New stuff

Codega: A person who lights the way for others.
Three part Bronze sculpture. Patina is brown immersion, ammonia, salt and cumin.
May, 2011

Made for a dear friend who lights my way....

Sun face.

Bronze, brown immersion patina with ammonia, salt and cumin highlights.

The fish stepping stones are concrete with glass eyes.

Made in mold making class. Rubber mold with poured concrete.

Stepping stones and new garden

The stepping stones in the photo, each and every one of them and many more, were hand made by me. I made molds of three different fish and made over 40 stepping stones thus far. I now have a rubber mold and plan to make many more. Each fish has glass eyes. You can't see them very well in the photo but they are very cool.

I dug out my grass and planted drought tolerant plants to live among the sculptures. It is fun to have my own mini scultpure garden.

New garden sculptures

The top sculpture is really an old and new sculpture. The top part [head and shawl] are from a sculpture I did a few years ago. The bottom part, the skirt, is new. The old skirt was made out of alabaster stone. However, alabaster is a very soft stone and degrades if it is outside. I wanted to move the sculpture into the garden so I made a new skirt out of concrete. The new skirt, much longer, made it a new sculpture! I like it in my new garden.

The tortuga has legs, a head and a tail! I made the turtle shell my first year in sculpture. The shell sat on alabaster stones shaped to look like a head, tail and legs. However, the sculpture had been outside and the stones were beginning to crack. I made new legs, head and tail out of bronze and my instructor welded them to the shell.

The gargoyle and totem animal were assignments in my mold making class.

Life sculpture in the garden

The top sculpture is of, yes, a naked guy. In the life sculpture class, we had live models who took off their clothes. He is done in 1/5 size which means the entire sculpture is about 11 by 8 inches.

The bottom sculpture is the torso of a young woman. I asked the instructor if it was okay to do only the torso instead of the entire body. It was just too much for the limited period of time we had in class.

There are sculptures of a hand and foot. Those are scultpures of the hand and foot of other students in the class.

The sculpture of the head is the concrete version of the clay version in another post. The hand near the head is a concrete casting of my own hand made from an alginate mold. I hope to make a knee also sometime this summer. Then, I hope to place the three sculptures amongst the little white flowers to look like she is taking a bubble bath. I'll post that if I get it finished.

There is an abstract with a shoulder and a hand. Our instructor asked us to combine two body parts.

All of the sculptures are made of concrete. I really enjoyed working with concrete and as you will see I just love being able to put these sculptures in the garden.

Life Sculpture

I am taking a life sculpture class with live models. We work in clay. Next, we will make a plaster mold. I am planning to make the sculpture in cement so I can put it in the back yard.
This was much more difficult than I expected because the instructor insisted the sculpture be life size and as realistic as possible. I like the result but could have worked on it more if there had not been a deadline. Even looking at the photos now I see things I could have improved. However, I was pleased because the model liked it and asked to photograph it for her portfolio. This is really fun and I am learning a lot: eyes are difficult, the mouth is difficult, the nose is difficult and don't even ask about the cheeks. Oh well.... next we do the torso of a male model. Moe fun.

Our Lady

Bronze and stained glass. I made this sculpture last semester but it did not fill correctly on the edge. This semester I made an extra piece to be welded into the missing edge and I made the candle holder. My instructor welded the missing edge and the candle holder. The sculpture has a black patina that I polished off in some areas.

This sculpture is a relief. A flat piece of wax [called a slab] is used and I carved into it. Sometimes, I place small pieces of wax on top of the slab where I need extra depth: for example the angel's head and wings. This piece involved two slabs.: the slab for the back and the slab which contains the image of "Our Lady." I then created a 1/4 inch channel between the two slabs where I would later insert the stained glass. The stained glass containns, red, orange and yellow pieces of glass. The bottom layer around the image contains opaque glass the top layer contains translucent glass [so the bottom layer would be visible.] I also made the candle holders out of the same glass.

If this piece had been ready, I would have entered it into the student show. Alas, it was not ready. If I still have it next year and it is not mounted here at home, it will go into the show unless I come up with something I like better.

I don't know where/to whom this piece belongs. I was inspired to make this without having a real home for it. I envision it being hung outside under a patio, eave or weather protected in some way. It needs to be in a dignifiied respectful location where it is by itself; I don't see it as garden art. It is quite heavy and will need to be carefully mounted directly into a stud if hung on a wall. I am considering options. She will wait until her perfect home is found.

