Hurricane Harvey - sculpture day 15 “bringing home the bacon”

My day started with an empty tank. I was ready to roll and I had to run refill my argon tank.  :( 

really irritating  

Refilling my Argonne tank.  

After lunch I finally got to work. Yesterday, I started the pig’s groin. I figured a pig’s groin looks like a dog’s groin. Not true - I decided to double check, and it turns out pig groins are pudgy and round. Dog groins are more like an empty bowl. It’s good I checked! 
Here are images I used for reference. I googled “pig groin” and .....you don’t want to do that. People only post images of pig groins that a Veterinarian should see. I then googled “carrying a pig”. The below image shows how pudgy their grojns are.

Once I lay the lath over the armature, it will look a lot different. It looks weird now. I only put the armature at places that protrude. In the concave places, I will press the lath in. That is why the nose looks bizarre.

I can’t wait until tomorrow to do the hands. :) 

Hurricane Harvey - sculpture day 14 “bringing home the bacon”

The tension is starting to build.

For this piece to work I have to be able to show the strain or tension between the man and the pig.
The pig is huge and would have been extremely heavy to pick up. And pigs are not comfortable being carried, he would have been squirming like crazy to pull away from the rescuer.  

I added the man’s head outline first. I want his head to thrust back to add to the tension between the man and the pig. Then I added the largest part of the pig's stomach. I need to know where the biggest part is in order to figure out where the man’s arms and hands are going to be gripping the pig. The man's hands will be just above the larges part of the pig gripping it tightly.

Front view  

You can now start seeing the tension created with the pull of the man’s head and his arms vs the pigs legs. 

Note to self on the head- make the armature on the small side, I can always add plaster to make it larger.  

From the back

I still need- pig ears, tail, and to finish the pig’s legs and abdomen. The man needs his head, hands  and more definition or volume on the arms.  

INSPIRATION- 

 I am always looking for inspiration to use when sculpting. I follow @mcteams3842 who photographs  Navy Seals in training. When I saw the image below I thought of the energy needed to of lift  a big pig. I took a screen shot and saved it to my file of photos I look at when working on the piece. I would love to have the rescuer’s head this far back ....... I will have to experiment with it. 

I highly recommend @mcteam3842 for amazing photography.  

I am thinking of putting a cap on him and loved the brim on the below Navy Seals cap. instagram is a treasure chest of inspiration. 

Hurricane Harvey - sculpture day 13 “bringing home the bacon”

Chest,  hoofs and dewclaws 

Upper chest connected  

Hoof and dewclaw

Hoof and dew claw  

Hoof and dew claw

Houston Flood Museum

A selection of my Hurricane Harvey Heroes monotypes and one of the Humanities pieces are now exhibited in the Houston Flood Museum. 

 https://houstonfloodmuseum.org/hurricane-harvey-heroes-and-humanity/

Hurricane Harvey - sculpture day 11 “bringing home the bacon”

Today I made and attached the 2-4th legs and 3 hoofs. 

View from the front 

Left side view  

View from the back  

Right side view 

The legs are only attached by 1 piece of pencil rebar at this point. Once I know exactly what position I want them in I will attach them at 2-3 more locations.  

Hurricane Harvey - sculpture day 10 “bringing home the bacon”

Pig nose  

Building up the nose tip.  

Aerial view  

Nose and snout 

side view 

back view 

The other side  

Front view- pig nose, snout, back and 1 back leg, clipped to rescuer  

Side view of rescuer and part of the pig. 

View from the back.  

Right side view.  

Hurricane Harvey - sculpture day 9 “bringing home the bacon”

Today I adjusted the shoulder width, started the chest and connected the back extensions at the top.  

View from the front  

View from the back  

I might need to trim up his chest tomorrow. Grrrrrr

Hurricane Harvey - sculpture day 8 “bringing home the bacon”

I started the upper torso.  

I always make the shoulders too broad and then have to adjust them. I will do that tomorrow.  

Hurricane Harvey - sculpture day 7 “bringing home the bacon”

My work day was short today.  

