Putty in Your Hands

Just to demonstrate that I really am working on things, here's an update with one or more pics.  All stuff I'm taking my time on, it's getting easier.  I gave up sodas this month, and am finding a little more...what is it, drive?  Or is my ability to visualize a way forward loosening up?  I'm making progress now on things that used to leave me discouraged. 

And let me just say...I fuckin' love Woodsies!

The armature above is not set to an exact scale, being rather exaggerated in proportions, but close to 1/10th.  It is also not following any of the paper models I have built for copying shapes, but then again it's only one of several attempts I'm taking at sculpting the human form, all of them from a different angle. The models are mostly male fantasy exaggerations (hey, I didn't design them!)  , some anime-based, and a few that are more realistic - my personal leaning is to the more natural, so as I choose which ones to copy I'll be modifying the proportions.  This particular sculpt is based on an anime styled drawing. 

 I'm using 22 caliber floral wire from Michael's, binding Woodsies (see the thin wooden dowels?) to the armature with copper wire.  Aleene's Quick-Dry Tacky Glue to make them, er, tacky for the clay  Premo Sculpy) to stick to.  The  core of the trunk is bulked in with foil so the body is flexible for posing.  I needed to make the legs longer as she'll be wearing spike heel, but that's a good lesson - easily solvable when I get that far.  I'm using Sarah Simblet's book Anatomy for th Artist as a reference: indispensable book, must buy myself  a copy in hardback (it's running around thirty dollars used on Amazon last I looked).

I spent a few days drawing, and the works I chose are among the harder to deal with.  That was a mistake for trying to get into the zone and stay there.   It was too easy to retreat to other projects where translating tonal shifts from my vision to my hand wasn't the work needed.  So I'm going to choose one of the easier pieces I've prepared and go with those.  Those are less personal, but will be rewarding all the same. 

Must remember to find the manual for the scanner/printer...it picks up ink sketches well enough but not fine pencil shadings.  At the moment I cannot share what I finish. 

One of those drawing challenges has a tangle of fine details that have to be mapped out.  Lucky for me I have it as a large file on my computer, because the printed copy simply is';t as luminous as I need it to be and it had me on the wrong path.  One major detail must now be corrected...or just faked.    The other is a drawing based on a wallet-sized photo that was very dark when it was new, and it ain't so new now thirty years later. When I try to map out her hair visually it makes my eyes dizzy.  So...I'm blocking it in roughly, then at some point I'll have to set the photo aside and just see what the drawing itself demands in order to look integral.  That image has other obstacles, at least one of which is my own doing in trying to get back into it. 

Want to do some pen and ink but at the moment no imaged are coming to mind.

Oil paints, I have a dual image in mind but they need figuring out.  Monochromatic, primarily, one in red and one in blue.  Not my happiest stuff.

Bet ya don't know what this is:

 Yeah, didn't think so!  maybe you'll do better with this:

Waddya think, do ya know that one?  I'm using cardstock and Woodsies for the basic shapes, and will go over them  later with epoxy putty.  There's nothing else for the details I'll have to add, plus the versatility and strength it provides.  That would have been my medium of choice all these years, I'm good with the stuff.  Sadly, it's not good with me.  Found out long ago that I'm one of a rare few who are allergic to the chemicals in it.  I'm fine as long as I wear protective gloves, but they get in the way of shaping it, either too loose or too constrictive, and I can't  I can't feel the material through them.  Worse, I can't help absent-mindedly wiping at my face, scratching at itches, etc...and what this shit does to my skin, damn.  Eyes puff out and water, mouth dries to the point of cracking and bleeding.

Here, here's an easy one.

That one I know you recognized right away.

So it's two in the morning, listless night like last night, and today was a Reverse Midas: everything I touch turns to shit, nothing to do but ride it out.  Got a book to finish and return to the library, maybe I'll wait 'til I've slept before starting in on anything.  Weekend coming, my friend may want someone to vent to or commiserate with. 


Ooooh!  I wonder if I can buy Woodsies in bulk off Amazon?   I'm almost out of all sorts of supplies, musytmake a run to Michael's soon, and the wethaer is getting hot again.