Signing off on a sculpture

Just be sure that everything is the way it should be before the sculpture goes into the bronze process. After that, changes can cost a considerable amount of money. In fact, I have my clients sign off on the project at the final sitting, before the sculpture goes to the foundry.

The fear of capturing the expression of someone and investing your time and money into a process with the results being unsure is something to think about. If you have reviewed the artist’s work and credentials and like the artists work, if you have discussed your fears and expectations and provided the artist with the resources that they need, and if you know the artists process includes your input, then your can be assured that the sculpture will be something you like. With all of that said you must remember, it is art, and even my contract states…

“It is here by understood and agreed that it may not be possible to create the Work exactly as described herein or as depicted in preliminary designs, and the Artist shall only be bound to use her best aesthetic judgment to create the Work according to the style and intent of the design, The artist is hereby free to make design modifications as the work progresses.”

I point this out because there was one commission, a posthumous commission where it was impossible to please the client. I have written about this commission in my book “Bringing to Life the Spirit of the Deceased—A Sculptor’s Journey” and at first I was very irritated with the entire process. But my feelings soon changed. You see I was the 3rd or 4th artist that this man came to. He was trying to capture the image of his deceased wife. Though He said I did the best job in capturing a likeness, the commission never came to a finalization. It was after much prayer and consideration that I believe I understood why this happened.
First I think the man was trying to get the artists to create something that just could not be created. In a way I think he wanted his wife back and expected the sculpture to somehow fulfill this need. The second reason was because I have noticed with posthumous sculpture that the emotion, the healing the grieving does not happen when the client comes for the approval and sees this three dimensional loved one, on the contrary it happens when the sculpture is placed, complete and there is nothing left for the client to do but grieve. Until that time the client can busy themselves with the process. The commission gives them something else to do before having nothing else but loss.

Photographic Reference

I can’t say enough about photographic reference. I know you will think this is strange but an artist can make a sculpture look exactly like your loved one from one angle, say the front, but when you look at the sculpture from the side it could appear to be someone totally different. That is because the sculptor works in three dimensions. It is imperative that good photographs are provided to the sculptor from both side and front, in fact as many angles as possible, at the photographs should be at the age that you want the subject captured. If it is not possible to provide this then you must understand the limitations that are set upon the sculpture. You might be able to work with the artist one on one to fix any discrepancies in one view or another but this could take an enormous amount of time and patience and should be clarified before the artist give a price.

I believe it was Rodin that talked about how a person cannot look at a true portrait of himself or herself, because often the sculptor captures so much more than the image. It is true that this may play a part in the approval of some sculpture commissions. But more times than not it is something different entirely.

Change What?

First let me explain that in a final sitting with the sculptor there is an adjustment period. Moments when you first see the sculpture and you must stop, take time with the sculpture and absorb it. In the case of creating a sculpture in memory of a deceased loved one this can have many other emotions attached to it.

Please be aware that when you do come to a final sitting it is important to be as explicit in your thoughts as possible. Don’t just say it looks strange, say, there looks like there might be too much distance here, or the right eye looks closed and should be opened more. Then let the artist do their work. You see when you work in three dimensional work the artist might have to translate what you say and see if there is something else that is off. If the face looks to narrow, it could be the placement of the ears. If the eyes look too close, it might be the width of the nose. The artist must assimilate your comments and perform their magic.

What if it does not look like my loved one?

I am sure that many clients or potential clients have the fear that they will pay a lot for a sculpture and it will not look anything like what they have envisioned in their own mind. Here are some thoughts on that fear-

When commissioning an artist you must be absolutely sure that the artist understands what you want. First be clear of your thoughts. How do you see this loved one? Do you see them younger? Is it a formal pose or casual? If it is a full figure pose or life size what mannerisms does the individual have that can be portrayed?

If the artist requests a photo sitting it is assumed that the sculpture is at the same age as the sitting. If you request a different age be sure that you have as much reference of the person at that age that you can possibly provide.

It is not what I expected...

The difficulty about blogging a process is that many times people see parts of the process and think that it has ended. It has not ended or complete until the artist writes- I am done. And then there is an entire client approval process. I am sure there are some artists who won’t change their artwork, but I am not one of them. This process of approval is an important element to the entire process. It is the place where the client can have input. I know you might ask is a sculpture totally correct when a client arrives to the studio? Sometimes, but this is rare. I think there are many reasons for this.

