Moulding Hyper Realistic Reconstructed Sculpture #2 Final

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

Image copyright  Art Di Lella

I'm back again though a bit late publishing this post.  The above images which of course shows the the mould removal from the original clay of #2 the Young Woman from my Hyper Realistic Reconstructed Sculpture Series. I'll will be casting this sculpture in silicone hopefully over the next week or so. In the meantime, I'm still continuing to work on #6 and #5 clay models from this sculpture series but I will be starting a new project which will be introduced tomorrow.
Talk to you then. Cheers.

Casting and the Weather

I just have a quick post for today. As I had mentioned earlier in the week,most of my attention has been working on two projects; an order of bird skull castings by the designer Sonia Kang and two copies in fiberglass of a large sculpture relief of race horses by the artist HaySam(Sam) Haytaoglu.

Photo by Art Di Lella          Sculpture by  HaySam Haytaoglu

 The above image is the finished fiberglass casting of HaySam(Sam) Haytaoglu sculpture relief.

Photo by Art  Di Lella            Bird Skulls by  Sonia  Kang

This pictures shows a some of the Bird Skull casts by Sonia Kang ready to be finished.

And finally, the cast and original clay(right) of Sam's sculpture. But that's not the only thing you should observe in this picture. Note the lack of snow. The weather in Toronto this winter is nothing short of extraordinary. There has been only a few snowfalls this winter and it's usually no more than 5cm. Toronto usually has less snow than surrounding areas but this even in Toronto terms is incredible. I'm not sure how this will affect spring and summer here but we'll see.
Next week, I should have some news on my Hyper Realistic Recontruction Sculpture series.
Have a great weekend. Talk to you all soon.

The New Terra Cotta Gallery

Homo Erectus     Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

I've just published my new Terra Cotta Gallery which you will find below the sculpturemoulds banner. The works shown are sculptures that have been published on the blog recently. All the works are unique,hand built and for sale. This gallery like the others will be updated when new pieces become available.

I will be back later this week with images of studio happenings and hopefully updates on my Hyper Realistic Reconstructed Sculpture series.
Have a great week. Cheers.

Woman in Blue Moulding Hyper Realistic Sculpture #2 Part 2

Today is my 100th post and at the end of this month it will be one year since the blog started.

Today, I've just completed all the silicone coatings on #2. These are the final images of the rubber before I build the support mould.

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

If you are wondering what those strange little nipples are at the base, their purpose is for registration. I should be completing this mould next week and then the following week I will be doing a silicone cast of her. We'll see how things go.
Next week, my main focus will be working on casting a large race horse relief and completing an order of bird skulls for designer Sonia Kang. I'm hoping to have updates on #2 and #6 as well. 
Have a great weekend. Cheers.

Woman in Blue, Moulding Hyper Realistic Reconstructed Sculpture #2

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

I'm still working on #6 LO. I've been trying to finish that clay model over the past two weeks but there were other projects that needed more attention. But the completion is close.

Instead, I've gone ahead and started moulding #2 the young woman. This clay model(the images in this post) was completed back in November (see November 25th post) and as customary it was set aside. About a week ago I had another look at this model and decided she was ready for the next step.

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Just like the others in this series (see Hyper Realism Gallery) the silicone is applied with a brush and the coatings are built up to a thickness of at least 1/4" or 6 mm. Then a support mould is constructed to reinforce the mould and maintain it's shape. Afterwards the mould is stripped off the clay model and the prep for casting begins.
In the next post there should be further developments on this mould and some other studio news as well.
I wish all my visitors a great week and I will be back towards the end of this week. Cheers.

PS   I would like to thank Barbara Di Lella for the images in this post.

Abraham Anghik Ruben Sculpture

I've been spending most of my time this week finishing a large wax cast of a sculpture by the artist Abraham Anghik Ruben. Abraham's work has been one of the most challenging in my thirty plus years of doing professional mould making and casting.  The artist's work from my perspective with it's extremely complex narratives plus it's fusion of Inuit,Viking and classic modernism elements makes his sculptures both compelling and amazing to see. He goes way beyond how most people would perceive Inuit art.

 Image copyright Art Di Lella

But from a moulder's perspective his works are very difficult because of the complex interior forms which are awkward to access and are extremely challenging to mould and cast. There are times when artists make objects that for many different reasons can't be moulded; Abraham's art sometimes falls into this category.
 

Image copyright  Art Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Since the publication of this post,the wax cast has been completed and picked up by the foundry. It will be cast in bronze.
After the work is completed by the foundry, this sculpture will be part of a one person exhibition of Abraham Anghik Ruben's sculpture at the prestigious Smithsonion Institution. Probably, the first Canadian artist to be so honoured
I would like to thank Lou Ruffolo and Rocco Pannese from Kipling Gallery ,Abraham's dealer for giving me permission to photograph Abraham's work
Anyways back to me, I will be posting new stuff on #6 LO and perhaps some news on #2 Hyper realistic reconstructed bust as well.
I hope all of you have a great weekend. Cheers.

Portraits and Memory

Image copyright  Art Di lella

Part of my working life was teaching . I taught a couple of classes for six and a half years at the Art Gallery of Ontario Gallery School. One of my classes was providing instruction for an advanced figurative sculpture class. One typical project that I assigned to students was a head study.
First of all,I never work on something of my own during a class because I feel the need to give the students my full attention. I will like most instructors, model something for demonstration purposes but never involve myself in actually sculpting something  in class.  Sometimes after classes with model's features still fresh in my mind, I will begin to model  from memory. The pictures in this post are an example of a portrait done from memory. The model,who I had never worked with before had a certain presence that I found compelling, so I started to model  her in terracotta clay and it seemed to have worked out pretty well.

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 wanted to mention I was intending today to open a new gallery for the blog but I'm still working on the photos. It will be unveiled soon,I hope. In the next posting, I'm planning to have some  undated images of LO and the large wax cast that is nearing completion. Talk to you all soon. Cheers.

Skin Texture Hyper Realistic Reconstructed Sculpture #6 Part 2

Clay Model  copyright  Art Di Lella

Clay model copyright  Art  Di Lella

I'm back again with a few updated images of #6, LO with a twist. I'm still working on the skin texture but it's starting to migrate down to the neck and shoulders. The project has been a bit drawn out because of the experimentation on the skin texture. As I mentioned in earlier posts, children have very soft subtle texture which has similar complexity to an adult subject. The difference lies in it's minute delicacy which means I'm forced to use extremely small tools to cover large areas. I don't use texture stamps because they are difficult to apply over very complex surfaces and their uniformity is inconsistent with real skin texture. Modelling tools are slower but give better control.

Clay Model  copyright  Art Di Lella

Although the addition of the hair is not quite what her actual hair will look like, I thought it was a different way of viewing the sculpture. A bit of foreshadowing. I'm hoping to finish this sculpture model over the next week or so . We'll see.
Next week, I'll be back with  some studio updates as well as a new page. Have a great weekend, Cheers.