Dogs with Fronts

Another idea I had a while back is starting to come back around...my boss told me this story about a dental assistant she spoke to who does volunteer work putting gold caps or doing gold fillings on dog's teeth. Generally its police dogs and other types of service dogs, as they are the ones that can afford to do so but it made me want to do a series of sculptures of dogs with gold fronts...

I have a friend who has a Cane Corso (Brassi!) and after reading up on them a bit, I definitely want to sculpt one, if not more of them.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Ok so I wouldn't be sculpting a puppy but this was just too cute not to put up.)

So badass...

Another friend has a...well actually I'm not sure what type of dog he is....(I think maybe a Caucasian Ovcharka) (Odin!), but he's also getting sculpted with some fronts...

And I'll probably do a pitbull (Isabelle!!), maybe a Rottie (anyone I know have a Rottie?)...we'll see how the first few go and if its worth doing a whole bunch of them...

(None of these dogs above are dogs I actually know....Only reference photos!)

Birthday Shoutout

Here's to my best friend, Savannah Roberts, on her birthday. Love her!

Boots and Backyard visitors

It seems that I go through these phases....sometimes I won't have ANY ideas for new work at all. Other times I'll have almost too many. And of course I never seem to have ideas when I have spare time and always have tons of ideas when I am more busy than I've ever been. Right now I have lots of ideas...and no time. The commission I got from Moore College of Art to sculpt a 6 foot high victorian boot is coming along really well but its eaten up all the sculpting time I have.

(Left image is the maquette with the large boot armature. Right image is me with the large boot in progress.)

Anyway, we're getting ready to finish up the sculpting and start the moldmaking and casting process. I figure that I'd like to start a few new sculptures while this is going on, so if I have a few days where casting giant boots is really making me nuts (I have a feeling there will be at least a few of those) I can atleast be working on some of my own sculptures.

I've had these opossums in my back yard for the past few months (they eat the cat food at night...and sometimes in the late afternoon). Opossums are so weird looking, or as my mom would say "ugly cute", and I definitely think I want to start sculpting some.

My backyard opossums.

Not sure what I want to do with them yet but they've got a few things going for them:

They're interesting looking (like rats with cooler hairdos).

They do stuff like this.

And this.

They play dead when they're scared.

And at times, they are like little baby opossum school buses.

More on this when I figure out what I'm doing with it...

So many bees, so little time...

So I started a post about this group of deer sculptures I want to do (More on that later), but then when google searching for groups of deer, I somehow came across this...

And then I saw that the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery is having a portrait competition, with entries due July 31st...

And then I thought of my friend Tim, who at one point had the biggest beard I know...

All this to say, look for an upcoming sculpture of Tim with a beard of bees, (which hopefully will be done before the 31st of July)...

Darla Jackson Sculpture 2.0

Alot of crazy things have been going on in my life recently... the craziest of which was me getting married. It was a wonderful amazing wedding and I loved every minute of it...but along with wedding planning and Martha Stewart wedding magazines come the phenomenon that fills your brain with the cotton fluff of the wedding industry. It was like the wedding took over my life and I couldn't think of or talk about anything else. I knew it was a problem when I realized I hadn't thought about making any new work in months and I was annoyed at the fact I had a solo show coming up...ANNOYED! That's ridiculous! All I've wanted for the past few years was a solo show and I get one and am bothered by the fact that it takes time away from figuring out centerpieces?! What bullshit! And I wasn't even one of those crazy brides either...well no more crazy than I normally am... Anyway, when it was over Justin and I were both happy to be back to "normal" and not have to think about weddings anymore. It's been a few weeks getting back into the swing of things but we've both been at the studio almost every day of June so far, working on the giant Victorian boot commission I got (The other crazy thing...More on that later). Anyway, today I watched a Ron Mueck You-tube video which I feel like really kicked my ass back into high gear. His work is amazing because he manages to tap directly into the viewers emotions with his work, something I strive to do myself....He just does it so damn well. And on top of that, his craftsmanship is impeccable...I mean to see one of these things up close and find no seam lines, and instead to see goosebumps and veins?! I mean come on! I would jump at a chance to work for this guy...And if he wasn't already cool enough, he did the voice for Ludo in Labyrinth. Awesomest guy ever...

Pregnant Woman, 2002.

© Ron Mueck.

Some other artists whose work I am looking at right now are:

Tricia Cline - www.triciacline.com

I saw Cline's work randomly on the NYFA website one day and LOVED it. She's a self taught ceramicist whose attention to detail is amazing.

The Hum of the Nataraja, 2007.

© Tricia Cline

Rosy Lamb - www.rosylamb.com

Lamb shows at the gallery in Stockton, NJ that I also have some work in and I just like her style. Nothing seems too precious yet everything is full of life.

Within Eden, 2008.

© Rosy Lamb

Kiki Smith

She just always has something I can look at...

Born, 2002.

© Kiki Smith

Beth Cavener Stichter - www.followtheblackrabbit.com

I saw her work at the Clay Studio in Philadelphia and have loved it ever since. She uses animals as her subjects and can really express human emotion with them, which is something I strive to do with my work.

Olympia, 2006.

© Beth Cavener Stichter

Well I'm hoping that looking at all this great art all day will help continue to inspire me until I get in the studio and can put the inspiration to good use...!