Feng Shui Turtle

Feng Shui Turtle: Bronze 11 x 8 x 3 1/2

This is another piece that I first made last semester and it was ruined in the bad pour. The first version had no edge around part of the rim of the turtle shell. It could not be repaired in my opinion [my teacher urged otherwise.] It was cut up and the bronze was reused in this version. I like this version better.

My cousin, Savrina, is THE feng shui expert. She asked for a turtle with dots be made. The dots in each of the sections of the turtle were placed in the particular section purposefully and are significant as representing the Pa Kua: the 8 root trigrams of the I Ching. The image of a turtle with the dots is an important feng shui image. You will notice that in addition to the dots in each section, I added an symbol/image. Each of these images is of something positive or lucky in feng shui symbolism: yin/yan [side section near tail] represents balance, three legged toad [above the turtle's head] brings wealth, the double circle [on the top section] and the double diamond [on a side section near the tail] deflect bad energy, the bat [on the tail section] is a precious animal and represents good luck, the fish [on a middle side section] achieves good luck, there is the double happiness sign on a middle side section and the longevity sign on a side section near the head, the symbol to the left of the frog is also "auspicious" and attracts prosperity and luck .

Savrina has not seen this yet. I will post her comments unless she posts them herself.

A mother's lap

Alabaster mama. Bronze baby.
Oh no, not another mama/baby. Oh, yes, but this one is different. The trick here was creating a baby that would stay on her/his mama's lap. I was worried I would need to use velcro or double sided tape so the baby would not keep falling off. However, no need. The baby when placed carefully, is perfectly balanced and does not fall off his/her mama's lap. Success.

This sculpture is in honor of a certain mama
Whose babies are prone to plenty of drama
and certainly trauma
If they are not in her arms or her lap.
They are no longer dissolved
and all is resolved.
As long as she wraps them around her.

So mama beware
They require only your care
because nobody else can compare
To the one they want most.

So when you are accosted
and even exhausted
By two full throated wee ones
Keep in mind that for all of mankind
The arms and the lap of a mother
can turn whines into smiles like no other.
Especially that young sister and brother.

Dad's Turtle

Another turtle!!! This one is for my Dad by request. It is bronze with black and blue patina.
I made a turtle for my Dad last semester. [Fall 2007] However, the actual pour was horrible. We had a perfect storm of calamities that left the molds only partially filled. It is the first time where virtually all the molds had major defects. My Dad's turtle only filled on the sides and the entire middle was missing. There was no way to salvage the piece. So, I cut up that turtle and started over. This turtle is made from the recycled bronze from the first turtle. I actually like this turtle better. It is smaller and the shape is better. I also like the designs on the shell. Music symbols and a guitar are on the shell behind the head My Dad loves to sing and play his guitar in the church choir. Above the tail is a flaming heart with a cross inside. It is my version of the Sacred Heart. My Dad has a great love for the church. So, besides the New Mexico themed designs on the turtle shell, there are a few designs very personalized just for my Dad.

Santa Fe Basket Weavers wins an award

I entered the above in the student show. It won an Award of Merit by the college Arts Council: $100 and a certificate. Pretty cool. I only entered the one thing because of the disaster with last semester's pour [virtually all of the 20 some projects failed...it was a bad day for everyone.] So I entered this just to have something in the show and I did not expect to win anything. There were 280 entries and about 20 awards. So, this is amazing. To have a jury of arts profs, community members and professionals think my work was good enough to get an award two years in a row is powerful encouragement. I also listed this piece for sale. No bites yet but the show just opened two days ago.

War dance

Alabaster and bronze, brown and red patina.
Each of these guys was sculpted and cast individually. Each was then mounted on the alabaster stone. There was a danger that these guys would not cast well because some of the parts were really thin. For example on the first figure, the staff he is holding is very thin and it is amazing the tip cast. The feathers were also very thin. However, everything came out well.

Note this is a new post of this sculpture. The prior post has been deleted. I added red patina to reflect the details on the figures that did not show well previously. You can now see the detail on the clothing.

This sculpture was completed June 2007.

