Reworked the face again. I liked what was going on when I first started it, seen in the photo from the June 11 entry. Then I got caught up in "shoulds" and "right/wrong" and "proper", and the sculpture lost all energy. So back at it today, trying to work it from more of an inner vision than an external "proper" reality (if that makes any sense).

Speaking of inaccuracies in the Schlossberg model, check out these stick-straight cervical vertebrae --

... as compared with the much more natural curve of the same vertebrae in the half-size skeleton model --

And in the photo below (Schlossberg model again) it's the impossible lie of the pelvis, tilted far too forward and down. In fact, this is why I have two of these models. When I received the first I tried to return it because of how the pelvis hung down in a way that no human could physically assume (it was also twisted too far sideways). After much back-and-forth with the company that sold it to me, they ended up sending me a second model and telling me to go ahead and just keep the first, as well.

Below is the pelvis on the half-size model. MUCH better! For the price of this model ($49.99, cheaper than the Schlossberg one, too) it's a real bargain. Not perfect, but certainly usable.

Not all anatomical models are created equal. It's something of a bug-a-boo for people like me who want and need a good "average" model to refer to. You'd think a good quality model would be all that's needed, but no. Instead, I'm becoming a collector of models because they all seem to have their good and bad points. Here's an example -- below is a good quality skull model purchased from Sawbones Orthopaedic and Medical Models (my first skull model and the one that set me on my search for an "average" model). Note the severely protruding maxilla and nasal bone. I'm guessing this is not a caucasion skull, but the Sawbones company doesn't specify the ethnicity and markets this skull simply as "Full Skull, Normal Anatomy" --

Here's my recent ecorche' model purchase, which better reflects the skulls I see pictured in anatomy books. The maxilla and nasal bone are much less pronounced. The flaw in this skull is on the other side (not pictured here) where the zygomatic arch has been curiously removed --

This guy below is from a 33.5-inch (half-size) full skeleton model purchased from www.skeletonmodels.com. Not a bad model comparatively, but the ramus of the mandible is unusually thick. Everytime I look at it I want to get a knife and scrape it down to size. I'm guessing it's thick like that just to make the model stable and reduce the possibility of breakage. But in doing so, they've deviated from normal anatomy, and so I've nicknamed this model, "Massive jaw Jim" --

Here's a skull from another full skeleton model -- this one is an 18" tall model that's supposed to be very accurate, designed by Leon Schlossberg from Johns Hopkins University Press, but it has it's share of flaws and inaccuracies like all the rest (not least of which is the very small size of the model itself). The most flat-faced of all the models I have, with a very pointy chin. But because of the tiny size and the ill-fitting plastic parts (not to mention a few other gross inaccuracies) I rarely refer to this model while working -

New toy for the studio! Haven't named him yet, but I'm sure something will come to me soon. This head ecorche' model will be extremely helpful as I try to learn the muscles and structure of the face, although I wish there were another layer (maybe one you could take on and off? I've seen that on some models) with the skin and fat. (by the way -- I didn't sculpt this one. I bought it from a sculpture supply store)

And here is the shape my hand is in this week, unfortunately. I sprained the middle joint of my thumb very badly earlier this year and had to wear this splint for a good 6 weeks, 24/7. It's acting up again from all the sculpting. But this week is a busy one for me with family/kid issues, so I'm taking advantage of the time off to baby my thumb.

It's the weekend now. I'm going to take a break from sculpting. It's no wonder painting has been the more practiced medium throughout the centuries -- sculpting is HARD ON THE HANDS! At my age, I need to be careful about taking care of my joints, I hate to say. My hands especially, which have been suffering from various incidents of tendonitus and strains and sprains in the last year or two. Yesterday on the internet I found a tool called a "sculptor's thumb". Basically it's a scooped-out thumb-shaped tool that you lay across the padded front of your thumb and cradle in your palm, essentially transferring the force normally exerted on the base joint of the thumb to the center of the palm. I must say, I'm seriously thinking about getting myself one though I'm sure you sacrifice a certain amount of sensitivity to the clay in using it. But for the initial pushing-around of big chunks of clay (especially if it's not thoroughly warmed up yet), it would be a great joint-saver! And it's that joint in particular (the lowest thumb joint, just next to the inside of the wrist) that's starting to bother me with all the sculpting I've been doing.

