More progress on my life size bust sculpture!

I can almost say that my piece is finished and ready to fire. Here are pictures of the hands and torso at first cut up and in the process of being hollowed out and then fully formed and re attached.
I used 6 bags of clay to make this piece and then peeled away most of it. If I hadn't hollowed it out, it would have weighed about 100 lbs. Also, there were hundreds of air pockets that would have expanded and blasted the piece to pieces!
It was an almost meditative process to take away the clay and to scrape the inside of the body. The torso started to remind me of a building made of stucco. I included a picture of the inside of the body just to give a feeling of what it was like.
In the pictures you can also see some of the other interpretations of the bust. I truly enjoyed working side by side with these other students and the atmosphere was fantastic, positive, and curious. Most everyone was older than me and had lived varied lives, from working as a butler to whispering to animals. For anyone interested in the figure this is an amazing experience.

Progress! first post on my sculpture

I finally went out and got a new digital camera--a Canon PowerShot G11! This isn't an ad for this company but I'm really happy with it. I understand the wheels and buttons and its not too big and it can take decent pictures in low light.
Also, now I can take better pictures of my artwork which right now is the flat drawings I've been scratching into clay. I also took pictures of the life size bust I'm making in my sculpture class. I will post pictures of the notes I've been taking each class as well.
I've learned so much during this class and so any questions you have about the process I'll try to answer.

Browsing through jewelry from etsy...

I'm still slacking on posting pics from my life sculpting class and all I can say in my defense is being blissed out by others' work. I'm enjoying my own art process but I find that I like to look outward sometimes too. Ideas are bubbling up for my Halloween costume too...I want to be a dragon woman this year.
Here is some truly wonderful jewelry made by etsy artisans....I hope they inspire you too.
The artists are: Anatomical heart pendant by billyblue22, Anatomical Series Art Print by jodypham, Bangle bracelets sterling twig set of 3 by stratussilver, Blue Flash Labradorite Gemstone necklace by TheJewelryChateau, and Foks Brooch by celapiu

Halloween beauties from etsy

I am planning to do a whole post on my awesometastic sculpture class but here are some of my favorite Halloween type items from etsy.
And the artists are:
Druzy sphere by GlimmeringGems
Full Moon Rising by ImagineStudio
Lacy heart red leather mask by TomBanwell
Square bone ring by ardent1

Victorian ladies by Musetype

Another wonderful etsy artist that I met in the chat room, Musetypes, makes these incredible drawn and etched necklaces.
I have never seen this technique used in this small format. I think that you will enjoy these pocket masterpieces.

1) How long have you been selling on etsy?

I’ve been selling on Etsy only since mid March, but my wife has had a shop there almost three years. She’s the one who encouraged me to set up shop.

2) Do you have advice for etsy newbies?

Being a relative ‘newbie’ myself, I really don’t have any sales advice, but I will say this. Create from your heart, do your passion and live your highest creative potential.

3) What are your fave etsy shops and why?

Of course, my wife’s jewlery shop www.mataharijewelry.etsy.com. Her passion comes through in all her creations and inspires me to keep going. So do her sales. Being college art school trained myself, I’m attracted to more traditional art shops such as: www.HelenGotlib.etsy.com, www.kmencher.etsy.com, & www.Rudolfkurz.etsy.com. These shops show some true artistic skill, creativity, and devotion to the craft.

4) What are your fave pieces in your shop and why?

That changes all the time. The custom portraits of a customer’s grandmother and great aunt I am very fond of. The fact that someone would trust and pay me to capture a relative, and that they really liked the results mean a lot to me. My Hand Drawn Clay Scrimshaw Nudes and Portraits really excite me because the capture a naiveté and expressionistic quality that I’ve been trying so hard to achieve in my work.

5) What plans do you have for your shop?

I am currently working on a series of twelve digital pen and ink drawings of Victorian women. A departure from the jewelry, getting back to what I love: drawing. I will be selling these as reproduction u-prints. Delivering a digital file that the customer can either print on their printer or take it to be printed.

6) How long have you been creating art?

I’ve been a non-selling artist all my life. I’ve never really put much energy into the selling thing. My art has always been a means of personal expression and a way to feel connected to life. Right now, it’s an adventure to see what is possible, as far as sales go and where working in a more commercial field takes my art.

7) Who are your art heroes?