Lines and angles

Alabaster and bronze. 14 inches high.
The photo does not show the angle cuts in the stone very well. Too bad because that is what this sculpture is all about. The angles in the bronze are meant to pick up on the angles in the stone. The bronze also has tiny lines cut into the bronze. So there are lots of angles and lots of lines in this sculpture. The bronze patina matches perfectly with the brown in the white stone.

This is the second post of this sculpture. I have deleted the prior post because I changed the sculpture by reducing the spikes a few inches. I like the sculpture a lot more now. I think it is better balanced.

This sculpture was completed in June 2007.

Daniel's Dali

Bronze with marble base.
This is a sculpture done at my son's request. He just returned from Spain, the home of Salvador Dali. Daniel toured Dali's home town and the Dali museum. The painting "Persistence of Memory" has been called Dali's most famous painting and the tree with a melting clock is included in the painting. Dali also did sculptures of the melting clock and in England there is a sculpture of Dali with a melting clock. Ebay is selling Dali's original melting clock sculpture for $10,000. Reproductions can be found on the internet for about $2000.

Become a mentor

Alabaster stone base, Bronze figure. 8 inches high by six by eight.
This is the little girl image that I have shown in various stages in this blog. You have now seen this piece from start to finish. The image is from a photo in an ad in New Mexico Magazine that is requesting mentors for American Indian children in New Mexico. The ad says "Become a mentor." The organization is Futures for Children located in Albuquerque New Mexico.

Shawl of many colors

Bronze and alabaster stone. This sculpture did not photograph well. The photo depicts this sculpture as sort of short and squat...but she is really tall and thin. She sits at about 16 inches high. I call this sculpture the "Shawl of many colors" because I used black, white, green, blue and orange patina on the shawl. Some of the colors are visible in the photo. You can see black, green, and orange but you can't see the other colors too well in the photo. It is much prettier in real life.

I'm posting the photos of the sculptures as I finish them. I am in the process of cleaning up a few others before I start my summer projects. I am quickly running out of room at my house for the sculptures.

Moli 2

This is the second version of Moli I did for my friend Kathy. [See prior post] However, because Kathy likes the original Moli I did for her and has taken her home, this is now my Moli. She is sitting next to the Edison sculpture and keeping him company. This sculpture was derived from an actual photo of a Pomeranian. She is about two inches tall. Depending upon whether my son likes this sculpture or not, I may put her up for adoption.

Mother and Child in winter

10 inches tall, bronze upper body with white patina, alabaster lower body.
This is the first project I have completed for Spring 2007 semester. This stone was left over from the Tortuga Grande sculpture and I thought I should put it to use. The stone looked like it could be the skirt for a sculpture of a woman. I added a baby because my mother asked me to do another mother/child sculpture. The mother is shielding her child from the cold by keeping him wrapped in her shawl. I imagined her walking through the snow with her hair being blown by the wind. Hence, the sort of sad but determined look on her face.

Wendy and the Last Supper

This is a Wendy, a fellow student. Wendy is an electrician by trade. Wendy has been working on one major project for six semesters. You can see the Last Supper in brown wax on the table. It is magnificent. Wendy worked on the "art" for five semesters and this semester she made a mold out of rubber. The sculpture in the photo is from wax poured into the mold. The original sculpture was ruined when she made the rubber mold. However, now she will be able to make multiple copies if she so desires. Next semester, Wendy will gate the sculpture and we will pour it. I think we will all be holding our breath when it is poured. We have all admired the project these past few years and are looking forward, maybe not as much as she is but close, to the bronze final product.

Fellow students

These are some of the students in my sculpture classes. This was a pour day so we were discussing the plan for the day. Every single person in these photos has helped me with my sculptures and I have helped them with theirs. You can see a few wax sculptures on the table. Collaboration is key!

Roxanne, the artist

This is Roxanne, a fellow student. Roxanne is an artist by profession. She is depicted with a sculpture she did a few years back. In addition, to sculpture, Roxanne makes beautiful tiles and has worked on tile projects with students at many, many schools. She has done other public art projects and has had several commissions including one at Barona Casino we were able to observe. She is very knowledgeable and very kind. She helps many students, including me, with advice and encouragement on our sculpture projects. This semester, Roxanne very patiently started to show me how to weld. I made practice welds on a spare piece of steel and she was very encouraging. I have a long way to go but it was a fun start.