Let me give you an example…
Years ago I was sculpting a little girl and the client came in and was quite bothered by the sculpture. They did not know how to explain it but, it was just not her. Together we looked at the piece and decided that indeed all the features were the features of the little girl. The main element in the sculpture that did change was the mouth. You see when I shot all of the photographs of this little girl for the sculpture sitting she was very timid toward me. This is not unusual; I am after all a stranger. In most of the photographs her mouth was closed, but her mother informed me that she is a talker and that is not normal for her. With a little work from my tools I had opened her mouth into a perpetual talking motion and that was all it took. This was a nuance that only the mother would know. This is what I depend upon from my client.

Jeanine

You should be able to see a larger image if you click on it.

Working around the holidays

Working around the holidays. I have been working on this commission, slowly it is coming along. Remember what it looked like just a few weeks ago? I hope to have this bust complete by the end of the week. Another commission has come in and is a rush and must be started next week.

Jeanine and Lucas still have not shipped. I had to find a chain for Jeanine. The chain that is around her neck is real and threads through the heart pendant. Unfortunately it was too long and could not be shortened. So I ran around town for a few days trying to find just the right chain. When I found one it was not the proper metal to be hold a patina. The foundry came to my aid and helped me with providing a chain. Now Jeanine is finished!

meanwhile...
I am struggling with getting just the right materials together to send my book "Bringing to Life the Spirit of the Deceased—A Sculptor's Journey" off to the publishers.

Lucas, don't you ever stop running in the studio!

I will be very sad to see Lucas go home. I took these pictures yesterday so that I would have some of him. To see these pictures larger, click on the photograph to enlarge

Upside down Christmas party-The tree

An upside down Christmas party must have an upside down tree, but there is more to our upside down tree then just hanging it from the ceiling. We ask each of our guests to decorate our tree. They do this with something that is on their person, in their car or found objects. Anything goes. Below you will see just some of the things that are on our tree. On the top of the tree, which is the bottom is a shark that squeaks. Why? Because we can. The shark has been with the celebration for a long time. One of my sculptures look very intrigued with the idea of a shark ornament.

The tree seems to have a strange affect on the guests.

Upside down Christmas party-the ornaments

Tree ornaments- from left to right
photograph number 1.
* Plate with found objects

* Actors guild card


Tree ornaments- from left to right
Photograph number 2.
* real ornament
* cut out of Illustrator Bob Pharr
* Cassette Case
* name tag
* circle thing
* vip valet park service ticket
* blue bat
* pills wrapped in celephane
* greeting card
* tissue bows





Tree ornaments- from left to right
Photograph number 3.
* Socket
* red plastic wine bottle wrap
* plastic ring "10" off drugs"
* playing card


Photograph number 4
* Pickle?
* name tag
* Lip stick case


Photograph number 5.
* Fork and Spoon twined with beads
Photograph number 6.
* Skeleton
* Faom cup
* throat lozenger
* business card ( from manny santos, producer of my artist documetnary created by PBS)
* Jazzersize coupon
* folded CVS receipt


Photograph number 7.
*towlet
* cut out wooden Jesus
* birthday candles stuck in candy holder

Upside down Christmas party-and a birthday cake

My daughter was so sweet. She baked me a birthday cake from scratch! Carrot cake, one of my favorite. My birthday was Wednesday, but she was not in town and as you may have read I spent the day on my knees cleaning the floor of the studio. I loved the cake. So did everyone else! Florencias boys, trailed in as soon as the cake was cut. They were perfect gentleman while at the party and when bored with the grownups found sitting in the living room watching tv, quite entertaining.

Upside down Christmas party-artwork and visiting

Besides my own artwork there was photography from my daughter as well as her graphics which she played on her computer. I also had my lecture from the TW Woods about my book "Bringing to Life The Spirit of the Deceased- A Sculptor's Journey" that played in another area of the studio. My husband's two books were on display and artwork from my aprentice Florencia.



I had invited all of the award winning students from the Culture Shapers contest that I judged a few weeks back. Daphne Dodd came with her parents.

One sculpture actually got into the christmas spirit. Maybe he was praying for his toys.

The God's Word sculptures look good in their new display case. http://www.godsword.net

After viewing the artwork people gathered around on the studio porch and different sitting areas in the yard. The whitelights, the teeke torches and the sound of the stream always feels magical. The weather was unseasonably warm, making it quite comfortable.



Many thanks to Jennifer my former apprentice and my daughter, Christina for playing photographer durring the party

Upside down Christmas party- food and song

There was lots of great food, ham, turkey, Swedish meatballs bread, Christmas salad, cookies, relish plate, fruit plate, there were 4 different cheeses and crackers, artichoke spinach dip, someone brought a delicious avocado dip. Everything was so yummy. Everyone often gathered around the food table.



