Steps

more progress on the new pieces i'm working on

 for my February show at La Luz de Jesus Gallery:

 this is how i get fabric to "fall" correctly: since most fabric doesn't act the same way when it is cut small as when it is a bigger piece, there is lots of pinning, gluing and dousing with "StiffenQuik", which...stiffens the fabric, so it keeps the shape you convince it to take. i think i will add a piece of fabric at the back to create more drama and more of a floating illusion.

 next up for hair and background, above.

ever feel like you're being watched? i do. 

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Back to Work

So, there has been a bit of silence on my part, mostly due to the fact that apparently its super difficult to get internet at my new place. Lots of waiting and appointments and new cables later, I finally can give a peek at what I've been up to! So, here goes.

 

Well, first of all, as mentioned before, I moved! Pocket, above, as always so helpful. 

 

Then I had a marvelous short trip to Austin, Texas, with some dear friends, for another dear friend's wedding! Above, Danielle, me and Julian, being super cool.

We went to Barton Springs, which was cold and refreshing and had fishes and green things growing at the bottom.

 Waiting on the bridge for thousands of bats to come swarming out at dusk. So cool!

Dipping feet in Lake Travis with the blushing bride, Mylan! Congratulations to her and Taro!

The Lake at sunset, after which there were sparklers and dancing and toasts and lots of bubbles. 

 And also I have finally gotten going on some sculptures for my next series. Above, a really rough sculpt- look Ma, no hands!

 Still needs lots of details, hair, and costume, and to be attached to the background.

 I think my tools look pretty on my new desk. Or, should I say *some* of my tools. 

 The plans. I have a few blank spaces, but mostly know everything I have to do for this show...its a lot.

 and some peeks of finished drawings!

And finally, the chaos that is my desk right now.

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September Night

First off, if you live in the Philadelphia area, go check out Summer Spell at Gallery 309, which I have some work in, and some really amazing people (Esao Andrews, Dilek Baykara, Amy Earles, and Sara Louise Davey, to name a few) have made things for! It opens tonight, Friday the 7th! More info Here

In more personal news, I am finally moving, which is exciting but also sad and tiring, but I am happy to be leaving this place. So, I thought I'd get a little update in before everything gets put in boxes and I can't find anything!

also, moving makes me realize I have an amazing collection of art supplies. This is not everything, not even close. But the spill-able things go in my silver trunk with the tiger paper lining.

 

above and below are some more or less finished drawings and paintings I've been working on..

and last night i returned once again to my alma mater and drew the lovely Sarah, who had some fun costumes. i think these were all 10 minute poses:

 some random preparatory sketches for various things

 this one might get those birds from above, somewhere...not sure yet:

oh and some notes from a visit to the Getty Museum's Klimt exhibit, which is quite nice and has a million lovely sketches. If you are in LA its worth seeing! 

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Sketchy times ahead

here are some sketches and thumbnails for the new series I'm working on.. 

also, something is weird with my scanner, so please excuse the quality...

 Working out an idea...still not sure which to do..

 I have a box of lovely weathered twigs that my mother collected in Mendocino from pruning our apple trees. They smell so good, like fog and sleepy and cold water and iron. There will be lots of sticks and stones in this series.

 A little compilation of a few ideas - some of these will be paintings, some freestanding sculptures, and some wall-mounted pieces.

I have recently discovered Maned Wolves, which are super weird, tall, ancient wolf-like creatures. They are a very unique South American animal, that is not really a wolf, fox, or coyote, but a whole other genus of canids that probably evolved directly from carnivores native to South America in the Pleistocene era. So, I drew some. And probably will sculpt them, which will be fun. I might change their coloring a little, though, so it doesn't just look like I screwed up and made an awkwardly tall red fox.

And now, back to the drawing table. 

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Vampira!

So here is Vampira, aka Maila Nurmi, all finished! I am pretty happy with her, although taking the photos I realized how disproportionately large her head is to her body, but oh well. This was a really fun sculpture, if anyone has a commission idea like this, I would love to do more!

 I had to do one black and white...since..that's how she was.

 her sleeves are magically blowing in the wind, permanently...

(above - left = after curling, right = before)

Her hair was a special project - the hair I used was straight, black Suri Alpaca hair, so I actually hand-curled her hair a little, since she has that '50s wave goin' on. I used a little alcohol lamp to heat one of my metal sculpting tools, and then curled sections of her hair. It was much trickier than doing the same with a curling iron on a life sized head of hair, so the waves arent perfect, but much more "Vampira"-esque than the previously completely straight hair. But using natural hair fiber is fun, since you can hairspray it and style it just like your own hair (except that it came off of a medium sized camelid)

 also, a special thanks to Mr. Azma for the request to make this, it was a very fun project, thank you!

completely unrelated, but here is a new bigger bust I am working on for Casey Love's class at Korpus School of Art. So fun! Wrinkle town. This is just after the first session, its still super rough...this will progress over the next 8 weeks, hopefully it will turn out well!

 

the end!

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Vampira Progress

Here's some shots of my commisioned Vampira piece, which should be getting hair and a costume today!

 The face, mid-sculpting.

The skull she's holding, also mid-sculpt.

Moody lighting and a paint job.

Eyes still need some work..quite wonky. She'll also have hair, soon, which might help.

The skull was pretty fun, its a little more than an inch across.

more soon!

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