I'm Back

So after almost a year's hiatus, I've decided to resurrect this blog (because I haven't taken the time yet to figure out how to put two WordPress blogs on my website).

And I'm back to the Aves sculpting class. Except I've had to put the two-person sculpt on hold and start with something simpler. My "final" design idea is to sculpt a man standing in the rain with his arms outstretched and his head thrown back. Google "Shawshank Redemption poster" under images and then take your pic--that's pretty much what I'm aiming for. And, yes those hands are going to be difficult, but the rest should be relatively uncomplicated, especially compared to the kiss pose I was doing (and still plan to do) from my original idea (see previous posts for an idea and pics of the armatures).

So, where did this idea originate? It's not like I've seen The Shawshank Redemption for probably over five years. Actually, I started with the KISS concept, since Rebecca (the class instructor who is, amazingly, willing to work with me even though it's almost a year after the class) told me to come up with a simpler design before attempting the two-person contortionist sculpture I was initially wanting to do. Get a feel for the clay and using it--Apoxie Sculpt is world's apart from polymer clay and I'm way too new at it to jump right into something overly complicated.

At first, I was thinking of doing a bust of a woman's head because I could do a larger piece, which is almost always easier than working small. But I quickly realized that I want to do a full-body sculpt so I can practice all of the body parts. And what's simpler than just a sculpture of a person standing. I considered an idea I've thought about doing for awhile, a Queen of Heaven type figure (sort of like the Egyptian Nut) but wanted to do a male figure instead.

The next step was making the pose a little more interesting than a standing person doing nothing. The simplest pose, to my mind, was to just outstretch the arms. So then I had to figure out why. I had visions in my mind of scenes from various sci-fi and/or fantasy movies with light shooting out from various body parts but figured trying to portray that in a sculpture would be impossible. And everything that came to mind with the outstretched arms pose kept coming back to crucifixion or sacrificial imagery which wasn't exactly what I wanted.

Which is when the rain idea came to me--what if he were standing in the rain with his head thrown back? Of course I was taking a shower at the time so that probably had a lot to do with it. It wasn't until I started trying to search for an image in Google (imagine trying to figure out the search terms to find an image with the front side of a man standing in the rain in a particular pose) that The Shawshank Redemption came up--and of course I remembered the scene then (although Tim Robbins' pose isn't really what I want). Once I saw the poster, though, his hands spread open like that...perfect! Except there are no front shots of this.

I do have a subscription to Magic Sculpture (the owner, a very sweet woman, makes computer-generated figures in various poses and builds) so I checked for one there. The closest I could come to it was a man looking forward with his arms stretched out, almost Vetruvian-Man style without the multiple arms and legs look. I also took some pics of my little poseable wooden art manikin (who knew there were three ways to spell this word?) sort of in the right pose. Sigh--I really just need to learn how to draw.

So, that's what's going on now. Not to mention the little wicked pixies I plan on doing in Apoxie Sculpt, just for practice and fun. I'm thinking four or five of the little buggers and then I'll put them in various poses in my small birdcage (although how I'm getting them into the cage is still a mystery).