Progress on Panache

Panache was started at an AAEA workshop taught by Kathleen Friedenberg in the summer of 2011 (click on the link to see the blog postings showing his progress at that time). It has been a year and half since I did any work on the sculpture. (never mind the time stamp, my son got a hold of the camera) With a week off work for the holidays, I set up shop at the end of the kitchen table and dabbled a little more on him. There is still much to be done - like his face and ears (which were stuck on last minute for photos) and refining his pasterns, fetlocks and hooves, smoothing, details, and on and on. Still, I'm pretty happy with his progress over the last few days.  Feel free to leave constructive criticism for me in the comments. After busy season at work, I hope to revisit him. Maybe 2013 will be his year? By the way...

Happy New Year!

More Historical Portraits

Commission for Private Collection
Customized Lusitano Resin by Brigitte Eberl

After the NAN donations, I was still wildly inspired by the artwork of Johann Georg von Hamilton, that a few more pieces have come to fruition. The Appaloosa above and Perlino below were both customized Eberl resins completed in 2008.

Commission for Private Collection
Customized Mescalero II Resin by Brigitte Eberl

This AA Rearing Andy by Donna Chaney is still unfinished in my cabinet. He is more of a semi-portrait, sporting the historic plaiting of the mane during the period. I think I may finish him in an Appaloosa pattern based off of a painting.

Johann
Customized Libretto Resin
Collection of the Artist

This is a lightly customized Libretto resin by Sarah Rose, again with a traditional braided mane with tassels. He is still a part of my personal collection and is dubbed, Johann, in honor of the painter. 

Now this last painting is my inspiration for another leaping AA Andy, similar to Cerbero, who has yet to be started. How many years now has this project been on the back burner??? I guess going on four years now, judging that most of the other pieces here were done in 2008. Here's hoping it doesn't take another four!

In Progress Commissions

The last three commissions. I kind of feel like it's the end of an era. Granted, I haven't taken commissions openly in several years, yet somehow I always manage to have one or more models on the books for some incredibly patient people. This time two are for trades, one for a resin I missed out on during the original release, but really wanted, and the other for tack from a great tack artist. How could I not? I think my development as an artist has benefited greatly from taking commission work. Working with customers to bring their vision to life helped me see things from other perspectives. Doing portrait work fine tuned my ability to portray what I was seeing. And I've gotten to work with some really great people over the years. Going forward I will be creating for myself, if time allows and occasionally offering pieces for sale.

So here are in progress pictures of The Last Three.

Dapple Grey is such an elusive color for many artists, myself included. Each one is as unique as a snowflake. I have the privilege of working on two dapple grey Arabian resins at the same time. One is warmer and darker and the other cooler and lighter. It's been fun to work on them simultaneously and note the differences as I go along. This one is the traditional scale Nahar resin by Sarah Rose. Above he has had one "layer" of pastel work and then sealed with a matte fixative. Don't be fooled, I spent countless hours over many evenings with different shades of grey working on that single layer. This is more involved than my usual approach to laying down the first layer. I usually stick with one or two colors and do more of a blocking out method of the dapples, which is how I approached the Indian Silver below on his first layer, and what I demonstrated in my The Art of Pastel: Dapple Grey DVD.

Here is where the Nahar is now after additional layers of pastel to deepen the color and further define the dapples, followed by an acrylic layer to simulate hairs over the entire horse, followed by another pastel layer to pick out areas and deepen the dark areas. Somewhere along the line I fine tuned his face, lower legs and painted his mane and tail. A little more tweaking and this boy will be done. He has been the most time consuming of the three, so he is the furthest along. I try to work in groups to be more efficient. They will all get their final details, like eyes and hooves, at the same time.

The Indian Silver, by Deborah McDermott, is meant to be much lighter and cooler in color (more "blue", less brown). This photo shows the initial blocking in of dapples in just a few shades of grey. Taking your time at this stage will lend for a more realistic dapple grey "pattern" in the end. I also leave the face and lower legs for fine tuning after this stage.

