The Sculptor's Stand - Page 23

**ArtsyLynda** · #**331** 02-28-2012, 06:34 PM

Ahhh, home again. We've been in Wellington FL for a week, visiting our daughter who has her two horses and several of her clients and their horses down there for a couple of months of training. She has daily lessons herself with Heather Blitz, who was a Team Gold and Individual Silver winner at the recent Pan Am Games (in dressage) and who is trying out for the 2012 Olympic team. I used up - USED UP - 8 gig photo cards twice taking pictures of our daughter riding her two boys. What fun! And we ran into an art fair in Del Ray Beach which was a lot of fun too. I got some painting ideas I want to try (in all my free time, LOL) from some things I saw. One artist did beautiful realistic stuff and silly cartoony stuff and some stuff that was so loose, *I* could've painted it! I really admired the variety of her work - and some of the things she had for sale were no "better" than what I can do. So I'm gonna try to not be so critical of my experiments and see if they sell. Now I just need to get back into the studio and get some work done!! Nice to be home.

**sculpturedolls** · #**332** 02-29-2012, 11:03 PM

What a boost to your art to be gone for a week and go to places that rejuvenate your spirit.

How fun to be their with your daughter and taking all the pics of trainings! No doubt you got more inspiration to bring back to the studio. I know you said before you didn't consider yourself a painter so now you've got some new ideas of ways to paint, sounds great!

**ArtsyLynda** · #**333** 03-01-2012, 09:21 AM

Yeah, it was great fun! Gotta get some of the photos printed out (haven't had time yet) and see which ones are gonna be useful!

**sculpturedolls** · #**334** 03-05-2012, 12:42 PM

Hi Everyone

Life is good now that I have a waxing pen! Thanks Lynda for suggesting it and also for telling me about the Gojo cleaner for smoothing the wax. All is working great and here's a blog post about it.

**ArtsyLynda** · #**335** 03-05-2012, 02:38 PM

Glad to hear it's going so well! Haven't had time to look at your blog post yet but hopefully will get to it today. Busy with stuff for my daughter's farm - newsletter, website, marketing. Gotta finish my own new art website (It looks great, I just have a lot more to do on it), and the art show I host every year is coming up soon, so I'll be busy with that. My writing's going well, but time in the studio isn't happening much right now. Argh . . . Gotta get something going so I'll have something to work on at Equine Affaire! Honestly part of my reluctance to get back to the studio is the cost of bronze. I've done a couple of terra cotta reliefs but they don't "sing" to me like the pieces for bronze. *sigh* Sure hope I have good sales at Equine Affaire so I can get back to work!!!

**ArtsyLynda** · #**336** 03-06-2012, 08:38 AM

I just have to crow a bit! A story I wrote has been accepted to an anthology! That's so cool!! What's so cool about it is that it's a ghost/suspense/horror type story, not at all my normal genre (magical fantasy with a bit of romance). It was HARD to write, and now I have to rewrite it according to their critique, but still - that's SO COOL! I'm excited!!!

Gotta get writing . . .

**sculpturedolls** · #**337** 03-12-2012, 11:59 AM

That sounds cool but what is an "anthology"? Glad you are having good creative fun. Bronze does cost a lot and metal prices are up so it makes foundries charge more. Ceramic pieces can "sing" but it takes practice to get your voice on them so to speak. For me, it's the combo of glazes, gold and china paint but others use finishes of Ron Young which I know you have. To play with these until your signature finish is dynamite and people ooh and ah about it.

I've just been working on fixing my small wax of chaise lady. So far so good and I don't have no idea in the world how I would have repaired the eyelashes, embroidery, and other small details without my wax pen. Thanks so much for suggesting it! I'm loving working with it and it saved my lungs. I can work all day inside my studio and feel great. There it goes for speaking up when a hitch occurs in our process and we need help.

**ArtsyLynda** · #**338** 03-12-2012, 12:37 PM

Glad the wax pen is such a benefit to you!

An anthology is a collection of short stories and possibly novellas, all by different authors. Someone locally was putting one together and said that all the stories had to have some relationship with this region (the Miami Valley, where Dayton OH and a lot of other cities and towns are located). I normally write magical fantasies with some romance thrown in at times - adventure stories with magic involved - that kind of thing, but this time I wrote a horror/suspense/ghost story kind of thing, something I've never done. And it got in!!! That's amazing! I have to do some rewriting to make it better, but they gave me good suggestions, so that's what I'm working on. The story will be published in a book that will cost about $20 or so. It will be on Amazon and the authors involved will also be selling it (because it's a small publisher, so there won't be a lot of advertising for it). Even large publishers don't advertise much anymore except for their blockbuster authors. All writers are having to self-promote and even self-edit far more than they used to.

I really don't like doing one-of-a-kind pieces - I like doing editions. I don't know if terra cotta is going to be much of a medium for me, but I've started a third piece and the second piece I'd started has stayed moist despite being truly ignored for over a month! I'm using Cling plastic draping material from Walmart - stuff you put over lamps and chairs and so on when you're painting, and it clings to it. It does a great job! It's been ages since I had any dry cleaning done (I did just have a coat cleaned - we try to buy washable stuff), so I didn't have any dry cleaning plastic at the time. This Cling stuff is great! I just cut off a section the width I want and I have a lot of plastic to work with because it's such a wide sheet.

