I can’t believe it’s almost September. Jon and I spent last weekend in Maryland collecting his recent acquisition of a lathe, arc welder, and a plasma cutter (ooooh, I can cut through steel now!). On Monday I had a (very long) follow up appointment with the new doctor.
On Tuesday I was lucky enough to spend the whole afternoon in a private lesson with Teri of Teri’s Clay Smiles picking up a ton of tips and tricks for working with polymer clay. She showed me several cane techniques including flowers and leaves. Teri is a fantastic teacher, full of enthusiasm for clay as well as sharing what she knows. The four hours flew by so fast, I was shocked that we’d been at it that long. As soon as I figure out where I’ve hidden my camera, I’ll share more pictures.
I’ve also continued practicing pencil drawing, seeing more progress with each new step, but also finding myself discouraged sometimes. Oddly enough, I’ve always found sculpting to be more intuitive and much easier than getting an image down on paper.
Mercedes, week 4
Mercedes looks Spanish, and I suspect she ended up so because I was having trouble imagining a nose so I went and hunted up a magazine for guidance. Eyes are still very complicated … I don’t think my characters ever blink. They just stare and stare and continue to stare into eternity with their too large eyes.
Practice has also encompassed attempts at full figures, too, but since most of them end up looking like the Creature from the Black Lagoon (okay, not even that good — he at least has opposable thumbs), I won’t be posting them any time soon. It’s only now starting to occur to me that perhaps I should measure or use perspective lines so that my foreshortening doesn’t end up looking like so many blobs of melting ice cream. Minty chocolate chip, even.
Anyhow, I’m off to do art rather than talk about it. May the Flying Spaghetti Monster reach out and touch you with a noodle-y appendage today. Be blessed.
TTFN!