And the Indian Silver after the acrylic stage, followed by more pastels. I also painted the mane and tail a slightly mellow color to stand out against the body and I'm really pleased with it. Still trying to figure out how I want to shade it though. I also want to work on the dapples a little and the color transitions. I think I'll do another layer or warm white acrylic to meld the transitions again. He needs a little more tweaking. I'll try to remember to take a picture of the two side by side to document the differences between them.

And here is sweet little Pixie, by Sarah Minkiewicz. I was given artists choice on color and I have always wanted to do a baby bay tobiano on this sculpture. My own Pixie I did in a silver grulla. This is one layer of color to block in the pattern. Same technique that I use in my The Art of Mixed Media: Chestnut Tobiano DVD.

Pixie has come a long way since then, with acrylic to add more panagre, especially to the flank, but also variation throughout the coat to bring out the fuzziness, as well as pastelling all the white areas to create the warmth of flesh under the hair. I talk about that technique in my The Art of Mixed Media: Leopard Appaloosa DVD (another shameless plug :D). Next step will be to highlight all the white areas and work on the edges of the pattern.

I am so pleased with how these three are turning out. I will post finished pictures of them in a few weeks, after my second CPA is past and I have a short break. In the meanwhile, I will be posting some past-due show reports next weekend. See you then!

AAEA Workshop Day 5 - Faces

I really had the best time all week, the time just flew by. What a privilege it has been to learn from Kathy Friedenberg (below). I have long been an admirer of her work and have always hoped to be able to attend one of her workshops. Her pieces are not only accurate, but so dynamic and alive! Click on her name above to visit her website. Her work is so inspiring!



And not only is she a great artist, but a great teacher as well. She understands the anatomy and how it changes with the movement of the horse and is able to explain it so clearly. I only wish I was able to absorb it all more quickly.



I did make significant progress on my piece throughout the week. I can see how years of customizing models has given me some exposure to the equine form. And I appreciate my human anatomy class, if for nothing else to help me remember the names of muscles!



We focused on heads for our final day and mine is still very, very rough. I find the clay I'm using, Classic Clay, to be a bit sticky compared to the Apoxie I use to customize models. The texture of my entire piece is very rough and I found it difficult to work in detail, which is fine while blocking in the structure. Kathy taught us not to sculpt with our fingers, but to use our tools for a more professional finish. Of course, bronze sculptures have a very different surface desired than do resin sculptures.

I'm not completely sure how to proceed after this point. Of course, I need to finish the head and refine the legs. My proportions are pretty good and I'm happy with the head and leg placement finally. I think I might try putting the whole thing in the freezer for a bit to stiffen up the clay before trying to work on the detail and smoothing out. I've heard Goo Gone can be used for smoothing, so I might give that a try. I'm still a far way off from finishing this piece, but I do have every intention of finishing him. He is in the suspended stage of the extended trot, so will require acrylic pegs to stand. And I really have no idea how I'll go about getting a hard copy made once I reach that stage! Oh well, that's a long way off yet. We will be moving next week and then I will be back into real life school, family and work.

I hope you have enjoyed the journey with me. If you ever have the chance of attending a workshop with the American Academy of Equine Art, I highly recommend it. This is the second workshop I've attended and I find them to be an amazing experience for the aspiring equine artist.

AAEA Workshop Day 4 - Foundry Tour

One of the best parts of attending a workshop near the artist's home is the ability to visit her favorite foundry. We had the immense privilege of a personal tour of Laran Bronze with Larry Welker, one of the owners. They are established in a wonderful, old building in Chester, PA. All of the employees are artists and wonderful people. After going through the myriad of steps it takes to produce a bronze, you will understand why they are so expensive. And every step along the way requires skilled labor. I will try to recap what I learned, but forgive me if I leave something out.



After the clay sculpture arrives, it is gradually covered with multiple layers in a kind of rubber substance. This will capture all of the detail in the original clay sculpture. Above you can see how it is brushed on. On the sculpture below it was airbrushed on and drips off, repeated multiple times.




