Back to the Cardinal

I sculpted this maquette a few months ago. But I had to put it on the back burner. When I pulled it out to start working on it again and it was kind of in bad shape. So I re sculpted it a little and gave him shoulders and a chest which I molded around an empty coke bottle.

 Gives him kind of a portly figure. But I'm only drawing him from the shoulders up really

In the original idea he has a piece of fabric folded over his crescent head. I was thinking of this as a head covering that he no longer can use. Or something like that. To mimic this piece of fabric I folded some tissue and sprayed it with some water so it would keep it's hold.

I then cut some fabric into little "costumes" for him. The first costume is from this piece of red silk fabric I found at a thrift store. The thrift store I go to has a very well stocked sewing section and they sell bags of various fabrics for a couple bucks. 

He's looking very classy, if I do say so myself. However, the folds and drapery of the fabric weren't really working at the scale I needed. 

so I created a second costume out of a shop rag which I then sprayed down with water and created some folds and draping that I liked a little better. 

Even though he looks like he works in a hospital now.

Both these costumes will be useful. I'll use the hospital one to help with the overall shapes and folds, and I'll use the silky one to see how those shapes and folds will be effected by the light.

Next I used a hot glue gun to glue these Gems onto two paper clips. In the original idea he has these two floating orb like things for eyes. I glued the gems to the paper clips so I could hold them up to the face and get an idea of where the light and shadow would be.

It looks like a sketchy lollipop.

I did a few thumbnail sketches and two bigger sketches. 

I'm studying the light and shadow and also still trying to settle on the composition.

I also looked at some skin references I collected for this piece a while back and did some studies of that.

I also just drew the gems on their own.

Happy February 13th Everybody

In yesterday's happy days post I talked a lot about plans for future projects. One of the beneficial things to me about doing these happy days posts is that it shows me where my head is at.

When I talk only about future projects and video footage and that type of stuff, that means I'm only thinking about that type of stuff. And that means I need to get out. 

As artists we live in our heads a lot. It's hard to imagine another way of doing it. 

I once had a friend who thought of herself as an artist, but she never really made art. She just liked to go to art events and hang out. 

One time she was drunk and revealed her art philosophy to me. She said something like "having a drink and talking with friends is my art form." 

I thought my eyes would never return from the back of my head. 

Hanging out is great. Friends are great. Making memories is great.  It's just not the same thing as making art. 

It's like if I said I was a plumber and all I did was go to plumber conventions and drink with plumbers. 

Anyway. All that is to say, I have the opposite problem. 

I spend the majority of my time making art and thinking about how to continue making art. And I forget to live life. I live in my head. 

I have my go to stops to make when I feel that happening. 

The first safeguard I have against this is going to the grocery store. I do it every week, whether or not I really need anything. It's just a baseline guarantee that I will leave the house for something other than work.

Then there's thrift stores, hardware stores and book stores. It's not about going to find something in particular. It's just to go. Look at the stuff. See the people. Get annoyed by the people. Become curious by the people. 

Some people like going to nature for this sort of thing. I'm not really one of them. 

Sometimes things pop and inspire an idea of whatever. But looking for that, is not the point. 

Today I just went to the thrift store and looked at every aisle. 

There was a bag of dolls, an old record player, a stand up piano. A lot of people not watching where they're going. thrift stores have a smell. 

It makes me think: an individual person has a distinct smell, people have the same smell. 

I went to the hardware store and did the same thing. 

I did end up getting an Awl.

The guy in front of me was buying a saw and a three year warranty. Three years. But it doesn't kick in until after the first 90 days. 

He asked what seemed to be way too many questions about this warranty.

I listened to music that I've never listened to before.

I went to the art supply store too, which I guess is kind of cheating because it's work related. But whatever I needed lead for my new mechanical pencil hobby horse I'm on.

The art store was crowded. 

Even though I get crabby when there's some bozo standing in the aisle I need, I get curious about what kind of thing this bozo is gonna be making. 

Is this bozo new to art? A veteran? Is this not even for this bozo? 

Will this be the one and only piece of art this bozo ever makes? 

What if this bozo goes home and makes a piece of art, and somehow in a thousand years the thing this bozo makes becomes the only known piece of art from this time in history to future historians?  

I bought my pencil lead and drove home. Refreshed and ready to rumble.

Have fun

Goodnight Sweeties