Ahhh, classes are finally over

Well, Looks like the warmer weather may be upon us soon. This has been the weirdest weather ever this year! And it is still plaguing the nation. They will be in my prayers for quite a while.

My daughter graduated from college this month, and I was pleased as punch to see her take that walk to get her sheepskin! I don't know where she is headed from here, but I know she will excel no matter what it is. 

It is so nice to have a bit of time to myself now that classes are over for the summer. I did learn a ton in class, and that is always a good thing, but I really need a break for a while! Of course, next month I'll be missing it all again... I Did manage to make a mold that created the end result that I wanted, yeah! I was really proud of this little cat. It took 16 seemingly endless weeks to get here. I hope everyone enjoys their summer as well!

 

Work in progress, part 2

My version of the dreaded Torso!

With the metal dividers for the mold in place.

Encased in plaster

Oh, man, it cracked and broke!

Triage in the Icy depths of the garage. She doesn't look half bad after major surgery.

My daughter, the surgeon, I'm so proud!

So far on this project I've spent 2 days re-creating a torso to use for a mold we are creating in class. She is a replica of a 19th century sculpture, a famous one, although I can't seem to recall the artist. To be honest, I hate this torso. For the last 3 years it has continued to be a subject for class assignments, everything from drawing to sculpting, and now a mold. I guess I should be grateful that there aren't more models to buy for this class, because they are ridiculously expensive. At any rate, she isn't the most attractive form, rather misshapen if you ask me, but there she is again. Thought you might (or might not!) like to see progress on the mold. This thing is built from scratch of layers of plaster and burlap. It took hours to build in my cold garage, flinging plaster everywhere, flinging curses everywhere as well... The finished mold didn't come out all the way, and one of the underarms collapsed as I took the mold off the clay form, much to my disgust and dismay! However, with the kind assistance of my daughter, we did a late night triage' in the garage, and repaired the breaks as well as we could. She will suffice for the project at hand, and if the mold doesn't turn out, I will chock it up to another lesson learned the hardest way possible. I thrive on screwing up challenges!
I will keep you posted.

Yeah, like anyone actually reads this...

Had to make a figure to build a mold on. She's based on a sculpture done in the 19th century. My work is far from that genius, but she will serve my purposes.

New Year's Benediction

"May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art - write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. May your coming year be a wonderful thing in which you dream both dangerously and outrageously. I hope it'll make something that didn't exist before you made it, that you will be loved and you will be liked and you will have people to love and to like in return. And most importantly, because I think there should be more kindness and more wisdom in the world right now - I hope that you will, when you need to be, be wise and that you will always be kind. And I hope that somewhere in the next year you surprise yourself."~ Neil Gaiman

The Chimp is Finished

Well, the chimp came out really nicely, don't you think? Unfortunately, he has cracked in several places, making him really not the best candidate for a working cookie jar. So what do you do with a chimp sculpture? My daughter thinks he will make a great model for the hats she makes to sell, and I agree.

Have a Very Merry Christmas everyone and thanks as always for stopping by!

The Continuing Saga of the Happy Fella

Let it never be said that I could ever leave well enough alone. Here is the latest version of the Fat Cat (thanks Bill, it has stuck!) He was destined to be a welcome sign, but I don't know now. Where the beard came from is anyone's guess, but I suppose that suspends all similarity to Mr. Pickwick!

I would ask anyone who might have any ideas on how to proceed with this guy, please let me know! I dreamt that I put small round glasses on him, made the background a rainbow of colors, with the printed word VINTAGE on it, but thought that a bit cliche' in the real world. shrugs...

Hope the rest of you are enjoying better weather, keeping warm and enjoying the love of family nearby! 

My final projects for ceramics class

The Cookie Jar behind the mask!

Well, I have to tell you, I've never received a comment that one of my faces looked like a corporate "fat cat" before! I guess that will go down in the book as my weirdest so far. Anyway, I ended up changing the face anyway, not sure if it's still a businessman or not anymore... My other piece to that project, a chimp, was supposed to wear the fat cat as a mask and peek out from it, sort of a statement that behind every happy man lies an ape. But the mask didn't fit on the chimp, and ended up going from a bust to a cookie jar, per the requests of my children. They like him, and so he will not end up as so much yard art like so many of my other sculptures have. The reworked face is shortly destined to become a Welcome sign, the face surrounded by leaves and flowers. Somewhat of a suitable ending to that corporate entity, eh? They are both far from being completed, but it takes several weeks to finish a piece, and class ends in 3 weeks, so we have to start the final project now. Below are photos of the before and after for the mask, and my newly completed cookie house. While you don't have to comment if you don't want to~~~ I don't know how anyone feels about my work most of the time, but if you do comment I love those honest reviews!

The "Before"- Fat Cat

The After, destined to become a Welcome Sign

Happy Holidays to all!