Denali - She's finished!

Here is the finished painting for your viewing pleasure:

"Denali"

36"x24"

Denali - Eagle painting, in progress

I have been volunteering at the Cascades Raptor Center since June of 2010. My time there has been so incredible. I had several reasons for choosing the raptor center as where I wanted to spend my time, one was that I needed volunteer experience on my resume, two was that I have been crazy for birds since I was in grade school and three was that I was hoping to find my muse. And you know, I found just that. I have been able to take pictures of some of the residents in the hopes of creating artwork from them. Whether they end up painted, sculpted or quilted, I have yet to find out. This is a sneak-peak at a painting that is very near completion, perhaps only days away.

This is a closeup only as the piece extends further out to the right. The canvas is 36"x24". I am anxious for this piece to be completed as it will be the third piece I will have created from my images of the raptor center. You can read more about this eagle here: Denali.

The fate of this piece has not yet been decided. My wheels are turning however and I will share the finished image as well as her fate soon.

Pursuing my dream - Oregon College of Art and Craft

About a month ago I submitted my application and portfolio to the Oregon College of Art and Craft (OCAC) and have been waiting on pins and needles since. This past Friday the admissions office called me up to tell me that my application had been accepted and that they would like to offer me a $6,000 annually renewable scholarship. What?? I was in shock. I missed most of the rest of the conversation at that point. When I got off the phone with admissions I shouted in excitement, then I cried. My son asked me if I was sad, I told him that I was happy. He looked a bit confused. Then again, he's 3 1/2 and tears usually mean sad to him. I was in shock, for three days. I scooped up my son, Vincent, right away and drove to meet his daddy at work. I had to tell him in person, and I had to tell him first. He was so happy for me. I think he was in a bit of shock too.

I'm sure that many others have received scholarships much larger than I have, but this is my first. I've never received anything of this magnitude for my work, for myself. I feel as though I have fought the world for many years for what I wanted. And now, the world was opening up her bosom to me and welcoming me. This is such an alien feeling. I have always been an artist. I can't remember a time when I haven't had art in my life in one form or another. Three years when I returned to school I told my father the news and he asked if I would be pursuing business. Business? Really?? "No dad, I'm an artist." Artists do need to know quite a bit about business, don't get me wrong, but art has not been seen as a viable career in my family. I am sure that most artists out there have experienced this in one form or another. Even my ceramics instructor, who has been teaching for more than a decade and has had his work shown in Europe still hesitates to tell people that he is a sculptor to avoid the looks that people give. Well, looks or not, I am an artist and I will die pursuing that dream. And on my journey I will be stopping off at OCAC for a couple of years. *grin*

Keep your passion burning, don't let anyone hold you down.

I know, I know, the burrowing owls are huge! Didn't you know? I just LOVE burrowing owls.

The Princess of the Galapagos - Figure Sculpture

I have been taking my sweet time in finishing this piece. I am casually calling her the "Iguana". The torso for this piece was made in class last term, but that wasn't enough, I had to get in there and do crazy things to her! The question of "what head should I use" seemed a simple one to answer, but as I rifled through my numerous animal books, it was anything but. I began sculpting a deer but didn't feel it, and then shifted to a rabbit, but that idea did not get very far either. Out of the corner of my eye a strange and intriguing face stared up at me. I have a book on the animals of the Galapagos Islands and on the cover sits a pair of marine iguanas. The scales, the spikes, even the curve of their lizard lips seemed to call out to me. Marine iguana then, done.

This piece is in-progress but I thought you might enjoy being kept up-to-date on her progress. I know I do! *grin*

Stay-tuned for more nuggets of goodness!

Pretty Bird - Update

Pretty Bird went into the heat a couple of weeks ago and I nearly turned blue from holding my breath. I handed her over to my ceramics teacher on a Friday morning and watched with a mother's eye over his shoulder as he loaded her into her own tiny kiln, closed the lid, and punched in her sentence. All I could do was wait. Monday morning I hurried over to the ceramics lab and made my way to the kiln room at the back. The little kiln stood with it's lid up. I walked up to it stretching my neck out like a stork bracing myself for a pile of birdy pieces. But much to my surprise Pretty Bird had survived! I reached into the kiln and pulled her free. The bisque-firing was a success! *exhale breath*

A week later my amazing figure teacher, Ellen Tykeson, made a special visit on Friday morning to demonstrate a unique finishing technique involving specific forms of wax to whomever wanted to learn. Two of us showed up. Only two. And here are the results:

Pretty Bird

I love taking before and after pictures of my work, although I don't do it nearly as much as I should. The images on the left have one day of classwork left on them. The images on the right show what the piece looked like after I spent several days on it at home. I took pictures of the fabric that was underneath the model so I could work on that detail at home. Being my third figure sculpture class with Ellen Tykeson I decided that I needed to really push myself this term. Prior to this I had never sculpted fabric and was determined to make it read. There is always room for improvements but I have to say that I am pleased with the results on this first attempt.

I have also been working on opening up to conceptual and contemporary work. I still have my beef with much of what is produced with the excuse of being "modern" art but I am beginning to have fun with the conceptual side. I am absolutely in love with birds and I do what I can to work them into my art. I took this opportunity to do just that here. The woman's head is a mourning dove. A bird I love. For years I thought they were actually called "morning" doves. So this puts a slightly different twist on this feathered friend. The wings on this piece are less accurate. I did use reference images however, they are shorter than a wing should be. Nearly half the wing is missing. Only the primary feathers are really represented here. But then that leaves open several different interpretations. Is the wing sprouting from the body or is it in fact receding?

After deliberation over several titles I ended on "Pretty Bird" for this piece. Is this a woman past her prime who is no longer "pretty" or does her beauty exist even now as she ages. Is she like a caged bird trapped in this body or does she sing with joy as she seemed to sit comfortably nestled in her own "nest".

The meaning is in your hands.

What do you see?

Open Studio Visit with Ellen Tykeson

If you haven't seen Ellen Tykeson's work, go check out her site now. Don't look later, look now. She is absolutely amazing. I have taken a year's worth of figure sculpting classes with Ellen and have learned so much. I will be forever grateful. At the end of this last term she opened up her home studio to her students for the first time. We were a very lucky bunch. Here are some pictures from that evening.

This is a piece-in-progress that is due to be finished and installed by summer of 2010. I can't wait!

The full-sized version of this pair is a kinetic sculpture that is in the lobby of the new River Bend hospital in Springfield.

This winged-women will be beating her hands on a beautiful piece of glasswork. Much as a bird caught indoors will flutter against a window.

For this piece Ellen was inspired by a photo of her, her sister and a cousin clothed in similar ruffled suits on the beach as very young children.

Ellen's favorite figure of the four that make up her newest piece. Being a bird person myself I am partial to this individual as well. I love her surfaces. Extremely well crafted and amazingly fluid and organic.

Me and Ellen at the end of the visit. Thank you for opening up your creative space!