#126, Greenberg bas relief portrait

Bas relief portrait of a young man, 10inX9inX1/2in, clay for bronze

This 10in X 9in X 1/2in depth bas-relief portrait was commissioned by a mental health facility in Los Angeles that will go on a larger 28 inch x 19 inch bronze plaque and installed on an outside wall of the facility sometime this spring or summer. I worked closely with the mother of the young man who passed away and although it has been a while since I've worked on a very low (flat) bas relief portrait this came out nicely. The mother, the commissioning agency and the plaque company all expressed satisfaction with the clay original and so all that is left now is for me to give myself a pat on the back.

Yesterday, I spoke with the client and he asked me how I learned how to do relief sculpture. It is a good question and I had to remember back to when I first tried sculpting in relief. When I was an art student there weren't any classes in relief sculpture (at least none that I can remember) and it seems I just learned it as I started sculpting more and more, making mistakes along the way but always learning from them. Some of my early private commissions were creating bas relief portraits of family members and kids. In fact, my very first commission was a bas-relief for St. Mary's College of California in Moraga back in 2001. So how did I learn how to sculpt in relief? There really is no substitute for hard work... and patience!

"Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety nine percent perspiration."-Thomas Edison

"Patience is also a form of action."-Rodin

#125, Hendrix bust

Jimi Hendrix sculpture bust by Sutton Betti

One of my favorite musicians for the past 25 years is Jimi Hendrix and this is sculpture clay bust I have wanted to make for many, many years. I made his likeness a few weeks ago using several beautiful photographs found in a recently published magazine and of course from the internet. The clay bust is 35 inches tall and is sculpted about 125% life-size. It was not created as a commissioned work of art, but rather as something that I will have in my collection for visitors to my gallery to see in person. I'm hoping to be able to sell a bronze casting to the Electric Lady Studios in New York, the recording studio that Hendrix built in 1970 and designed by John Storyk.

#124, Gypsy relief

Gypsy Girl by Sutton Betti, 15in x 12in, shown in clay, 2017

Finished this 15x12 inch clay relief yesterday. It has been many months since I took the time to sculpt a new relief so I have to admit that I was a little rusty regarding the technique. However, it turned out better than I was expecting and I think my lack of control and uncertainty actually helped to make this a little more spontaneous than any of my previous relief works. Perhaps this adds to the movement and gesture. Normally I would spend a little more time on the clothing and hair, but struggled a little bit and decided to just leave it loose and somewhat undefined. I'll mold and cast this in aluminum and add it to my growing collection of aluminum relief sculptures that I hope to be showing this year or next when I make a return to showing at outdoor art festivals.

#123, Jimi Hendrix bust, work in progress

Jimi Hendrix bust in progress, 35" height, shown in clay

There is still quite a bit of work left on this over life size bust of my favorite guitarist and musician Jimi Hendrix but I thought I would share the progress anyhow. The total height of the clay sculpture is 35 inches and it's sculpted at 125% life size.

I hope to be finishing him in the next two or three weeks, but I'm in the middle of several freelance sculpting projects that will be taking up much of my time. At this point I'm about 12 hours into the clay work and I guestimate that I've got another 20 hours to go to get him where I'd like him to be. I'll probably retain the looseness of the textures as that seems to fit the sculpture well, but the hair might take me some time.

#122, the Visionary video

There hasn't been a whole lot going on lately at the studio other than casting some older sculptures and doing some work in my new office, but we did get time to make a video showing the process of creating the Stanley hotel sculpture titled the Visionary. Check it out!

#121, The Visionary

The Visionary by Sutton Betti and Daniel Glanz, 89"x48"x48", bronze and stone, The Stanley Hotel,
Estes Park, Colorado ©2016

Last Thursday, Dan and I installed our monument The Visionary for the Stanley hotel in Estes Park. Although the sculpture was designed a year ago I had the idea to sculpt a likeness of the builder of the Stanley a few years ago, even talking with a couple of people at the hotel about doing a bronze bust or full figure portrait of mr. Stanley. That idea died as, at the time, there wasn't any funding or approval from the hotel to do a statue of FO. It was late 2015 when my friend and studio mate, sculptor Dan Glanz, and I got an invite to submit a sketch for a potential monument that would be located in the center of the hedge maze, in front of the Stanley hotel. Immediately, Dan and I came up with a wonderful design that would not only be a good likeness of the inventor of the Stanley Steam engine vehicle and the Stanley Dry Plate Company, but would also incorporate written word about FO Stanley and the area, adding another depth to the design. Our rough sketch was selected to be one of three finalists from a pool of about 50 applicants from across the US. Once we were selected as a finalist we needed to create a maquette to help illustrate our concept in three dimensions. On March 9, 2016 we presented our 1/5 scale bronze and stone statuette and landed the highly publicized project. It is important to note that the two other finalists were also winners, as the committee and the hotel's owner John Cullen selected their designs to be located on the Stanley grounds at a later date. Although we won center prize it was great to see our competition win a spot as well.

Our over life size bronze and stone sculpture titled The Visionary reflects Freelan Oscar Stanley's love of the violin. He began building violins when he was 10 years old, a passion which continued throughout his life. It also illustrates his appreciation of the grandiose natural world that surrounds Estes Park, the Rocky Mountain National Park. With one arm leaning against a sandstone column, the inventor, business man, musician and teacher is looking out at the wondrous views of the Rocky Mountains in appreciation for the life they have given him. Having been diagnosed with tuberculosis, he was told to go to the Colorado mountains which immediately cured him of TB.

On September 29, 2016 we had the unveiling. Unfortunately it was initiated on short notice, so some of my family couldn't attend, but it was a great event nonetheless. There were many people involved in making this monument happen and we are very grateful to those that contributed.

#120, Lest We Forget unveiling

Lest We Forget at the Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum, bronze, 2016

So incredibly humbled and honored to have made this monument honoring the sacrifices of our ww2 veterans with Fredric Arnold. Yesterday was the unveiling at the Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum. This memorial will soon head off to New Orleans' National WW2 Museum.

The project took me 1 1/2 years to sculpt, starting in 2013, and I worked closely with Arnold, a ww2 army air corp pilot and a man whom I call my friend. Although this was THE most difficult monument I have ever created it is also one of the most rewarding. The biggest challenge I had was that I needed to make each of the figures separately yet somehow all relate to each other and not feel disjointed, plus they needed to fit up in bronze (accounting for shrink and all made things very challenging). The reasons for making them one at a time was due to limited studio space and I didn't want to shape 3000 lbs. of clay at the same time. I think it's important to have a sense of accomplishment while doing something so large and by doing them carefully one at a time allowed for a little pat on the back and a feeling of completion. Lots of measuring, but I'm just glad the foundry still talks to me.