A Link to the Past

A few years ago I accepted a project on which I worked mostly in my off-time...mostly. It was a project that unexpectedly spanned several years, much to the dismay of the small and dedicated group of people with whom I was working. I was happy with what I was doing, but incredibly embarrassed about the length of time it was taking me to do it. The project was a privately commissioned sculpture of Link (from the Legend of Zelda video game series) that would become a model kit for the group members' personal collections––not to be reproduced or sold.

When I finally completed the sculpture, I sent it to Joachim Höstlöf for clean up, and a few months later, I received my copy of the kit from the project coordinator, Derek Kan. I admired the excellent casting job, then carefully packed the kit pieces away in a box, hoping I'd have the time to put it together and paint it someday. 

Derek's kit was completed last December, and he's sharing the process of the sculpt's creation from its humble wire armature beginning, to its beautifully painted completion on his website.

The finished kit, painted by John Allred.

I would not have been able to finish the sculpture without the encouragement of the group, and definitely not without the help of Joachim, the very talented model builder and sculptor who made the beautiful shield and swords and prepared my sculpture for the the molding and casting process.

Help an Artist Bring a Dragon to Life

Between working on projects that are under non-disclosure agreements (which means I currently can't share them) and my preparations for GeekGirlCon and Gen Con, I haven't had much time to devote to my blog in the past few weeks. But I do have time to bring the cool artwork of a fellow artist to your attention!

Gunter Reimnitz is a talented sculptor we met during our trip to Vashon Island earlier this year. He's hoping to raise the funds to turn his fantasy of building a one-ton fire-breathing metal dragon sculpture into a reality. Wouldn't you like to help him solve the riddle of steel by contributing to his Kickstarter campaign?
Check it out!

The Artists of Vashon Island

One of the ferries to Vashon Island.

Last month Vinod and I took a weekend trip to Vashon Island (twenty minutes from Seattle by ferry) to experience the bi-annual Vashon Island Art Studio Tours. Creative people are well represented among the island's population of 11,000. In addition to stores and galleries that carry artwork by Vashon Island artists, the island also has its own art association, movie theater and community theater.

A view of Puget Sound from Point Robinson.

Point Robinson Lighthouse

We stayed in a little cottage that sits on peaceful garden grounds at a B&B called The Artist's Studio Loft. The property is nestled between art studios, homes, and farmlands dotted with unoccupied vegetable stands that operate on the honor system.

On the afternoon we arrived we watched birds waddle after a horse, hoping to find the bugs she stirred up as she grazed in the pasture next door. In the evenings we listened to the pleasant chirping of frogs.

Our weekend cottage.

We made it to just over half of the twenty art studios on the list. We would have liked to see them all, but for us two days wasn't enough. We spent too much time chatting with the artists and admiring their work (and their beautiful homes and gardens). We were impressed by the talent and craftsmanship possessed by every artist we visited during our tour. The thought of buying a piece from each one was very tempting, but unfortunately, being artists ourselves, we couldn't afford to. 

How would you like a view like this from your yard?

Or this?

One of Gunter Reimnitz's ravens guards Gordon R. Barnett's balcony.

We visited the following artists and studios:
Empty Nest Studio
Brian Benno Blown Glass
Barnworks
Liz Lewis Pottery
Brian Fisher Studio
Penny Grist and Larry Muir
Reimnitz Studio
Mary Hosick Pottery
Pam Ingalls
Kristen Reitz-Green
GRB Bells

I encourage you to check out their websites and the Vashon Island Art Studio Tour website to learn more about these artists as well as those we did not have the opportunity to meet this time around.

One of Gordon R. Barnett's beautiful bell designs, the Crocus Bell.

Gordon R. Barnett's work space.

We were envious of many artists' beautiful work spaces. I hope to someday have a special studio to work in rather than a disorganized bedroom awkwardly retrofitted for the purpose, crammed with flat files and tabourets. We would have liked to take more pictures, but it was hard to avoid the feeling that we were intruding in the artists' intimate studio spaces.

It was one of the more relaxing and inspirational little vacations in recent memory. We have to go baaaaaack (for the winter tour)!

Edited to fix the link to Pam Ingalls's website, which was previously not working.

Faun

And now for something completely different.

I like to sculpt. I've actually only completed a handful of sculptures over the last decade or so, but sculpting is something I've enjoyed doing for a long time. Molding and shaping something with my hands is relaxing for me. While I still make plenty of mistakes while sculpting, I don't have the same anxiety about it that I often do about painting. Somehow it feels like the clay can always be fixed.

I made this sculpture way back in 2003, specifically for a mold-making and casting class I was attending. Once the class was over, I didn't have the space at home to work, money for the supplies, or the time to practice making molds, so my knowledge has since lapsed. These photos show the sculpture before it was taken to class, where it was subsequently destroyed upon its removal from the mold. This was something I was aware would likely happen. The sculpture has many pesky undercuts that a sculptor would usually deal with by cutting apart the sculpture and molding and casting each piece separately.  I still have two resin casts and a silicone mold of this sculpt should I ever try my hand at casting more.

 

The sculpture was made of super sculpey with a wire armature underneath. I've learned a lot since making this piece. You can see how much of it has not been smoothed out or sanded, and the tail, especially, is lumpy.

I've also included the design sheet I drew up before beginning the sculpt. Not very technical. Remember, those drawings are nearly ten years old. Please be kind!