Hurricane Harvey - sculpture day 6 “bringing home the bacon”

Hurricane Harvey - sculpture day 5 “bringing home the bacon”

Today I spent a lot of time cutting off and rewelding. The upper leg/booty was too big. After four hours  it now has a trimmer. 

I am trying to decide if I need to reinforce the lower half of the body or move on. Once I reinforce the joints it is a lot more difficult to make changes. If I move on without reinforcing the welding joints, the piece could fall apart. That is my dilemma. 

Hurricane Harvey - sculpture day 4 “bringing home the bacon”

Connecting the legs and reinforcing them.  

Building the hips and connecting the legs

Side view  

View from back

I create triangles to give the piece stability and strength.

Left side view with triangles 

View from the back

view of the right side

Using scraps to create triangles to strengthen the ankles.  

Looking back, I can now see the hips are not right and are exaggerating the movement. I will have the movement exaggerated when the piece is finished, but for the armature, I will have to tone it down.

Hurricane Harvey - sculpture day 3 bringing home the bacon

This sculpture is about the movement and the energy of rescuing livestock (a pig) during Hurricane Harvey. Today I have to decide on where the figure's weight needs to be to best balance the sculpture and express the energy of hoisting the swine to safety. The photos I took of Griffin while he was walking helped me committe to the foot placement. For the weight, I need new reference photos taken from each side. I am fortunate that my husband is always agreeable to posing for me. We wrapped a stool in a towel to stand in for the pig. Below are the new photos.

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View from the front  

View of the left side  

back view 

Hurricane Harvey - sculpture day 2 “brining home the bacon”

Step one - I find or take a photo to use as a reference. Many times I take screen shots from videos I find online. This time I took photos of Griffin and Alex. At the time I was planning on sculpting “The Guy In the Astros Cap”. I had Griffin carry Alex and I took photos as he walked. I can still use the pictures of Griffin walking. Alex is too cute and tiny to stand in for the pig. I will have to wing the pig.

Photo if Griffin’s feet.  

Step 2- I start with the armature for the feet, piecing  them together from the small leftover scraps of my last sculpture.

Left foot, right foot  

I really like the pigeon toed aspect of this photo. 

Even though I like work from photos I feel free to change anything I want. 

Gust- patina

November 15, 2018

I am working in the spacious new Glassell Foundry. There is abundance of space to work in.  

Hat 👍🏼 Patina👍🏼 Torch👍🏼 Welding gloves👍🏼 Paint brushes👍🏼 Respirator👍🏼 Eye protector👍🏼 

The patina I am using is a layered hot patina. First I heat the piece with a torch. Then I start laying a heavy dark brown, then a heavy layer of titanium oxide. About 30 minutes in I spilled the titanium patina.  

It is really a bummer because once I remix it I can not use it for 24 hours, the chemicals need to bind together. Grrrrrrrrr.😬  

November 19,2018 

Starting where I left off.  

Three days before thanksgiving and I can’t help myself, I want to finish this patina today.  

After a heavy layer of titanium ash I ran out of butane. Luckily a second tank was ready to go.  

Faux bois Wedding gift ❤️❤️ #12 the 1st layer on the branches.

You can see the rough coat on the underside of the bench.  I am ready for the second application of concrete.

I have flipped the bench over and will work from the top to the bottom. You have to work from the top to the bottom because the process is very messy. 

Step 1. Protect the bronze birds by covering them with plastic wrap.  

Step 2.  Paint the lath with a concrete bonding adhesive. 

Step. 3 Make a slip from the concrete and the bonding adhesive. Paint the slip onto the piece. 

Step.4 Apply concrete by hand.  

Mateo. 5 Remain calm, enjoy the process.  

It turns out my bonding adhesive is old, as a result my concrete does not want to stick together. I am grateful I am only working on the scratch coat. I can fix anything that falls off when I apply the final coat. 

I like this branch growing around the other

Things did not go as planned as I worked on the bench. My bonding adhesive was old and the cement just was not sticking. And marriages do not go as planned. The lesson here is just roll with it. I will get new bonding adhesive next week and the next application will go smoothly. It is not worth getting upset over. The fun part of marriage is having someone go through the rough spots with you, someone who makes the rough spots not so rough, maybe even fun. Look for the good in every situation, it is there. Make your problems work for you. 

