The Late Emerging Artist

You can see that the base of the sculpture needs a lot of work, but except for a couple of rough spots the sculpture of the bird is complete.

I have the color palette for the owl picked out; it’s just a matter of getting the paint on the bird.

Having said that I have given up on predicting the completion date, but things are moving down the rails, and the station is in view.

Remember if you want to get a preview, I’ll be in the Home – Tusc Arts Cooperative Gallery, at 207 South Broadway in New Philadelphia, tomorrow (February 8th) from 10:00AM until 2:00PM. Last week there were a couple of Folks made it in to take a look.

Hi Folks,

Things are moving right along and it appears that I will be completing at least the sculpturing part of the “Great Horned Owl” by the end of January. “Check It Out”.

As you can see, the base still needs a lot of work, and if you look closely there are still some minor issues with the bird. What you can’t see is that I have permanently attached a turn table to the bottom of the base so that the entire sculpture can be rotated easily. It should save a lot of tables and the eventual owners back.

Hi Folks,

I’m out of clay again, and if in fact you check you check out the little bonnet the owl is wearing, along with the feathers on the breast that haven’t been detailed yet, that’s the end of the last batch.

I wanted to point out that adding the feathers is not only adding detail to the sculpture but is also determining the final shape. If there is low spot, I increase the thickness of the feather/feathers in the low area. If there is a high area, I increase the thickness around that area. Needless to say, this leveling is only possible up to about a 1/4 inch of depth.

The reason I brought this leveling thing up is that, if you check out the owl’s wing, there is a definite low spot in the area where the primary feathers blend into the secondaries.

Hi Folks,

I’m “Really Cooking” right now (or perhaps, I’m just “Half Baked”). Whichever way you look at it, I feel I’ve made some progress last week, and I think that I may be done with the sculpting by the end of January. Then comes the finishing process. I’m leaning toward painting it in a mono-color like this painting that I did a few years ago.

Finishing the sculpting will require a few more steps:

• The major issue is positioning and attaching the head to the body. I suspect that I will probably go with the way it is on the body right now, but I’m not ready to commit until I get a little further ahead with the body.
• The body still has a good deal of feather detail to be put on. If you check out the image at the top of this page, there is also an inset on the birds left wing that needs some work to enhance the curve.
• Perhaps the biggest issue is the shape of the base. The original concept required an oval shape. There was to be an interesting root pattern in front of the stump that the bird is sitting on, but it might be more distracting than interesting as far as the overall composition. The other issue is that this sculpture will have a 12-inch turntable built in to make it easier to rotate it for viewing purposes. If the consumer rotates the sculpture with an oval base, the over-hang might knock other items off the table as it is rotated.
• If you have any thoughts on this matter, give me a shout by email ( robert.walker.592[email protected] ) I’d like to hear from you.

Everything has arrived and only a couple of days late. I can’t complain about the late arrival considering the Holiday shipping challenges. Time to get back to work

The eyes came in a bit on the large size, (40 mm. about 1.5 inches) so I had to reorder them. This pair is 30 mm, or 1.25 inches, which made a huge difference. Even “Hootie’s” attitude has improved.

The eyes are only in place for reference, right now. The eye lids still need to be installed to hold the eyes securely. Perhaps that will improve Hootie’s attitude. He seems a bit hostile.

This image was taken a day later and the progress is a bit further along. The eye lids are in place, detailing on the bird’s wing is a bit further along and Hootie has talons in place. (I think even his attitude has improved a bit.)

I have run out of clay again, so until UPS arrives in a couple of hours, I believe I’ll walk to McDonalds for my sausage muffin and coffee. (You will note that my choice of breakfast entrees have improved over the years.)

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Hi Folks,

I was zipping right along and I ran out of two-part epoxy. Don’t ya just hate it when that happens?

Amazon assures me that it will arrive today. Meanwhile, I thought I’d complain a bit.

Hi Folks,

Well, the head is now on the Owl; the chicken wire is wrapped, and all of the insulation foam is in place and expanded. Now comes the messy part.

I am beginning to lay on the first coat of two-part epoxy. The main thing to know about this epoxy is that:

1. It needs to me mixed thoroughly and allowed to rest for at least 20 minutes before applying it to the sculpture.

2. If you get the mixed epoxy on your clothes, the floor, or yourself and it is allowed to set up, it is there to stay. Try to be neat and clean it off any surface you want to preserve before it sets up. (It will begin to set within 45 minutes.)

3. It is expensive, so keep in down to 1/4 inch layers. It is extremely tough, so don’t worry about its strength. If I don’t have enough depth on the armature underneath, I build up the support using crinkled up aluminum foil, then lay the epoxy over that. (You will see some of the foil sticking out on the images above.)