The rubber mold is than covered in a plaster-like casing, which is then cut apart into multiple pieces. The pieces are bolted together to receive the wax. The wax is poured in and swished around on the inside and then the excess is spilled back out on the floor to be reused after it is cooled. The purpose is to create a hollow wax version of the sculpture. A solid-cast piece in bronze would be too heavy and expensive, so the wax mimics the end result they want to achieve in bronze.



I believe this is Allen showing us how the vents and sprues are created in the wax casting. There are pieces cut out that will be cast separately that allow him to vent to the inside, leaving less clean-up work. If the original clay was cut into pieces for ease of mold-making, it is often reassembled at this stage. Any pieces not reassembled at this stage, will need to be reassembled in metal.



Once the wax sculpture is prepared, a specially formulated casing is created around the wax. First it is dipped in liquid, then in sand. Because of the hollow nature of the piece, the sand is blown and the sculpture dipped into it. This allows for an even coating. It takes four hours to cure, then the process is repeated as many as a dozen times or more.



This is an example of the finished mold with the addition of some chicken wire in later coatings to add strength. The wax sculpture is inside this shell. I have no idea what it is.

The next step is to heat the wax to something like 1400 degrees in less than a minute. Larry explained that you have to cause the wax to melt before it can expand or else it will crack the casing and it will not be able to hold the molten metal.



Once the wax is melted away, which they recycle by the way, the outside casing is ready to have the molten metal pored in. Above Larry is showing us a brick of bronze, which has a special blend to allow for long-term outside exposure. They also do aluminum castings.



The final step is to add the patina, which is brushed on, then blow-torched to set. The patina reacts chemically with the metal.



I am just blown away by the skill that the people of Laran Bronze have to recreate sculptures. And if that weren't enough, they also offer 3D scanning and enlarging/shrinking. Above Chris is digitally capturing the sculpture.



After they have the image scanned, they can recreate it larger or smaller in foam with this machine that cuts it precisely. Some artists will then sculpt a thin layer of clay over it, but it is possible to use a high density foam that can then be painted as the finished product. Amazing.



But that wasn't all we did today, Kathy brought in a real skull and a cross-section of a real forelimb. You don't get to see things like that everyday!



There wasn't much time for sculpting today, but this is where I was this morning before our trek out. I have been playing with the headset and the stride, going back and forth. After this evening I am pretty content with the leg placement, if I can just keep them from moving! Hard to believe tomorrow is the last day...

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...

In Progress Customs

These are several of the pieces I have been working on lately. I've been posting daily updates of sorts on Facebook of what I've been doing in the studio during my interim time between working and the move. Normally, I would wait until these were completely done and prepped to share, but they are as far as they're going to get before the move. And they will likely wait months after we move until they get any more attention. The one above is a mini Working Girl by Sarah Rose into a hunter-type. She still needs braids.

This is a Carol Williams' Valor resin with a Brigitte Eberl Replay head. Love this guy! The Valor head went on a headless Victrix body, but it's still too scary to share.

Another Working Girl in a western pleasure headset. This one is a trade commission with Holly McFarland. I am so excited to finally get some of Kevin's work!

Another Sarah Rose sculpture, Lonestar, with a new neck and mane/tail. I've been wanting to make a portrait of the horse I had in high school, Bookaboo. Of course, he was not a show horse, so I'm on the fence whether or not to paint this one like Boo or not. The body type is the closest I've seen, so I might go ahead anyway. Boo was a pale grey and I have a Darla Curtis WP doll in lavender I've never even used...

Brigitte Eberl's Lina pony with a new look.

Another Eberl pony, Austri. He will be a child's mount and still needs his braids. Jennifer Buxton has made him a bridle to go with a Parklane saddle. It will be so cute!

Rose's Miss America into a country pleasure type. You might recognize her from the Customizing DVD. I decided to give her a lower tail set and add a forelock.

Eberl's Large Trakehner with a new "do". Gave him a nice cresty neck with braids. I plan to paint him as a leopard Knabstrupper.

And of course, there are a few more that aren't this far along. Most of which will (knock on wood) be featured in the second customizing DVD. It covers all new topics, like head transplants and creating necks from the wire up. It still has a long way to go before it will be ready. My focus now is on finishing up the commissions, hopefully before we move in 2 weeks!