Thought I'd post some new studio pics. The last ones I posted were back when I still had a lot of my stuff in boxes, but it's all out now and roughly organized. Here's the desk area, where I sit and plan/write/research --

A couple of work tables just next to the window. On the left is the hot plate area, which is currently being used for warming up clay. On the right is the dregs of my last "tinker fest", where I hauled out some of the strange and interesting junk I've been collecting over the last few years and proceeded to deconstruct the items and break them into smaller, more usable elements --

A view of the south wall (note the sculpting table front and center! That's the one I made a few weeks ago). Since this photo was taken I've moved things around here a bit. The shelves on the far right have been moved further right and I've moved all the sculpting stuff into the center of the room so I can walk around the sculpture as I working on it. I've also set up the easel for some drawing, too.

More work today. Moved the lips down, refined the features to be more delicate. Still much work yet to be done, particularly around the eye sockets, which just aren't flowing into the whole. No doubt I'm not understanding something about the planes of the face and the underlying structure.

Today I also added a lot more to the back of the head. I just can't work toward a realistic (ish) face without also doing the back of the head and working it as a whole. Still more to add to the back here, but this is a great improvement from the "face lacking a cranium" I started with today --

Just another view here. In this picture you can see the image of the Marin sculpture I had started out trying to emulate. I'm no longer working toward this, though. It was just a good way to start.

"There is an impractical side of human nature particularly open to making sacrifices for the sake of creating objects that are more graceful and intelligent than we normally manage to be".

-- Alain de Botton

Still at the head sculpture, though it's morphed from an all out "master copy" to ... To what? Well, kind of a conglomeration of many things, really. The master copy was proving to be quite difficult, partly because I'm working from a 2-D image and partly because I need to learn more about face/head anatomy. So with that in mind, I'm doing a lot of work from ecorche' images and also from images of other portrait sculptures showing more profile views (to help with my sense of depth and proportion and anatomy). Also, I'm just letting this face evolve into something that speaks to me, using the various images as merely guides. Still have a ways to go (like the whole left side of the face!) --

I recently ordered a 3-D model of an ecorche' head off the internet. It wasn't cheap, but it WAS a lot cheaper than taking a class. That'll help a whole lot, having a 3-D model to reference. I'm also getting a "planes of the head" model which will be of great help, as well.

What's cooking in the studio

Back in the studio after a long hiatus.  Feels good to be working again.  I've had ideas flying every which way, but where to start?  So easy being in school, where you're assigned a project and have a purpose to do it (namely, to show it to the teacher and get that approval checkmark).  But on your own is different.  Nobody's waiting to see anything.  Nobody tells you what to do.  

I went back to the studio with the sole purpose of enjoying my time there.  Last year I'd gotten so caught up in the stress of production and impossibly high expectations of myself, I really did myself in.  I needed the hiatus.  Needed the time  to get my mind calmed down again and approach what I love in just that way -- with the aim to really love it.  And so far it seems to be working!  I'm just there to do what I love.  Whatever that is.. (me and my many interests..)

Currently, I'm working on a mastercopy of a Marin sculpture.  I've never done a sculpture mastercopy before.  Not even sure there IS such a practice.  But this kind of thing works great in drawing and painting -- why not sculpture, too?    I futzed around for a week or so, trying to sculpt a half-face (just front of the head) on a board, but this quickly proved to be less than ideal.  I had to hold the board up with my left hand and try to sculpt with my right.  I should know better (and I do).  It wasn't long before I scrapped that idea and made myself a proper adjustable-height sculpting table, and started a new sculpture on a proper armature.  But see... this is the thing about working on my own.  I really don't know for sure if I'm using the proper armature.  I mean, it's working okay for now, but I have no idea if there's a better approach out there that sculpture professionals know about.  Probably is, but I gotta work with what I have (which doesn't include many sculpture classes or knowledge).  

So here it is.  The first stages of the sculpture.  I decided to start from the ground up.  In this case, to start by sculpting a skull.  That way I would have the proportions figured out in advance, plus I'd learn some valuable stuff about anatomy.  

It's rough, as you can see.  Lots of proportions are out of whack, but this is "in progress".  Still a lot of work to do on it.  Besides, I don't want to spend weeks meticulously sculpting a perfect skull.  I just wanted to get the basic major bony structures in place and then build the face from there.

One of the problems about doing a sculpture mastercopy (or at least how I'm going about it) is that I have only a single photograph of the sculpture I'm trying to emulate.  A two-dimensional picture, which lacks almost all the things that sculpture is all about.  I can't turn it sideways to check for depth... can't wheel my table around it to get a sense of the fullness.  It's a FLAT PICTURE and I'm trying to extrapolate what a three-dimensional version of it would look like.  Not so easy to do!  That's another reason why I figured it'd be helpful to start with a skull (I have a skull model in the studio, so had a three-dimensional object to sculpt from).

I think, too, it would be helpful to lay a piece of tracing paper over the image I'm trying to sculpt and work out what the anatomy would be.  I'll get that going tomorrow.