Is he big enough yet? YES

Now that we've fattened up Hoegarth (his name so far), I have started detailing out his legs a little, elbows first, then the cloved feet.  This part to me is a bit of a grind, as I don't care for doing legs and feet.........there's just too darn many of them.  But on we go.  I will say I am looking forward to the paint job at the end.

This little piggie was too little

My next project....a piggie I started this guy in my hotel room on the mainland.  When I got him home, he just looked to small.  Time for a little piggie surgery.  Tomorrow I will post him in the recovery studio!

Mortimer LIVES

At last we come to the end of a long project, and I am tickled pink!  I started the paint job with bright pink, then worked a darker pink purple up towards the heads.  I am always conscious of the eyes first, and to give this guy a really wild look, I used two different sized eyes in each head..  I also like to make em a bit goggle eyed, or wall-eyed.  The upper head is the one that talks and thinks for the beast so he has that sage like expression.  The lower head is the more savage, with the glaring eyes and vicious expression.

Couple of Dragon tips.   Break the tips off a few of the teeth....after all they are always crunching up the peasants property and livestock and fighting other dragons and monsters too!   Painting  a Dragon with 2 different colored eyes (see upper head) gives them a magical look too.

Time to Paint

Here is our dragon all primed out.  I like to use black gesso to prime my dragons so I can allow some of the black to show through the paint job.  When I black wash him at the end, the black primer that shows through will accentuate the final look of a beat up old dragon.

How to skin a Dragon

  So here we are so far after quite a few hours of work.  Old cut up bed sheets soaked in glue and applied to the body and wings, and our dragon is starting to take shape.  Super Sculpty was used to make the eyeballs.  One dragon head is wrapped.. Tomorrow I will post the dragon complete with cloth mache wrap.  (this part can really get tedious)

  Things are going to speed up a bit now, as I have just found out I am bound for the mainland next week, and this guy needs to be done......he's got a party to go to.

Earning my Wings

Got my dragon wing frame work fabricated and taped on my dragon.  Now its time to take him down to the lab for some cloth mache wings.  They are drying now....stay tuned for a preview tomorrow!

Slowly we turn

As you can see from above, I have started the cloth mache on the feet and the bottom areas of the dragon..  As I turn this critter around to work on him, I notice that he could use some more musculature in his other forearm, which I have taped on, and he needs more bulk in the opposite side of his torso, which I have also taped on.  This is one of the reasons I always put a layer of papier mache on all the adjustments I make, instead of going directly to the cloth mache........ it gives me time to assess the anatomy of my beast and make corrections I don't spot right off the bat.  I think we are ready for some wings!

No one can stop THE CLAW!

  How'd I do those claws??  Step 1:  Chop the top off the foot!

Step 2:  Set the claws in the hole just like you like'em.

Step 3: Tape the claws in place, then tape the piece you cut off over the top of the claws and then tape everything up real tight!

These claws ride slightly above ground level so as not to catch on anything in case someone  slides your creature around.  (Don't lie....you've seen people....friends, neighbors, maybe even your wife or kid do this!!)

Now we are getting somewhere.

  After a nice "no work" weekend, our dragon is back under way.  The upper head has a new ridge line on his head and snout, along with some horns.  The lower head got a small snout horn.  I have added the claws to the raised foot, and outfitted the arm with some tendons and muscle bulges.  Also beefed up his chest just a little.  I hope to mimic the claws on the other 3 feet, in a way that makes them appear retracted, like a cats.  Just hinting at them via ridges in the tops of the feet.  After that, some eyes and nostrils and this creature will be ready for the cloth mache ala Dan the Monsterman!

Heads will Roll

Isn't this cool!!  Got the jaws set in the heads and the heads attached to the necks.  I had to break and re bend the lower neck to get the head pointing the way I wanted.  I have started to tape on a little detail on the upper head with pieces of scrap papier mache, and newspaper pieces shaped and taped, then applied to the head.  Once the lower head has his nose ridge and eye brows, I'll give the taped area an application of papier mache to unify it all into one solid piece.  Then I'll add the eyes, nostrils and maybe horns or ears depending on what "seems right".
  *PS... this dragon is being built with techniques gleaned from Dan Reeder and his Paper Mache Monster book.  It was his book that opened the door to paper mache sculpture for me.  Check him out at...  www.gourmetpapermache.com  

JAWS

So here we are with 2 nice sets of (shhhhh..Dragon jaws), all equipped with teeth and tongues and a nice burnt blue paint job.    I have added a fuller belly, so he could eat more peasants, and changed the angles and elongated his necks, so the heads will reach out menacingly.  The necks have wires inside, so you just cut through the papier mache layer where you want to bend em, that way the papier mache won't crush.  Re position them as desired, and retape/remache and viola!
  I am hoping the papier mache goddess (aka my wife) brings me home a nice bag of flour today, as I am out.  Target's brand of flour is my personal fav.  Anyways, then we can add some heads, and ears....maybe horns, or spikes.... depends on how his heads shape up.   A pretty big project, huh?

