12/22/15
Another officer portrait. This one and the one I blogged yesterday are memorials for these officer's who died in the line of duty. Judging by the age of the reference photos I had to workf from, I'm guessing they lived in the 60's or 70's.
This one is interesting because I made a fairly huge error on it and had to correct the problem. Click the image to learn more.
12/21/15
I've been so busy with commissioned work over the last couple months that I didn't have time to post any of the things I've been working on. Now that I'm finally caught up, I'll take some time and add the things I've been working on.
First is one of two police officer portraits I was commissioned to do. Click the image here to see a couple progress pictures of this one.
11/8/15
People blow through our lives, touching us in ways we only realize later in life. Here's to all the leaves that are blowing in the wind.
10/24/15
The Fort Hood statues are finally installed. Click the image here to see the finished product.
10/18/15
Funny how commissions work. I'll go for months with nothing, then suddenly, things will come rolling in. Over the last month I've gotten a few Prelim Drawing commissions and 5 sculpting jobs.
I'll be blogging the sculptures later, but for today, here are the Preliminary Drawings for proposed sculptures. click here to see possible future projects.
10/4/15
Life has been stressful lately. Only to be compounded by the loss of our baby yesterday. A traumatic ordeal for Karen as well as myself.
The first two images on the page that comes up when you click the image here relate to my feelings lately.
9/15/15
I've only taped myself sculpting twice. it's an amazing process to watch for me because I honestly don't know how a sculpture comes together. Everything just happens.
So when you click the link to Karen's sculpture here, be sure to check out the video that shows the first hour of work on it. (The camera ran out of memory space after the hour, otherwise you'd see more.)
8/23/15
Every once in a while a person needs to ask for help. Either the help of a higher power or the help of another. This set of sculptures represents the act of reaching out and asking for help. A male and female hand breaking from the constraints of the world and imploring...
These are available as separate desk sculptures for the man or woman in need, or as a set. Please inquire for casting options and purchase price.
Click the image above to see the individual pieces and a composition using both.
8/14/15
Lorraine's portrait is finished finally. For anyone thinking about getting a portrait done, pictures are fine, but if you want the sculpture to look as good as possible, there's nothing better than having a session where the subject sits with me while I sculpt. Lorraine came over the other day and I touched up the portrait to better reflect her likeness.
Click the image above to see the finished sculpture.
8/4/15
Let's see... Maybe I shouldn't be admitting so much on-line, but I'm on my 4th redo of Lorrain's eyes. Yes, I've re-sculpted them 4 times! The portrait is getting better. I'll take a look at it again tomorrow see if it's "good enough" to call finished. --Or if I'm ready to just say, "good enough".
No, I looked again tonight. It's not good enough. So... You'll see another picture soon. And I hope THAT one I can call finished.
7/26/15
Remember the sculpture of Lorraine I started over a month ago? Well, I've been laboring over it for WAY too many hours and it's still not her. (Click the image here to see the latest)
...So today I took a little time off to build with Theo and continue our lego contest with the "blue ship" set. To date we've made 32 separate models from that small set. Amazing!
Click here to see our progress. And while we're talking about this, Theo and my creations were featured in issue number 35 of Brickjournal magazine. Check it out and buy a copy!
7/5/15
The studio hasn't been too busy with commissioned work lately, but I have another portrait to show you. Missy challenged me to do a quick portrait of her the other day and today I can show you the results. Click the image here to be brought to her sculpture page.
6/20/15
Tonight I decided to do a quick sketch sculpture of my mother-in-law, Lorraine. She's a strong woman who raised 7 kids. I always think of her as the kind of person who could easily have run with the aristocrat crowd of a big city. She simply has alot of class. Here's to you, Lori. Thanks for being a wonderful Mother and grandmother.
I'll keep working on this so be sure to come back later to see the finished sculpture.
6/7/15
Sometimes I get inspired by a person's face. I was watching a vid of sculptor, Jordu Schell and thought he had an interesting head shape. So I did a quick study-sculpt of him. The results can be seen by clicking the image here.
6/1/15
Another maquette for a possible larger sculpture. ("Maquette" is a small sculpture done as a study for a larger work.) The figures of Dance of Love are only 6 inches tall here but I'd like to make the figures around 18 inches tall for the finished piece. This is just a rough piece. The larger version would include details like flowing hair, drapery, veins on the arms and expressions of contented love on the faces.
Note that when seen from a specific angle, the figures' arms form a heart shape.
5/26/15
One item I didn't mention last night was the Second Wanda maquette...
Soon after I submitted my first two maquettes, I received a letter saying that the committee liked my sitting idea but would like to see a new proposal based on some specific suggestions they listed. Thus, the second version you see here. Click the image for more info.
6/14 update: I didn't get the commission. It went to a better sculptor with more experience, Jane DeDecker. I'm happy that I was in the top 3 and also happy they chose a sculptor clearly better than me. Visit her website to see more of her extraordinary work.
5/25/15
Last night I mentioned the Wanda Sculpture but didn't really explain it well.
The city of New Ulm, Mn. wants a statue of their hometown hero, Wanda Gag (rhymes with "log"). She was an artist/illustrator and author in the early 20th century. They sent out a Request for Proposal (RFP) and I was one of 16 sculptors that submitted a proposal.
My proposal included two variations of the proposed sculpture and a rough portrait (done in about 3 hours so don't expect much). Click the image here to see the portrait and small maquettes. ("Maquette" is a small sculpture done as a study for a larger work.)
5/24/15
This week I've been posting on facebook some of the works done over the last few months. Started with the bell, then this little boy and finally, the portrait of Wanda. Scroll down on that page for more small sculpts of Wanda.
If you regularly come here, you'll be happy to know I haven't ignored my website and loyal followers. You can always see the latest here first. --And usually you'll get more information here than on my facebook pages. If I haven't blogged it, check the recent additions tab below.
4/26/15
Let's see, 2 months since I posted an update? Is nothing happening here? Actually, there's quite a bit. I've been working on a few projects but have to keep one confidential for a while and have been too busy posting teaching assignments to be taking even more time on the computer.
But today I need to show off a few new Lego creations from our Lego Contest page. Theo and I (and also Drew this time) had some fun building this weekend. Click the image for more info.
2/25/15
I finally had some time to condense 3+ hours of video into 50 seconds. People always ask about my process and how I sculpt. Click the video link on Melissa's page (click the image here, or this link to go directly to youtube) to see how it's done without having to sit through 3 tedious hours of torturous techno music.
1/25/15
It's difficult teaching at two different schools (this one and this one) and keeping both websites updated and running while also updating the church site and trying to redesign another school site. That's why my sculpture has been languishing lately. (Yeah, that's it, that's the ticket) It's frustrating because I'm not seeing progress on any front.
So sometimes a quick sculpt is the cure. Here's the latest, a one-hour rendition of Johnny Cash from memory.
1/19/15
After a long while of unfinished sculptures, I had better post something. This little lady won't survive past tonight as I recycle the clay for a better sculpt.
