AAEA Workshop Day 3 - Fore!

Day 3 of the workshop (see Day 1 and Day 2 in the previous posts) focused on the front end of the horse. Above Kathy is demonstrating how the elbow pops out when the leg is flexed. The horse modeling for us today is a 19 year old part-Mustang. It is fascinating how horses are put together. She pointed out that the lack of muscle below the knee and hocks allows for greater efficiency and contributes to the athleticism of the equine (as opposed to the elephant, who does not have the equivalent of elongated phalanges that the horse does).



She also brought in some bones for us to study. Above is the hock joint. I am fascinated by the angle of the joint, which allows for the movement of the stifle around the barrel. This is why the hind leg is not on a vertical line from the hip to hoof when viewed from the back. Very cool to see the actual physiology in the joint itself.



We also got to watch the farrier work a bit. You could really see the stifle pop out from the barrel when he drew the leg up - just look at the rotation of the hock and the stifle popping out in this extreme position:



I only managed to get pictures mid-day, but I brought the piece home to work on after the kids go to bed. He did manage to get his forelegs on before I brought him home. I am still trying to get the headset and stride right according to my reference photo, which is not the photo seen in the bottom picture.



He is still very rough. I am resisting the urge to try to smooth and add detail until I have all the structures correct.

AAEA Workshop Day 2 - Hinders

Day 2 focused on the hind end. (see Day 1 here). Kathy is demonstrating the range of flexion on the real thing. These horses at Thorncroft are so patient with us flashing our cameras every which way. This kind fellow allowed me to take pictures from below, behind and above without blinking!

Here I am mid-way through the day. I added a temporary base to stick my wires in so that I could work on the legs. Biggest lesson today: I need to learn some serious anatomy! Kathy is a wonderful teacher and really knows her stuff. With a deft flick of her tool, my lumps and bumps now look like a believable hindquarter! I really like her approach to block things in by muscle groups, I just need to understand them better.

By the end of the day (okay, about 2 hours later as I got a little distracted after lunch taking pictures in the barn), I've at least blocked in the lower limbs. Not sure what to do with the hooves since the ends of the wires are stuck in clay for stability... But I am glad to say I am happier with my egg from yesterday!

AAEA Workshop Day 1 - Egg with Sausages

This week I have the privilege of attending an American Academy of Equine Art workshop with artist, Kathleen Friedenberg. It is being held at Thorncroft Equestrian Center, in Malvern, PA, where they offer therepuetic riding. All of the horses and ponies, like the one above, have been donated to the program. I am thrilled to take this workshop with Kathy!

I will try to document my experience here, so come back every day this week to see the progression of my sculpture.

Before the workshop, we were given instructions and asked to prepare the armature. I used Apoxie sculpt to firmly attach mine to the T-joint. It is wise to err on the side of too much wire, then too little wire.

Kathy gave an informative lecture, complete with slides, over-viewing proportions, bony landmarks, movement in the joints and all kinds of juicy tidbits. She then instructed us to make an egg shape for the ribcage using our sausages (rolled bits of clay). This is what mine looked like half-way through the day. My egg shape kept filling out the more I worked on it.

Here we are at the end of day 1. He is starting to look more horse-like, but there is a long way to go. I still haven't even perfected my egg yet...