Small scale full figure gymanst in water based clay

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.

Ceramic Paperclay Fox Sculpture

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

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.

New terracotta clay bust in progress

 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.

Contempative Woman - a ceramic nude sculpture work in progress

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….

4.5 hour Clay Portrait Study

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.