#76, Glancing, relief

Glancing, bonded sand and oxides, 16"x12"x1 1/2"

#75, Momentum, relief

Momentum, bonded sand and oxides, 12"x10"x1 1/4"

#74, Passion, relief

Passion, bonded sand and oxides, 18"x14"x1 1/4"

I created this relief over a 3 day period using oil based clay. I first thought of the title when I was struggling with sculpting the hair and head. Initially the head looked like flames more than a head and hair and it took me a while to work this out. Since that point I haven't been able to think of any other title other than Passion. My model on this one is from Fort Collins and is an incredibly talented dancer.

#73, stainless steel Ganesh

Ganesh, stainless steel 60" height x 30"wide

This was recently installed in Colorado at a private residence. Although I don't normally do abstract or stainless steel, it was a fun project.

#72, installation of Remembering

Remembering by Sutton Betti

drilling the holes for Remembering

Norfolk Veterans Home in Norfolk, Nebraska

#71, Danza da Sola, relief

Danza da Sola, bonded sand and oxides, 17"x13"x1 1/2"

Today I worked on casting this relief I made last summer. Although the model is American I decided to call it Danza da Sola which is dance alone in Italian. Not only does the woman look Italian, but the casting itself feels Italian.

#70 Waiting, relief

Waiting, 20"x16", bonded sand and oxides

This relief was supposed to have been finished a long time ago to go just outside of Jessica's massage room at a local day spa. It's the very first casting using bonded sand and oxides that I am satisfied with and I will use this casting as a reference point for casting other reliefs.

So, today while talking with my studio mate about reliefs in general, we discussed how solving some problems in relief can sometimes be solved through admiring and studying figure paintings. For example, how to crop and leave an area unfinished can be very tricky to pull off, but if painters can pull it off than so it can be done on a relief sculpture. I sometimes don't like to include the entire figure in my relief sculptures and the latest relief "Glancing" (post #67) was one of most difficult ones in making the cropped leg look natural. After agonizing over it over the last several days, I finally just slapped some clay around the area of the cropped leg and left it. This was done mostly out of frustration but after letting it sit for a bit it started making sense.