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WIP: More work on the poem sculpture today. Next I need to tack down the tiara and jewelry and let this bust dry so I can get it in bisque. #claysculpture

Work in process: Initial block-in of the hand portion of the poem sculpture. Maybe if the bust or hand don’t make it through firing, at least one part would? No time to redo these. #claysculpture #handsculpture

Today’s work. Clothes and wrinkles. Back to the clock ideas tomorrow.

I haven’t done gestures in 6 years. Seems crazy that it’s been that long since I moved. But Zoom allowed me to connect and participate with my Syracuse life drawing people! Swipe to see the reverse order of what we did. OpenFigureDrawing.com @openfiguredrawing is how you can find out more. Zoom life drawing was much better than I imagined it would be. I hope they take this into a weekly offering on Wednesday nights, 7-10pm. I would even be happy to share model names from here and invite NC artists to be a part of the drawing experience! $10 for 3 hours of drawing is quite the bargain! It was so good to see and chat with friends too! Jodi did a great job modeling. If anyone knows if she’d like to be tagged, let me know. I’m rusty with life drawing, but eager to get back into it. #lifedrawingsession #zoomdrawingsession #figuredrawing

The armature process I used worked just like I hoped. I can’t believe how well it worked! Things rarely go smoothly. I caught the right moisture level. I left enough of the armature loose enough that it could be removed from the top. Enough newspaper that was damp enough to keep the interior having resistance, but not take a ton of newspaper. The layers that covered the post and the crossed wires (which were twisty tied to keep the crossing) somehow made the dug out clay easy to remove from the paper. It still amazes me how much clay still needed hollowing even with all that newspaper. I’ll hopefully get a better interior photo after hollowing it all as evenly as possible to try to keep it from cracking as it dries. Reattaching the head worked so very well with the hair texture to hide the seam. Yay! Tonight it is sitting under plastic evening out in moisture. Tomorrow will be for some detail work on the skin smoothing. And more gear/cog exploration with the numbers and tiara. So that answers some of the armature questions. Enjoy swiping to see the order of process with the armature. #clayarmature #portraitsculpture #armatureprocess

More progress. Trying on the tiara idea. The poem I’m illustrating is supposed to have the clock numbers be off...It’s ok. It is supposed to make you uncomfortable. It is illustrating dementia.

WIP: More work on the poem sculpture today. Next I need to tack down the tiara and jewelry and let this bust dry so I can get it in bisque. #claysculpture

Work in process: Initial block-in of the hand portion of the poem sculpture. Maybe if the bust or hand don’t make it through firing, at least one part would? No time to redo these. #claysculpture #handsculpture

Using my own carved tools, my fingers, and either live or photo references I pinch, carve, and push the clay to form the basic shapes I'm looking for. I will come back and refine, if needed, with other tools. Then they must dry very slowly.

When the main form has dried to leather hard, I draw on the clay with a bulb applicator full of watered down clay.

This shows throwing off the hump, which is the method I use for sweet little bowls, or small items.

Sometimes I carve in addition to painting with slips and underglaze.

Are you interested in the process?

Follow the piece through its creation....