Before we get down to business, I just have to share my new pride and joy -- that Korean Dwarf Lilac! Oh, its scent is heavenly! Both myself and hubby are lilac junkies, and we have two big lilac bushes in our backyard...and they're juuuust starting to bloom! Joan Berkwitz, being The Great and Powerful Oz of Green Growing Things, instructed me how to propagate lilac clippings at last year's Mayhem -- but I promptly forgot how after she left! Needless to say, I'll be hitting her up again for that info, and taking notes. I have all the "stuff," except that crucial element of how.OK...now onto the bas-reliefs...You can see them in the "Reflective" album and the "Jax" album in my Photobucket account, but here are teaser pix...
Reflective
JaxNow I forgot to mention their sizes in my post to my giftware list, so here they are: "Reflective" approximately is 5.5" x 5" and "Jax" approximately is 9.5" x 6.5"...they're both big! Lots of space for painters to rock our world!
Anyhoo, in those albums, you can compare the new versions to their original ceramic versions, which were cast from the oil clay originals designed for ceramic casting (though I must mention that the ceramic version of "Jax" depicts an uncleaned greenware casting). You can see that some rather significant changes have been made for the resin versions. Most notably:
"Reflective": Shown in the picture is an actual resin casting, ready to go. You can see that his right ear has been resculpted, along with his forelock braid and some tweaking has been done to his left ear, as well. Both ears have deeper sculpting, too, along with his nostril. His nasal profile has been tweaked just a sidge, too. Along the outer rim of the frame, he's titled "Reflective," with my signature. This guy will be released very soon, perhaps this week. If you'd like to stay abreast of his (and the Jax) release, please join my giftware list by sending an email to this address.
"Jax": Depicted in this picture is the master for the resin casing, not an actual resin casting. Barry of Laf'n Bear LLC, who'll be doing the castings, used a (cleaned) ceramic version to make a production mold for me, but alas -- he hasn't seen this new version with the peek-a-boo window on that front leg. So we'll see how his eyebrows move when he does.
I'm also cogitating getting these puppies cast in cold-cast bronze, or actually getting them cast in bronze. They'd both be good baby-steps into that medium. Well, to be specific -- I have an idea about turning "Jax" into one part of a kind of triptych with two other matched jumping pieces...an idea I'm rather excited about. It certainly would be a splendid candidate as a bronze set. Perhaps I'll do both cold-cast bronze and real bronze to hit different collectors
Artistically, I'm in love with the bas-relief approach to sculpture since I can employ narratives and graphic concepts to the work, things which aren't always applicable to full-body work. Bas-relief also presents design challenges not found in full-body work, which keeps my creativity and skill set fresh. And on the painting front, I'm actually rather excited to be cold-painting a few of these myself -- they're big enough to get in a lot of detail, but you don't have to match the other side! Yesssss.
I'm also preparing for Mayhem in about two weeks -- I'm so excited about this! It's such a highlight on my calendar! To that end, I hope to have a working plaster mold of my Feral Mare medallion, and if all goes well, the gals each will have a bisque of her waiting for them to glaze. However, I'm notorious for hosing-up multi-piece molds, so we'll see. The operative term is "if." But if anything, Joan and Lesli can help me when they're here to get a working mold.
More later as it unfolds....like more teaser pix of the Haflie mare, and her foal!
"An artist is alone with his/her art, but the art comes in huge multiplicity, and an almost promiscuous sense of what's next. The process is the fun; the product is only a possibility." ~Vicki Easingwood