Legs and heads

Here I've got the 4rth leg taped on and I've added a bit of a hump to his back.  Some new heads taped up to the side and its ready for an application of papier mache.  Looking at it now, I think he needs a bigger belly, and wings!!  Toes and claws for the feet too!  Look for a new post Monday with all his improvements.

The leg bones connected to the thigh bone...

  Last we spoke, I was taping up parts.  And here they are, all papier mached!  I don't  know exactly what they'll be, but I have an idea of where I want to start heading.  A lot more tape and some hot glue (yuk)....a little trimming to make things fit and there it is!!!!   Cool huh?
  After I tape appendages on to a body, I like to do another papier mache application over the whole critter, just to secure things and build up some more body strength.  After seeing him somewhat assembled, I think I may want to make him some bigger heads (AHA! you say!!)  So that's tomorrows project after this dries......The missing 4rth leg, and some new heads....and maybe a couple of other surprises.

Creature Feature

Started a new project today.  A special order piece.  Thought I might post step by step pix to document how I make a.....shall we call it a little beast for now.
  First off I just grab a big stack of newspapers and start wadding them up till I get a body mass the size I want.  This one is going to be lean and mean,  at least for today.  Tape him up pretty good, so he can't get away.  Add a tail, and some hips on the back end, and maybe a neck or 2 on the front, and tape all that up nice and tight.  Right now I just have a general idea of what I want and where this guy is going.  I'll tape up some more legs and heads too, then take them all down to the lab for the 1st layer of paper mache.

Lookie Here

  My latest, newest, biggest project yet.  A flamingo.....and hopefully not an engineering nightmare.  I'm shooting for the classic one leg pose.  I have a one inch oak dowel for his leg, secured inside his body with that crazy gap fill foam you get at Home Depot.  The dowel is going thru a hole in the plywood into a trash can, which supports him while I work on the body.  The leg is solid as a rock.... now I need  to get him balanced/mounted on a base that's not too huge, but can support his weight, and not tip over.  I was going to wimp out and have him sitting on the ground with no legs showing, but he looked too much like a garden planter, and I need to learn and challenge myself, so I can do bigger and bigger pieces.  Stay tuned,  it should be interesting!

Thinking BIG

  Here is the last in process picture of my elephant sculpture, as his paint job nears completion.  I've decided to change his name to "Tembo".  I was really trying to convey elephant "spirit" with this paint scheme, instead of just elephant, and I am pretty happy with the way it turned out.  He needs a bit more shadowing to accent his 3D look and a coat of clear satin finish to complete and protect him.

  I am always thinking about making a really BIG paper mache sculpture.  I even looked up the world record, and its about 7' tall by 28' in circumference.  But wouldn't it be fun to make one bigger!  I would so wish to get a grant or an artist in residency to actually create one of these huge sculptures right on the spot it was to be displayed.  People would come by daily and watch as the piece slowly took shape and came to life.

Here we go....at last

 

The paint job on my elephant is finally taking a direction.  Kind of an avenging elephant spirit/day of the dead sort of theme.  Loosely based on one of my favorite movies.... "The Crow".    He would be the re-incarnated elephant spirit, who would avenge and strike fear into all those who have mistreated his elephant kin.

  I should finish him up this weekend, and the final pix will be up on my Face Book page and the website. New project posts will be following next!

  www.studioosterberg.com

A little bit of Color

  So here is Hobart with a bit of color blocked in.  I like it.  Kind of like a split personality.  Maybe I'll make him comedy on one side and tragedy on the other.  Maybe some local style tattoo work.  Don't exactly know for sure yet.............  I'm just feeling around in the dark, till I find the "light switch".
   Got a flamingo and 2 kookie fish, and a squirrel in the works right now too, with a dragon on the wish list.  It will a busy couple of weeks!

Hobart

  Here is an in process picture of my latest sculpture.  A little elephant I've named Hobart.  Picked out some colors for him yesterday at Home Depot.  The little sampler jars of test color you can buy there are the perfect size for these sculptures.
  Most of the time I don't try to paint my animals to look like the real thing.  I consider them blank canvases to use as I please to convey something to the viewer, or just to relate something I feel like saying. 
  All the times I have ever saw live elephants, they were being put to use by man to perform tricks, or amuse people.  A far cry from being the monarchs of the African plains that they are in real life.  I have an idea that this bit of tragedy will come to light when I paint him.
  I will be posting daily progress pictures of Hobart to document the path he takes to being finished.

The highs an looooows

Wow,  just looked back at my last blog post, and my how things have changed.  I had worked my way up to selling a few florals every month in a prestigious gallery here in Hawaii and feeling pretty good about the way things were headed.  Then unexpectedly, the gallery closed, so I decided to make a major time and money investment, and enter the Marin art festival in CA, last June.  After investing upwards of $2,500 in shipping, transportation, lodging, and entry fees, we made a whopping $375 at the show.  MAJOR DOWNER.  Haven't painted since.
  So was the failure a curse or a blessing?  I have now turned my desire to create art towards sculpture, and more specifically paper mache.  I am also making what I want, instead of pressuring myself into trying to make things which should sell.  The paper mache is being received well in its limited exposure to public, so who knows where it will go.  I just know one thing..  Its really fun!

www.studioosterberg.com