Animal Sculptures (set 1)

Here are a few characters for my alphabet book project. They're now complete with color, and I've found a special spot in our home for each one.

Keeping the picture of my mom company...

Byron the Bullfrog
5" x 3" x 3"

Overlooking the office/studio from atop the cabinets...

Fae the Fox
7" x 5.5" x 4"

Hanging out on the CD shelves...

Jamal the Jaguar
8.5" x 4" x 5"

Gazing up at the Christmas tree ornaments...

Lauren the Loris
4.5" x 5" x 5.5"

Perched in one of the bathroom cubbies...

Quinn the Quail
3" x 4.5" x 5"

I made Quinn a copper wire plume because the original clay one broke off during the firing. Sometimes a mistake can turn out to be a good thing... I quite like his new blingy headdress!

Well, I hope you enjoyed meeting my little friends! This is only the first 5 out of 26, so there will be many more to come...

Pillows

I finished my first set of pillows today, which I plan to make available for sale on Etsy.

These designs were inspired by historic folk ornaments.

Guardian Lion
Folk ornament from Cambodia, 11th - 12th century
16" in diameter

detail of stiching

detail of fabric: beige dupioni silk, black cotton with gold pattern, black cotton on the back

Winged Sphinx
Folk ornament from Greece, ca. 600 B.C.
15" in diameter

detail of stitching

detail of fabric: light indigo cotton, mustard yellow weave, indigo cotton on the back

Minoan Octopus
Folk ornament from Crete and Greece, ca. 2000 B.C.
16" in diameter

detail of stitching

detail of fabric: pink flower sari silk, beige dupioni silk, grey/black weave on the back

If anyone knows more specific names for the fabrics I used, please let me know. I should probably pay more attention when I'm at the store! For example, I don't know what to call that mustard yellow one. There must be a name for that pretty weave...

I'll let you know once I set up an account on Etsy — it's something I've been meaning to do for a very long time. I'm making a promise to you and to myself that it will happen by early next week!

Sweet Lola

I just finished this portrait of Lola, one of two dogs owned by my friend Toni.

Lola
18" x36"

I'm especially happy about this one, since I was able to incorporate various painting techniques that I've learned over the years. In the close up above, you can see the use of impasto, drips, and patterns.

The pattern in the sand is similar to the one I usually use for the hair on my sculptures, which you can see in the fox's tail above.


This is the original photo I used as a reference for the painting. Toni totally captured Lola's personality with this great shot! =)

Recent Paintings

I've been devoting a lot of my time to painting recently, which is a nice change. Here are two portraits I just finished.

Calvin
Acrylic, 24" x 24"

Tracey
Acrylic, 16" x 20"

The Exhibition

The reception for the exhibition went well! It was a great experience, and I'd love to do more installations in the future. I think I'll try and do some more 3D environments on a smaller scale for now. (Anyone remember making shoebox dioramas in elementary school?)

Here are a few pictures of other student works in the show. My self portait is in there too!

Gems of the Sea
by Joseph Burke

Flight of the Rabbits

Yesterday was a very exciting day! I set up my "Flight of the Rabbits" installation at SD City College, where I'm taking a sculpture class.






The reception for the show is Thursday, Nov. 18th from 5:00pm to 6:30pm. The Gallery will also be open Tues–Thurs, Nov 16–18 from 11am to 4pm.

San Diego City College
1313 Park Blvd.
T309 B Gallery

Hope you can come by to see this and other sculpture student work!

Flying Rabbit!

I'm working on a project for my sculpture class which will include 3 of these flying rabbits. The wings are made out of Thomas Guide pages, bamboo skewers, wire, masking tape, and glue. The rabbit is made out of canvas material, buttons, and thread. Yay, flying bunnies!!

The rabbits will be displayed at the SD City College show room. (I can't remember the dates, but I'll update this post when I find out.) It's supposed to be a installation piece, which means I have to still think of a background. I'm thinking I might blow up images of Thomas Guide maps and paste them onto the walls. The theme is escape/travel/freedom.

a couple of cards for oma

This is a traditional German Christmas star (we keep it up year round.)

Kiwi Bird

I've been watching the BBC series "Life of Birds", and I realized that the kiwi is very strange and cute! (maquette and sculpture pictured above.)

Talia the Turtle

Meet Talia the Turtle!

(To view the study, sculpture, drawing, and vector graphic for this portrait, please view a previous post.)




Yay! I'm excited about this one. Ain't she cute? =)

This portrait took 3.5 weeks to finish instead of 2, which I'm not so happy about. But, I feel that I was successful in two of the three challenges from last time.

Challenge #1: Vary the composition - Instead of having one solitary figure on the right hand side of the canvas, I created 3 figures which spread across the top area. (I was still able to leave enough white space on the bottom left where the book's text will go.)

Challenge #2: More active posture - Three consecutive figures show the downstroke and gliding motion of the turtle. This simple and energy efficient movement propels the animal through the water, allowing it to swim for long periods of time without coming up for air.

Challenge #3: Push the expression - I don't think Talia is particularly expressive… since the sculptures were a lot smaller for this portrait, there wasn't as much detail in the face to refer to. With some imagination though, she seems to be quite inquisitive. She's checkin' you out!

Lesson - it may take more time for something new, but growth and quality are worth the effort
Discovery - I have had a very narrow understanding of sculpture. I would not only like to do more hanging figures, but I would also like to explore different materials.
Challenge - a night time scene

Hope you like Talia! As always, I would love any feedback. =) Now, on to the next animal… I think I'm going to do a kiwi bird. Since it's nocturnal, it will be good for a night time scene.

T is for Turtle

Here are some more images of my progress with the Turtle.

the study

the sculpture

the drawing

the vector graphic

I did some more work on the sculpture since the last post. The turtles are now suspended from a branch I found and cleaned up. It was fun to get my hands on a whittling knife again! The mobile is now hanging in our room, and it creates a really nice atmosphere, I have to say. =)

The collage will most likely be done sometime next week, so watch for a new post then! Bye for now...