When my story stymies me again, I'll go work on those two terra cotta pieces. I need to get the wings started for my Pegasus. I guess I'll work on those at Equine Affaire. Or else I'll have to start a new horse. The other WiPs I have are too far along to work on at the show (Horseplay just needs the legs detailed, and I can't do that kind of work at a show since it requires so much focus).

**sculpturedolls** · #**339** 03-13-2012, 12:46 PM

Ah, okay, that's what an anthology is. That says a lot about you as an author and your story that you got included in the book. Fun to write in a new way on subject matter you don't usually do. I like how you switch back and forth in order to stay fresh and positive when you get back to your sculpt.

The thicker the plastic the better for keeping it moist is what I've found. Thin bags versus thick strong bags do better (could be the seams are more sealed?). Nice you've found what works for you with the clingy plastic.

**ArtsyLynda** · #**340** 03-13-2012, 12:56 PM

Yeah, I seem to do best when I switch back and forth between writing and art. And I do best at art when things are selling well to encourage me to keep doing stuff!

When I started sculpting, I was told dry cleaning bags were best because they're so thin and clingy. The "clingy" thing is why I bought that cling plastic at Walmart. I didn't know thicker was better! Good to know!

**ArtsyLynda** · #**341** 04-11-2012, 08:05 PM

It's been a while since I posted anything, sorry! I've been busy building websites (still) and working on my story that will be PUBLISHED in an anthology this fall (YAY! - just sent the revised version in!) and getting ready for Equine Affaire, my one big trade fair for the year. My booth is all set up now, yay! I'm looking forward to an evening of working out in the fitness center, then soaking in the tub and relaxing. Everything's ready. I just need to polish the marble on one sculpture and clean the acrylic box I use to display jewelry, dust and vacuum, set up my computer with the internet host there, get my "office" stuff ready to go, and I'm ready for customers!

As you know, I've had over two years of health problems (injured shoulder, three surgeries, long recoveries) and as you may not be aware, I haven't had the heart to sculpt much. During that period I did the life-size and a bunch of ancillary pieces, and yeah, I loved that (I work best with deadlines!), but I didn't do anything of my own purely for the joy of it. I tried to do that with terra cotta, but sorry, Tamara, I never finished more than the lion relief. I may get back to the others I'd started (three other pieces) if they're still workable, but my heart wasn't in them.

I HAVE to have a piece to work on in my booth or I'll go NUTS! I spent a few days pondering, then a day digging out pictures of my last foal when she was tiny and my daughter on her show horses. Then I ran across the Andalusian stallion I'd photographed in Malibu several years ago. He's quite famous - a Breyer horse was done of him a few years ago ("Alborozo"). I'd asked his owner via email if I could use one of the photos of him as the model for a Pegaus I wanted to do (still haven't done those wings for Feather - I planned to use Alborozo for a different Pegasus). He invited me to come out and see him and his horse whenever we were in Malibu, so when we went to San Diego that year, we drove up to Malibu and he put his horse through all his paces - it was wonderful! So anyway, I'm doing a piece of Alborozo doing a "levade" (a rear at a 45 degree angle that they hold for a few seconds - no leaping and pawing, just holding that position. It takes tremendous strength and discipline). The Levade was a war tactic in the cavalry days - a good war horse would punch out the opponents with his hooves, saving his rider the trouble of killing them. (Seriously!) So anyway - I'm excited to be working on this piece, and I'm excited about the show. Yay!!

**sculpturedolls** · #**342** 04-13-2012, 02:37 PM

How's the show going? How fun to be back in the saddle so to speak and selling and making art you love. I looked up "levade" and it's a neat pose I think. Will look beautiful with that famous horse as the model. Look forward to seeing that piece come to life.

Happy you are doing well and please update us soon!

~Sd

**ArtsyLynda** · #**343** 04-13-2012, 04:10 PM

I'm having a really good show so far! No bronze sales yet, but lots of serious interest. I understand people have to think awhile about buying something like this that's really only good as a conversation piece or a doorstop, LOL.

The levade piece is coming along pretty well - I got the body pretty much in place yesterday and today I've been tweaking details and getting the legs in place. I've also been drooling over the pics of my LIFE-SIZE being paintaed and mounted on the trailer to haul it to Wisconsin!!! Havent' had time to download those yet - I'm having a break in customers at the moment, which has been rare today (which is a good thing!). I'll get the pics up here soon.

**ArtsyLynda** · #**344** 04-16-2012, 09:12 PM

Home again, yay! Still haven't taken pics of the levade - never had time at the show and I haven't unpacked him yet. I made pretty good sales at the show! Now if some of the "be-backers" who were thinking about bronze will actually order, I'll be in hog heaven!! LOL

**sculpturedolls** · #**345** 04-17-2012, 11:03 AM

May the "bebacker" (cute saying) do come back and call you for a bronze. Or they may see you next year and get one then. Sometimes a sale takes a while to make. Glad you did good on the other items and had some good sales!

Have fun getting back to work on the levade horse.

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