improve your work over the long haul - and that is my ultimate goal.

Water based Clay Sculpture Figure Study

2010-02-07T17:42:00.007-07:00

My wonderful and astute husband, Scott, realizing that I've been feeling creatively stifled, gave me the sculpture class of my choice for Christmas. It was really hard to choose, but decided upon Andi Mascarenas's class offered by the Denver Art Students League. I figured that the longer class schedule would be a good discipline for me. The first class was Wednesday, with Andi teaching. On Fridays we have open studio time. We started the class with 10-20 minute gesture poses to warm up and then started a longer pose. This sculpture is about 4 hours of work. The sticks are wooden skewers that are helping to support the water-based clay while the sculpture dries a bit. When it's leather-hard, I'll remove the sticks and hollow her out a bit, repair the holes and let her dry slowly - but first I'll put some more work into her.

I no longer have access to the model or the pose, and the sculpture is intended as a study only, however I feel I can do some more work on her from my memory and will post newer (and hopefully better lit photos!) in the next week. This sculpture is 11" from base to top of head.

Monterey Landscape

2010-01-29T14:57:00.007-07:00

It's been a busy two weeks. I had a contract order for educational illustrations from Good Neighbor Press for Childcraft publishing. With 30 small black and white line art illustrations done, it's time to turn my attention back to painting. This is a landscape painting that I'm doing just for myself for our bedroom, measuring 24 x 30. I'm painting it from some photos that I took when we took a small vacation to Northern California last spring. The weather was cold and rainy but the landscapes, seascapes and flowers in bloom were delicious! If you've never been to this area, I really suggest you put it on your list of places to see. The variety of plants and terrain here is simply amazing. This painting is focusing on a path that we walked along the cliffs of Monterey Bay. Monterey is near Carmel, famous for Clint Eastwood's stint as mayor ;-)

There was a carpet of gorgeous pink and purple flowers, which might be purple ice plant (Delosperma cooperi) blanketing the entire area. I have some ice plant in my garden that I got from High Country Gardens - it does really well for gravelly and dry areas. The other plant that is in this landscape may be a torch aloe. The tree is a cypress.

This is a work in progress and I'll post more photos as the painting nears completion. I'm using Gamblin, Holbein and Windsor & Newton Oil paints. I must say, although I've always been a fan of Windsor & Newton products, the Holbeins are very nice and consistent and the Gamblin is simply wonderful - velvety, rich, buttery and saturated!

Living with a rotten cat....

2010-01-23T10:35:00.013-07:00

My first cat lived to be over 20 years old. He was a big old Maine Coon and he was given to me by my first roommate. Since she was Jewish, we decided to give him a Jewish name - Leviticus and called him Levi. When I married, my husband started to refer to him as my buddy and eventually his name morphed into Bud. Then we got a Sheltie - Maggie and the two became great friends. When Bud finally died, Maggie was lonely. So off to the shelter I went and came home with a side-of-the-road orphan from the Larimer County Humane Society. She is a scrappy faded calico that a K9 officer had found and brought in. Initially, the shelter had named her Ashley, which didn't suit her at all. So we re-named her Maya, which is much better suited to her aggressive nature. She's a nearly-fearless little brut that chases foxes through the neighborhood. She really hates the foxes. She's also a true pain the butt, as my husband frequently reminds me.

So, in honor of all pain-in-the-butt cats that wreck things in your daughter's room, your art studio or anywhere in the house - here is one of my favorite clips from Simon Tofield from YouTube channel Simon's Cat.

And here is Maggie - the best dog ever, who passed away a few months ago...

Landscape Oil Study 2

2010-01-21T08:13:00.003-07:00

Here is another quick study for a western landscape. This one is painted on a 3/4" primed 8" x 10" masonite panel. I did pick up two new tubes of oil paint yesterday so I'm looking forward to trying them out soon.

First, however, I'll need to get my contract work for Good Neighbor Press and Childcraft Education Corp. completed.

Looking for a bit of warming sunshine today, but so far it looks like snow. We've had snow on the ground since early November - most we've seen it for a number of years. The cat isn't too thrilled by this.

In the spirit of experimenting, I took an older painting for my children's book "Nigel" by Debra Duel and published by Operation Outreach USA, and repainted the star, Nigel.

Operation Outreach is a wonderful company. They get sponsors to publish excellent books with lesson plans and teaching aids, then provide them to schools to improve literacy. I must say, working with Judy Golden at OOUSA is terrific and the quality of the printed books is really outstanding.

In addition to "Nigel", I also illustrated "The Duck in the Hole", by Mary Vigliane Szydlowski for OOUSA.

Landscape Oil Study

2010-01-19T13:14:00.007-07:00

I have some educational illustration work to do for Good Neighbor Press, so I'll be a little short on time for the next couple of weeks. In addition, I've set up a new schedule for my studio, which I call Marketing Monday. Since I've found that I really work better with longer blocks of time for each area, I've decided to devote the bulk of my Monday's to the things I put off the most: Marketing, Bookkeeping and Filing.

Well, since this is Tuesday, I can afford a little time to work on my art. Today I've painted a study for a landscape that I'll be working on. This western landscape measures 8" x 16" and is painted on 300 lb. Arches watercolor paper. I primed both sides of the paper with several coats of gesso. I did the initial block in using oil paints, but I went back painted on it with Holbein Duo Oils, which are water-soluble oils.

I purchased a small set of these paints years ago and never really liked them much. But as I'm trying new things, I dragged them out and dusted them off. I'm going to use them on several smaller paintings to give them a fair trial. This painting is still wet, I'll let you know how long it takes for it to dry. Used the Duo linseed oil and Artisan Fast Dry Medium with the Holbein Duo Oils to aid in color mixing. These paints are stiffer and a bit more sticky to paint with than traditional oil paints and will take some getting used to. I see that they now have a newer version, called Duo Elite. As the tubes I have are quite small - I may try and pick up a color or two of this brand and maybe another brand to compare. I'll let you know how I like them.

North Park Colorado

2010-01-15T09:47:00.000-07:00

One of our favorite places to camp is in North Park, Colorado. It's between Fort Collins and Steamboat - near Walden (the moose viewing capitol of Colorado).

We camp near this split rail fence. In the area we can see beaver and hear the coyotes. Funny thing is, everyone brings their dogs camping, but it's amazing how quiet the dogs get once the sun sets. It's almost like they respect the wilderness and don't want to call attention to themselves from the wild once the night sets in and the coyotes start up.

It's not unusual to sleep soundly and wake to find moose tracks in your camp the next morning.

One beautiful morning in early summer we were treated to a cow moose with her calf that wandered just past this fence. The stopped to rest behind the scrub and then wandered on some more.

This painting is 8" x 10" x 1/2" and is painted on MDF Art Panel and is available here.

2010 - a New Year and trying some New Ideas

2010-01-04T20:47:00.001-07:00

I'm ushering in the new year by taking a sculpture workshop. To date I've only had two sculpture classes - a semester of figure at RSAD nearly 30 years ago (YIKES!) and a portrait sculpting class with Philippe Faraut a couple of years ago. Philippe's class is really good and I highly recommend him as a teacher.

Since sculpting simply feels so natural to me, it's high time I explored this artistic option more completely, to see what I can do and challenge myself.

It was hard to choose a class. Brookgreen Gardens has a wonderful series of workshops, however I thought it best to start in my own backyard. It's a bit of a trek for me, but I'll be going to Denver in February to start classes for 8 weeks at the Art Students League. I'll be studying ceramic figure sculpture with Andi Mascarenas and I'm really looking forward to it.