Painting Hyper Realistic Sculpture #3 Part 2

Since returning from Montreal, I've been spending time working up the painting on BB. The whole process so far,has been very gradual with many revisions.

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

 The colouring is applied layer by layer. The approach is similar to glazing in painting but the control is not the same. As you can see in the above images the painting of BB hasn't reached beyond the neck plus there is a little too much red on the skin. More changes and colours will be needed to complete the painting of this sculpture. I'm hoping to complete this stage of the project  next week and then on to hair punching. We'll see.

A Short Post

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

 Hi ,Barbara and I just got back from Montreal , fantastic city, very beautiful. Unfortunately,  the post I had planned to publish on Monday had to be delayed till Thursday.  In that post, I 'll have some some new updates on BB and other studio projects.
Talk to you on Thursday.

Painting Hyper Realistic Reconstructed Sculpture #3 Part 1

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

This is an early part of the painting process. Some basic colours  are applied in order to establish or map out where each application will go as well as the intensity. It's as I've stated before, a time consuming  stage whereby  there are lots of changes to go through. I'll try to record as much of the painting process as possible.
In the meantime, Barbara and I will be in Montreal this weekend.  Barbara is taking part in a craft fair which is part of the Puces Pop festival. We'll back on Monday just in time to publish a new post,enjoy your weekend,talk to you then.

Hyper Realistic Reconstructed Sculpture #3 in Silicone has Arrived!

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

On Friday of last week, I began the silicone casting of #3 aka Banner Boy. Actually, he is a young adult male with a unusually long face and cranium. I finished the casting process on Saturday and was able to demold that very day. Here are the images of the raw, unpainted cast. I find these particular photos give the sculpture a rather 'spooky' quality.

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

The silicone was precoloured  with pigment and flocking like the others. The  advantage in having a base colour is that the painting in silicone is much less work but more importantly it will have the translucency needed to look like skin. This tranlucency tends to obscure the skin texture for the moment but will be visible again once the surface colouring is applied. In the meantime, I have to inspect the cast for flaws and correct them and then after that I'll begin the prep for colouring the surface.Yeah!
I'll be back later this week hopefully with news about BB and other studio projects. Talk to you then.

Moulding Hyper Realistic Bust Final

I've just completed the the mould of hyper realistic bust #3 . The process went smoothly and Barbara is again responsible for the images in today's post. Thank you, Barbara.

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

The first picture depicts the outside support shell. This of course is used for the purpose of providing a rigid  support as well as maintaining proper register. The blue silicone itself contains the exact detailed impression of the original clay sculpture as well as being extremely flexible so it can be safely removed from the fragile model and later the cast.  The subsequent photos illustrate the mould removal process.
Afterwards, the mould is then cleaned,inspected and then assembled with the next stage being preping for casting.
Next post, I'm hoping to show the raw silicone cast of Hyper Realistic Bust #3 Banner Boy.
Until the next posting ,have a great weekend.

Moulding Hyper Realistic Bust #3 Part 3

Back again with more pictures of moulding #3.  Again this weekend has been busy with other projects but I had an opportunity to complete the rubber portion of the mould. These are the latest images.

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

It's very blue,rather distracting. I find it interesting that companies that produce silicone rubber find it necessary to pigment them to such bright colours. Perhaps the marketing departments of these manufacturers think that will increase sales . It's funny because these materials are usually used as mould materials with no intent to display them.
Meanwhile, I'll probably complete the moulding this week and soon after a new silicone cast.
We'll see.

Moulding Hyper Realistic Bust #3 Part 2

Image copyright Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

I'm finally on to the mouldmaking  of the third hyper realistic bust(Banner Boy). The first two images shown are of the silicone itself.  It's very blue! I haven't altered the colour in these photos, it's that intense. The first picture shows the two components of the rubber inside a container prior to mixing. The second, the mixing of the two parts.
The last three images illustrate the application on the model itself, Hooray! After the first coating is cured then more applications will be needed to get a sufficient thickness and later a rigid support shell  is built over the rubber to complete the mould. I should  have all the rubber coatings done this week in time for my next post.
Until then, have a great weekend.

PS - I want to thank my partner Barbara for the great pictures shown in this post and Cassandra at Sculpture Supply Canada for her helpful advice.

Preparation for Moulding Hyper Realistic Bust #3

Finally, I'm onto prepping #3 aka Banner Boy.  This model was completed back in the winter of this year but I was unable to take it any further at that time.  BB actually is an reconstruction of an somewhat young adult male. I once attempted a reconstruction on him back in the early 1980's but didn't get very far with it.

Anyways back to the task at hand, this model like the others was modeled in a oil base clay because it's more convenient than water base but also it would not harm the fragile skull underneath. The prep process involves first, a visual inspection of the model, looking for blemishes and secondly deciding where to part the mould.
The third step usually involves applying an appropriate release agent to the model.

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

As you can see in the above images, the surface detail is quite subtle and very fragile. This preparatory part of the moulding process is absolutely critical. Any blemish missed will show up in the mould itself and of course later in the cast which could be difficult or impossible to replicate the original texture. That could be disastrous as many weeks of work may be ruined.

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Attention and  focus are extremely important during this stage. Next time, I hope to show the moulding process.
Until that time,have a great week.

Stillborn in Bronze

Unfortunately, it been so busy I haven't been able to do the prep for the moulding on Hyper realistic bust #3 "Banner Boy".  Plus, I've made some further changes to #5 but I wanted to show those later. I thought instead to return to my bronze sculpture series.
In today's post, I wanted to show another bronze sculpture of a baby but this time the subject is a baby that is stillborn. A difficult subject to talk about when unfortunately it occurs more often than people think even in Canada. I didn't do this sculpture because I was depressed or wanting to express some sort of morbid thinking.
It's more to do with process and systems, when things work and when they don't.
The sculpture was first modeled in clay then further refined in wax back in 2004. The piece was later cast in bronze in 2005.

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

 After doing the "Baby Born" sculpture,I didn't feel that piece was complete so in a sense it needed a metaphorical partner to complete this idea. The irony that one's birth is also one's death I found compelling.
This piece like it's partner was exhibited in 2007 at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition.
Next week, I should have some updates on #5 and #3 BB.
Have a great Labour Day weekend.