Kandinsky, Jasper Johns, Edward Hopper, Egon Schiele, and Whistler

8) Where do your ideas come from?

It’s also here that my wife had an influence on me. She’s passionate about vintage things, particularly Victorian era. So, I spent a lot of time on-line looking at and collecting vintage posters, sheet music and photographs. I’m a process oriented type of person. So, a lot of the challenge and intrigue comes in figuring out ‘how’ to do something, like the Etchings on Clay, the Clay Scrimshaws, and the Brass Etchings.

9) What do you do when you have a creative block?

Look at other shops. Look at vintage material and go to the art museum.

10) What other interests do you have that feed into your art?
When I’m not drawing or making jewelry, I make a living designing and drawing 3D high tech tools and products on the computer. I also enjoy gardening, cooking and playing with my two pet ferrets, Luigi and Sophia.

See his fabulous shop here!

Anticipation of a fabulous class!

I am balancing working towards an art therapy degree and making art. I wanted to be in a psychology course this quarter but that fell through so I pushed to get in to a wonderful sculpture class. I have taken a class with this teacher before and now we will be creating figurative busts. Her own work is amazing and I highly suggest you check out her work, her name is Tip Toland. She does very realistic figures but they aren't the solemn faces they have a mischievous humor peeking out from behind their eyes. Here is a sampling of her people...I apologize for not knowing how to do hyperlinks.

the wonderful women of corcoise

I came across etsy artist corcoise in a storque article that was actually about another artist but since he came highly recommended I was curious. I was glad when corcoise agreed to answer my questions and send images of his work. I hope you enjoy these pieces as much as I did. Maybe it will inspire you to explore the truly talented artists selling on etsy.

1) How long have you been selling on etsy?
- I’ve been selling on etsy since 2007. Vero Navarro and I had an etsy shop where we sold our collab items, but it no longer exists. This new etsy shop I have was opened only about three months ago.

2) Do you have advice for etsy newbies?
- Somehow I consider myself a newbie aswell, I’ve been reading a lot of advices on the etsy webpage and blogs: be clear with all the information you give about the items on your shop, be active in the etsy community, choose your prices carefully, etc However, I believe that the most decisive aspect in a shop’s success is the quality of the items that it features.

3) What are your fave etsy shops and why?
- Being an illustrator myself, I tend to like illustration related shops more than others. Some of my favorites are: http://www.etsy.com/shop/poppopportraits (because it features the cutest characters on etsy)
http://www.etsy.com/shop/MATTY8080 (I followed Matty’s work long before I gladly found his etsy shop)
http://www.etsy.com/shop/veronavarro (this shop is about a couple of weeks old, but it already has awesome pieces there)
http://www.etsy.com/shop/fricdementol (besides being a great illustrator, Fric De Mentol is also a great crafter)
http://www.etsy.com/shop/celentanowoodworks (how could someone resist an apple shaped guitar, for instance?)

4) What are your fave pieces in your shop and why?
- My favorite one is the soccer girl, it makes me go back to some summer days of my childhood spent on abandoned soccer fields.


5) What plans do you have for your shop?
- For now I intend to keep on selling original works only. But maybe I’ll consider on selling prints too, I already received some feedback from people sad for not being able to afford buying an original piece.

6) How long have you been creating art?
- Well, I started drawing when I was about sixteen (I’ll be thirty-two in a couple of weeks) and never stopped ever since.

7) Who are your art heroes?
- Oh my, so many! And constantly changing. Let’s see… Rodin, Schiele, Mucha, Norman Rockwell. I guess I will never get tired of these ones.

8) Where do your ideas come from?
- Mostly from spending eternities surfing on the internet, watching and reading illustration blogs. I also feel a strong influence of cinema on my work. And at last, in my work I use a lot of ideas that come from memories I have of when I was a child.

9) What do you do when you have a creative block?
- I panic and get frustrated, lol. Now seriously, I like to do a lot of different stuff besides illustration so, when I want to draw something but nothing comes out, I grab my guitar and play some songs, I make some crafts (I like sewing and knitting), I go to the kitchen and cook some special recipes, etc.

10) What other interests do you have that feed into your art?
- As I already mentioned, I love cinema and I believe that my work has sometimes a kind of “cinematic” feeling to it because of that. I also love music, it also transposes somehow to my work a lot of times. Actually, I just made the artwork for a cd from a canadian band called Nadja, and I feel very happy with the final result.