Someone brought some music books, others brought instruments and we all sang Christmas Carols. I love to sing and I have not had enough of that.

Upside down Christmas party- special guests

Last night we had our upside down Christmas party. I thought I would share with you some of the adventures. There were a lot of people in attendance. We had several guests of honor. Lucas was running around with all of the adventures. Trying to charm everyone he met. He did a great job.

Jeanine has a smile that softened everyone. I was thrilled when Ellie's parents commented on the peace that I captured with Jeanine. From anyone else I don't think it would have mattered as much. But Ellie's Parents have experienced the same loss.

Dick Hathaway sat near the upside down Christmas tree and lectured away. I envisioned him talking about the history of the event. We covered the bench next to him. It was fun to see people interact with him. I am not sure their conversation but they all seemed to be having a good time.

Entertaining can be exhausting but fun!

Today I picked up Lucas and Jeanine. I'll post pictures next week. They both look wonderful! It is so wonderful to have them for the show.

My apprentice, Florencia, helped me flip the Christmas tree today. I think it made her smile. It was fun and was even more fun having someone to put it up with. I'm waiting to put some of the ornaments on it. I want to do that with my daughter. She and used to throw these parties. I know she was only little back then, but she was a terrific hostess even then. I'll be sure to post lots of photographs of the upside down Christmas party. Until then here are some pictures of Florencia and I trying to figure the tree out. We have it down to a science. hook in ceiling, attach pulley, attach trees stand to tree ( the kind that screws in). Yes, I know you don't really need a tree "stand" because it is on the ceiling. The metal structure just makes securing the tree and hoisting it much easier. Once the tree is hoisted up I tie off the rope. I have never been a girl scout so I don't know what knots I use. I would call them "bridgette" knots in that I just keep tying them.

The tree skirt on the ceiling hides the contraption at the top. Now that it is hung time to string the lights!

The finalization of the Lucas sculpture.

Back to the foundry this morning. Lucas had his shoe laces and Miguel was already beginning the patina. Patina is the color of the bronze and is created by putting different chemicals on the hot metal. Miguel first sandblast Lucas. This changes Lucas from that shiny metal color in the previous photographs. First Miguel puts chemicals on Lucas that makes him look very black. Later he comes in and rubs away the black revealing the metal beneath.

This is a traditional patina. And I have indicated to the foundry to alternate hightlights. The cape that Lucas has on will be dark, but his t-shirt will be light. There will be some dark color showing the engraving on his shirt that says ALABAMA! His jean shorts are dark and because they have a texture, my trademark, they retain more color. His shoes are dark, socks are light and the base is dark. This alternating of colors helps the different elements to pop.

I have indicated to the foundry to pull some brown into lucas and they accomplish this by adding a bit of brown shoe polish to the hot metal. When it is complete the foundry man applies some paste wax to the hot metal to seal the sculpture. Lucas will be cool in the morning and I can pick him up.

While I was out and about I also picked up a chain for Jeanine's neck. They have not begun to patina Jeanine yet, but she is to be ready in the morning as well. Looks like Jeanine and Lucas will be home for Christmas.

Back to the Foundry

It is very important to me to have Jeanine and Lucas at my Christmas party on Saturday and then off to their homes by Christmas. I stopped by the foundry today and it was so much fun to see Lucas running through the foundry. I loved on him immediately! I did notice that he didn't have shoelaces. Often the foundry will fabricate the ties of the shoelaces. So I asked them to redo that and I came back later. When I arrived I almost fainted. Lucas was running with his shoes untied. "It can't happen," I said. The mother in me cringed and begged them to try again, making bunny ears and real loops. So it is back to the foundry in the morning. Can't wait to see him again.

Jeanine is coming along, they are cutting her base and figuring out how to mount her bust on it. I need to go and get some real chain as this will be colored to match the metal and will sit around her neck.

So much to do.


In my off time, My apprentice and I spent a good deal of our time on the floor of the studio, scraping the clay off of it and washing it. It is a chore I hate and will only be done about once or twice a year. Alas, today is my birthday and I spent my morning on my knees. I'm still not done, I have a little bit more floor to clean. I think I may say a few prayers while down there this afternoon.

A Christmas Party!

We are busy at the studio trying to get ready for an upside down Christmas. I used to have these type of parties at the studio regularly. It has been over 12 years since we had one. What is an upside Christams party consist of? Well the biggest thing is the tree is flipped upside down and hung from the ceiling. Where does the tree skirt go? Well, on the ceiling of course.

