Enlightenment Ready for Foundry

The sculpture is done for the most part and I am very excited and anxious to take her to the foundry.  I like to wait a few weeks to reexamine and possibly touch up the surfaces before making the commitment in bronze.

Aunt Regina's Apples

I recently returned from 12 days visiting relatives in Ohio.  While in Ohio, I stayed with my aunt Regina who was a gracious hostess, taking me around to visit people and places.  It was so much fun being with her, sharing memories and getting re-acquainted.  We had non stop adventures, and even managed to take time for a painting.  Below is a painting done on her kitchen table which now hangs in her dining room.  Hopefully when she sees the painting, she will remember me and the fun times we had.

Aunt Regina's Apples     9x12  Oil

We worked from life, but here's a photo of the still life.

Currently, I am diligently working on "Enlightenment" in my studio.  I have chosen to finish the sculpture with a relatively smooth finish which is very time consuming.  Sometimes it feels like it will never end.   A love/hate relationship at times.  The only part I really don't like is that I want to finish so that I can start another sculpture or painting.  I will share photos of the clay when it is finished and ready for the foundry to cast it in bronze.  Wishful thinking is that it will be in a week or two.  Be sure and check back.

Enlightenment

This sculpture has a long history and demonstrates how inspiration can come in bits and pieces.  It was started back in 1994 when I worked about 6 weeks (6 hours a week) on the undraped figure from a model.  Then it stayed in my garage, unfinished.  I even ran it over with my car one time, by accident of course. 

I  loved the pose but could not bring myself to finish it for some reason.  About two years ago I found my inspiration and  began a new head, changed the arms and began to drape the figure, (another 6 weeks.)  I took fabric and draped the figure, photographed it, removed the cloth fabric from the figure, then sculpted the fabric out of clay using the photos as reference.  Another sculptor asked me why I don't just leave the cloth fabric on and make a mold of it.  The answer is that I fabricate the fabric out of clay because it allows me to control the composition, where the eye goes, and I love creating drapery.  It is a lot of work, but very rewarding.  This summer I completely re-sculpted  the head,

refined the drapery and am in the process of finishing the surfaces.  She will be holding a waterlily which can be plumbed and water will flow from the flower.  This was inspired by a series of waterlily themed pastels I created these past few years.    Being a Pisces, I am drawn to water and  find the water lily serene and inspirational.  Inadvertently,  I feel my deeper inspiration has come from changes made in my heart and mind inspired no doubt from working with life coach Gaga Barnes.  Her teachings have made big changes in my life and I am very grateful to her.  The pastel below is called "Enlightenment."

 Here are a couple of other views of the sculpture.

My next move will be to lay the sculpture down and fill and finish all the under sides.  Then stand her up, and finish the rest.   Whew, lots to do, but I love it.

Dane Ready for Firing

This is the clay portrait of Dane that I started as a demonstration for a sculpture class and finished in my studio.  (See previous posts for step by step development.)  In order to fire it in the kiln I need to hollow out the head and make the walls of the sculpture about 1/2"-3/4" thick.  To do this I first mark on the sculpture where I will be cutting the head open.

Then I cut deep along the lines and carefully lift the top of his head off.  This usually makes a lot of students nervous.

After hollowing out the walls to the right thickness, I put a lot of needle holes in the inside to let the air escape if there are any air pockets and to help the clay dry out thoroughly.  Then, I score the edges, add slip and put the two pieces back together.  It is a little more involved than that, but that's the general idea. 
Here's the final sculpture, which will sit on the shelf drying for about a month.  After which, I will fire it in the kiln and then put a patina on it. 

San Mateo

This plein air painting is the start of a study of San Mateo State Park.  I love the vista of the creek and the shade of this big old eucalyptus tree. Above is the blockin and below is the painting after a few hours.  Shadows are cast on the photos from the tree.  I had to sit on the ground to get this perspective, which is kinda tough when trying to get up again.  All in all it was a great day.

BIRD BOY

This is my latest sculpture.  I created this clay about six months ago, fired it and recently glazed it.  The inspiration of this is the time spent with my grandson looking for birds in the garden.  I wanted to capture the feeling a child may experience looking at birds, seeing them fly and soar about.  This is a fountain, but I am going to use it as a bird bath in an area of my garden without electrical power.

Dane Paul Portrait in Clay- continued

After the demos in class, I brought the sculpture home and worked about 8 hours, two different days.  I focused on the features.  Blogging is a great way for me to see what I have done and to think about where I want to go with the sculpture because after working for hours on something, it is hard to see it.  After having a rest from it and looking at it in a photo and talking about it, it is easier to evaluate.  Here's where it is at this time.

DANE-week 5

The past few weeks I have been demonstrating different aspects of portrait anatomy in clay.  Most of the demonstrations have been about 15-20 minutes where I talk about the simple structure of the head, features and hair.  This is the sculpture as it left the classroom.  This clay is now in my studio, where I will work on it and finish it in the next few weeks.  Please check back to view the process.  I may slip in a few paintings as I go. 

SCULPTING DANE PAUL

These are photos from week two and three of sculpting the portrait of Dane.

Forest Painting with palette knife

This is a demonstration of palette knife painting.  The first step was a block-in with Dioxine purple capturing simple values.

Next, I started with the background and applied the paint with a combination of brush and knife , blending to make it soft edged. Notice the whites in the lights.  Normally I don't put whites in this early, but I wanted to do the background first because of all the trees and leaves in the foreground.  Also, it felt good.

 Then I painted  the darks of the tree trunks in the foreground and some golden colors to get the feel of the trees.