Harvey Heroes- Houston Responds

Back in October I received a phone call from  Jeff Schultz of Houston Responds. Jeff was holding a conference the following  week for local churches.  He was trying to recruit volunteers to help those who still need help getting their lives back after Hurricane Harvey. He needed images for his Bible study booklet. I was thrilled to help out. I never received a copy of the booklet, but here are a few screen shot from the email he sent me. 

Hurricane Harvey - sculpture day 1 “bringing home the bacon”

My first thought was to make a sculpture to be exhibited with the drawings of a man rescuing a woman and a baby. I loved how obvious it is in this drawing that they are strangers. He is carrying her but with his body language he could be carrying a sack of potatoes. His energy is focused inward, perhaps he is worried about his own family. She is the same, she is affectionate with the baby but she is not snuggling into her rescuer. There is not a  history  between the rescuer and the girl. 

“The guy in the Astros cap”  

After some consideration, I have decided to make the sculpture a livestock piece. I changed my mind because I feel the livestock pieces need to be very large to properly convey the extraordinary feats some people went to in order to save their livestock. I also like the fact that it is unexpected to make the sculpture of a pig rescue. I can always make a sculpture from the other drawing later.

 “Bringing home the bacon”

“Glyphosate” Airing the devestating impact that pesticides have on pollinators

I am expanding my regenerative agriculture/sustainable living work.  This additional work will air the devastating impact that pesticides have on pollinators. I have decided that, to portray the reported impact of pesticides on this basic ingredient for life, the artistic language for communicating this message will be scale, placement, technique, and media. 

Scale- My paper is 44” T X 30” W. The pollinators size will be magnified approximately twenty times.    

(Should I go bigger?) 

Placement- The bee will be on its back, and dead at the bottom of the page.

Media- I will use watercolor as it immolates the water properties of pesticides.

Technique-I will attempt to apply the media so that It speaks of the pesticide spray, pollen dust and disintegration. Getting the perfect technique down is one of trial and error. Below are trials I-VI. 

Attempt #1

#2 getting better.  

#3 is the ghost of #2 

On day two I have decided to try adding more colors in the black and maybe blast it with a spray bottle of water and then print it.  

11/20/2018

Day 2  

Glysophate #4

I added color more color but it is not showing up as I would like. The wings are much better. 

glysophate #5

I added more color and.......in this photo you can’t see it. In person it is Subtle. I kind of like it. 

I sprayed my plate with water after the last print and now I wait for it to dry. It is in puddles, it may never dry.  

Glysophate  #6

It has occurred to me that, working with individual bees, I am not addressing the colony collapse and disorder that will result. Should I? Do I need to?

Any thoughts to share? 

“You Make Me Stronger” - the old maul

photo by Nash Baker 

  At the end of every semester at Glassell, we clean out all the disheveled cabinets and drawers. We throw away broken tools and parts and reorganize the rest. A few years ago, while cleaning out the hammer and chisel drawer, I came across a worn out sledge hammer. Through the worn garish red paint the satiny steel skin of the mallet was unblemished, it had gotten better with age. Its handle on the other hand had not weathered as well. It resembled more of the rugged surface of old drift wood than a powerful hand tool. Its life had been extended several times with layers of duct tape that were now thread bare. I could only imagine over the years how many passionate sculptors had partnered with this handle and mallet to create their dreams; how many artist used it to mold their creations. I loved it for the history it held in the splintered grains of wood of its handle and the silent strength of its barely-red steel mallet. It’s days of hard labor are over. I bought the school a shiny new blue and yellow sledge hammer with a rubber handle and took the old red maul home to rest. Uncertain of its exact future, it rested on my den coffee table for the better of a year. Guests always comment on what a cool tool it was. It sparked unsolicited stories of hard work, of past labors and stubborn relatives. This summer, I decided to make a mold of the old maul. Each casting will tell a different story. This first casting is “You Make Me Stronger,” an ode to great partnerships as in the one with the artist, the handle, and the mallet.