You would be amazed at how easy it is to wire lights on a upside down tree. The gifts go under the tree which is now on the floor.

I'll have to post pictures of the entire thing. If you are reading this and have not received an invitation please email me privately and I'll be sure to send you your invite.

Another order for a "small" newsboy

Some lucky newspaper publisher will be getting a copy of the small bronze newsboy as a gift. This sculpture is a limited edition of 100 and the cost is 1,350 plus shipping. If you are interested in purchasing a newsboy feel free to call me at 713-699-1739.

How do you do that?

Many wonder how do I create a portrait bust.

I started with my sitting where I took measurements and photographs. If I am working with children then I spend lots of time playing with them while we do this. It is also important that with children I am sure of their good time of the day. With this commission I don't have those stipulations.

My apprentice helps me by putting clay on a wire armature. I am using a water base clay. I love the feel of this clay and it has so many advantages compared to the wax based clay, but, it will dry out if not kept wet. It can also sag. That is why I use the other types of clay on sculpture that will be around a while.

The measurements help me to get the size of the person. I have reduced my subject 90%. If a portrait bust is going in an average size room it is better to reduce it or it will look monstrously large. There will also be a bit more shrinkage as this is going to the foundry and that process also has a bit more shrinkage.

slowly you can see the sculpture begin to morph into a person. If I am not mistaken is also has some emotion. Relationships are all about intimacy and I think that with my research into creating posthumous portraits and with art and emotion I realize I become intimate with the piece. It is funny but looking at the pictures of us together you can "feel" that intimacy.

Still I search for my subject. Who are you? What part of you do your children want me to capture? There is a camaraderie between my clay, the muses and myself. A ritualistic dance to find the hidden soul.


SIZES

There are two sizes of portrait busts just below the shoulders and more chest. More chest will cost more money in bronze. I can not seem to get away from it though. My subject reminds me a lot of the B. B. King sculpture and sitting. They both have wide shoulders. To cut my subject just below the shoulders seems to decrease who he is. Like B' they both seem to have that emotional stature. I have decided to continue with a larger bronze and see what my client thinks. I can always show the client," we can cut it here." I'll post more later.

I think I also love my clients handerchief coming out of the pocket. To get down that far is costly, but we will see.

I have had to stop until I get more clay. 50lbs later. Oh yes, with the wax based clay it is reusable, but the water base clay is not.

A new commission

I am beginning a new sculpture commission today. I move away from death, which I have been working in regularly for the last year and a half and for a change I have a live subject. I even get to see this subject in person, something that is a rarity in my work these days. I always tell people, "The first sitting will take about an hour or so, I take photographs and measurements and try to get to know my subject." But I am reminded that to capture the essence of someone is deeper than what one can obtain in an hour. I have not thought about it until this very moment, but I do the same process in sculpting the person from life as I do those who are no longer here. I try to find them long after they are gone from my studio. I count on the love of those that know them, and I search for the essence, the special look that the family wants captured and shared with the world. No easy task.

I guess if I could have my way I would stay with a person atleast for a weekend. I had that opportunity once with two children. Though even then we are all on our guard. My job is to try and catch a glimpse behind the veils or walls that we unknowingly construct and show to others.

Today I shared with Jeanine's mom

It made me smile, and it made me cry, but most of all it made me know how profound life and death are.

Jeanine, one of my posthumous commissions is just coming to an end. Finalizing the details I shared with Jeanines mom the wonderful lessons that I learned through this sculpture. I hope to share it in my book and will try to put some of the writing here. The connection between Jeanine, myself and her mom was strong. I wonder, " What made that happen?" As is relationships in life I think it was the sharing. The sharing of ourselves and our intimate details of our lives. I learned about Jeanine through her mom. Her mom was open and shared quite a bit. I wish all posthumous commissions were like the relationship that was developed here. I can never have too much, I can never have too many photographs or e-mails that just ramble about the person and the love. It is strange to think that I develop a relationship with the deceased. When it was first brought to my attention I though it was impossible, but then as I mulled it over I realized, it is true. Through my work and through death my friendships grow.

The picture above is one of Jeanine's moms favorite pictures. She says it shows her spirit.

While completing my study and writing the book "Brining to Life the Spirit of the Deceased—A Sculptor's Journey" my beloved instructor Charlotte Hastings passed away. I had taken this picture of her while at an art show. I was surprised at how similar chralotte's picture and Jeanine's picture are. It is good to remember on those we love, to think about their energy and their affect on our life even after death. Thank you Jeanine, thank you charlotte.