Added more darks of the foreground.  I wasn't happy with the background yellows so added more orange and I used my fingers to blend the back ground.  Notice the strokes in the road were smoothed out.  I could have gone either way with this, but chose to smooth out the brushstroke for variety.

This is  as far as I got in class.  I hope to finish it on Tuesday by detailing a few areas.  See you then.

Dane Paul Portrait in Clay

The sculpture class is really enjoying the model, Dane Paul. I am lecturing and demonstrating the portrait, while some of my advanced students are welcome to sculpt the full figure.

Here is day one of the portrait.  The focus is the skull as well as the neck and suggested shoulder area.

More photos to come.  Check back soon.

Chucks Garden, painting on location

Today was a beautiful and warm day today in Southern California so I took the opportunity to go out this morning and paint in a fellow artist's garden.  Chuck is not only a fine painter but a magnificent gardener.  Below is the painting I made of his garden.

Pear and Grape Painting

This is for my painting students to see the different steps in this painting.  Sorry the photos are not that good.  I didn't have my camera and  took them with my phone.   I used WOil paint, which is a water soluble oil paint.  First there is the BLOCK IN.  I started this by covering the canvas with Burnt Sienna, thinned down with water; lifting to the lights.  Keep the paint thin.

Then I painted the dark underpainting using Burnt Umber and Ultramarine Blue in the background. Starting to introduce Cad. Orange.  Notice the reflective light on the bowl is similar to the light in the background, still in the "Dark" family.   On the pedestal I greyed the blue with Burnt Umber and a little white.  The darks of the grapes are Ultramarine Blue and Cad. Yellow light. 

Continued with the grapes that are in light and the lights of the pears and bowl.  These are the simple steps, sorry the color isn't quite right in the photos.   Wish I had more time to paint, but that is it for now. 

Doheny Escape

Influenced by the recent occurrence of rain with the beautiful sky it brings, I finished painting "Doheny Escape" by adding a sky with clouds and afternoon lights on the trees.  This area of Doheny State Park is one of my favorite places to walk because it brings me peace and inspiration. My goal in this painting was to capture that feeling while making a magical journey.

"Doheny Escape"  Oil 18x24

Doheny- taking time to relax

The challenging part of this painting for me is that I have no real useful photo reference because the winter has taken its toll with storms and a lot of the vegetation is dead or dormant.  On the other hand, it leaves me open to express the feelings of peacefulness that this area represents to me as I take my walk at the end of the day. The egret makes it magical to me.  It seems impossible that such a beautiful and exotic bird could be living free, here in Orange County, CA., with all the hustle and bustle.

Doheny Underpainting

"Doheny, untitled"  Under painting  2/16/11

Finally, had a chance to get back to the studio to paint on "Doheny untitled."  I woke up and said to myself, "today is going to be a day of fun," and headed for the studio.  It was a great day.  I do walk at Doheny regularly for inspiration.  Winter has taken it's toll on the beach and things do look a little different, but still beautiful.  Thanks to Paula for her supportive comments, which reminded me to post my progress.

Painting Class-negative and positive shape, among other things

Yesterdays painting class was the study of negative and positive shapes using the subject of flower.  Students brought in a flower to study and arrange in a composition.  Some brought in a flower while others worked from photos. Above is the demonstration, starting with a block in using cadmium red progressing to local color.  I found this a great subject because of the interesting shapes the forms made. 
 

This is the finished painting.

"Dance of the Cyclamen"   Oil   9x12

I used painting gel in the background to give texture. This was a fun painting...feels happy, like dancing.

Start of new series

One of my New Year resolutions is to be in nature more.  After one of my recent walks through San Mateo State Park,  I decided to start a new series of paintings featuring the state parks.  I painted a study at Doheny about 3 months ago and loved it so much I decided to make it the first of my series.  The painting is BIG, 24 x 36.  Look at it in reference to the life size sculpture bust next to it.  This is the start of the "block in."  It is very exciting to work this big because I feel it will give me plenty of opportunity to experiment with the paint.  I plan on using a lot of  gel to the paint for body and quick drying.  I am now on my way to Doheny Beach with Rosie to enjoy the rest of this beautiful day.

Three more video paintings

"One Plus Two"    9x12  Oil

These three paintings are subjects I used in teaching videos for Martin F/Weber soon to be released.  I just finished framing them and getting ready to display at the CHA convention in LA January 29-February 1. 

"Waves at Sunset"    9x12   Oil

"Rosie"   9x12   Oil

Making the videos was a great experience and I hope to do more in the future....sculpture?

Apple demo

In Nov.2010 the Martin F. Weber Co/ filmed me teaching a series on "how to oil paint."  This apple was the first, a promotional video really.  Still haven't seen it or the other three.  I know they are in process and hopefully by the end of this month they will be out. 

Organizing Day

 After yesterdays day of sculpting and previous days of painting, my studio was a mess.  Decided to clean and organize. 

 Whew, ready to start again... Better put on my think cap.  Who is that crazy person that got on my blog?

finished La Boheme

I felt the sculpture needed to be lifted because it was very top heavy visually so I created the plinth (bottom portion made of same material that the subject sits on.)  Great, all is going well and ready to let dry....but alas.....long story short... everything started to fall apart.  This is because it was a quick demonstration rather than a planned sculpture.  Armatures are very important.

Rather than piece it all together, I decided to fire the head, which is also splitting apart, and re-bag the clay for future sculptures.  Here's the final sculpture.

Right now it sits in my studio, wrapped in a towel with the hopes of keeping it together.  Let's see what I can do with it when and if it fires.  Onward!