Friday, 25 October 2013

Hyper Realistic Sculpture "Mystery Bust" Part 1

Copyright       Art  Di Lella 2013


Copyright       Art  Di Lella 2013

Copyright       Art  Di Lella 2013

Copyright        Art  Di Lella 2013
Over the past two weeks I've been working on a hyper realistic sculpture bust in clay which was commissioned about a month ago. For now I can't divulge the story about this sculpture until the end of November.
Until then I will refer to it as my "mystery bust". 

Sunday, 6 October 2013

Staying Ahead Part 3 Final

Copyright  Art  Di Lella 2013
Copyright  Art  Di Lella 2013
Copyright  Art  Di Lella 2013
Copyright   Art  Di Lella 2013
Copyright    Art  Di Lella 2013
 The subject of today's post is the final images of the clay portrait I've been working on since the spring.
This is of course a real departure from my hyper realistic sculpture that has dominated most of the past images on this blog. I'm glad this bit is done and I will move on to moulding and casting. Looking forward to it.
In the meantime,have a great week.

Wednesday, 14 August 2013

Shaman's Dream Abraham Anghik Rueben

Copyright  Image     Art Di Lella  2013                 Sculpture Copyright   Abraham Anghik Rueben

Copyright Image      Art Di Lella 2013             Sculpture Copyright   Abraham Anghik Rueben

Copyright Image         Art  Di Lella 2013           Sculpture Copyright  Abraham Anghik Rueben


I've been recently going through my collection of images of different projects over the past few months. The above photographs show a wax cast of a sculpture by Abraham Anghik Rueben.  The mould which I made back in 2009 was off a soapstone original.  Abraham's works are often extremely complex from a technical standpoint and require sophisticated moulding and wax working techniques.
The wax sculpture cast that is shown was produced back in July 2013 and is in the process of being cast in bronze by the Crucible Foundry.  You can see more of Abraham's work at Kipling Galleries, Toronto.

At present, I've been making changes to the clay portrait that I'm working on as well catching up on other casting projects.
I'll be back soon. Cheers.

Tuesday, 30 July 2013

Staying Ahead Part 2

Copyright           Art  Di Lella 2013


Copyright          Art  Di Lella 2013

I just wanted to do a quick post on this portrait head. I've been busy on several fronts so some projects like this commissioned clay portrait are taking more time but it does give me an opportunity to be a little more thorough. I'm still working out the hair and still evaluating the facial forms at this point of the process. It still a ways to go but I feel it's getting closer.
I'll be back soon. Have a great week.
Cheers.

Saturday, 20 July 2013

Skin Texture for Hyper/Photo Realistic Figure Sculpture

Copyright          Art  Di Lella 2013

Copyright         Art  Di Lella 2013

Copyright         Art  Di Lella 2013




Copyright        Art  Di Lella 2013

Copyright      Art  Di Lella 2013


Copyright       Art  Di Lella 2013



This is the early stages of skin texture being applied to the figure. The texture process as I've described in earlier posts is  multistaged with layer upon layer of different sometimes extremely subtle tooling applied to the surface. I've found this approach best because it gives depth to the skin itself.  It's been an up and down process so far but I feel I'm closer to completing the clay model than at any other time.
In the meantime, the studio continues to be busy with some major projects coming up in the Fall as well. I'll announce that in September. 
I wish all my visitors,a great weekend. Cheers.

Tuesday, 2 July 2013

Portraits,Skulls and Figures

Sculpture Copyright  Gino Cavecchioli 2013                             Photo credit  Art  Di Lella 2013
Today's post focuses on some of the artists that I have worked with over the past few months.

The first picture is a portrait of Lincoln Alexander by the sculptor Gino Cavecchioli. Lincoln Alexander was a prominent politician from Hamilton Ontario who served in the federal cabinet as minister of labour in the Joe Clark government back in 1979.  

Image Copyright        Art  Di Lella 2013
These are urethane casts of Bat and Parakeet skulls which I moulded and cast in a bone colour for Nan'Darach Designs in Calgary Alberta.

Image Copyright       Art  Di Lella 2013
Close up of the Parakeet skulls.

Image  Copyright     Art   Di Lella 2013 
A trio of sculptures by Taline Iskedjian which were being moulded in silicone and was later cast in bronze by MST Bronze.

Sculpture  Copyright   Bernice Schwartz 2013           Photo credit   Art  Di Lella 2013
A bonded or cold cast bronze cast which I made for the for the artist Bernice Schwartz.
Sculpture Copyright   Bernice Schwartz 2013          Photo credit  Art  Di Lella 2013

Copyright  Art Di Lella 2013
Copyright    Art  Di Lella 2013
Moulding the back of the juvenile Pan. The original is made in Terra Cotta


Sculpture  Copyright   Sid Golden 2013               Photo Credit  Art  Di Lella 2013

Another sculpture that was recently moulded and cast in bonded bronze. The sculptor is Sid Golden.


I'll be back soon. Have a great week. 

Friday, 28 June 2013

Staying a Head, Portrait Sculpture

Copyright    Art  Di Lella 2013

Copyright    Art  Di Lella 2013

Copyright    Art  Di Lella 2013

Copyright      Art  Di Lella 2013

I'm finally back to blogging after a month long break. It's been busy in the studio so  I have a back log of pictures to publish.
Today's post is about a different version of a portrait I had started back in the winter. This first version of this head was done in Monster Clay but I found this material very similar to wax so it was a bit slow to work up.
Instead I decided to use traditional water based clay for the bust. I find clay so much easier and faster to use.
Although the bust appears to be near the finishing stage, it isn't. There is much to do in regards to not only the hair but also the face as well.
For privacy reasons I can't show an image of the model herself  to compare but I can say that the likeness is getting close.
I will be back after the weekend. Happy Canada Day!

Tuesday, 21 May 2013

Head Transplant and Comparison Hyper Realistic Reconstructed Figure Final


Copyright         Art  Di Lella 2013

Copyright       Art  Di Lella 2013
Copyright        Art  Di Lella 2013
Copyright      Art  Di Lella 2013
Hello again.
I've just completed the "head transplant" of my Homo Erectus figure.  The face is definitely different from the first as you can see from the above image. It's difficult for me at this point as to why there are differences. The skull used on the first head (head on the left) was produced by BoneClones. It's a carefully crafted model which is very close to the original but not an actual cast of the fossil skull whereas the new head  was built over a cast of the actual fossil and so my question is: Are the differences between the skulls that significant or is it simply me having another attempt at essentially the same skull?
In the meantime, I will be starting final contouring and applying the skin texture to the new head as well as the rest of the body so there will be more posts on that too.

I'll be back soon. Have a great week.

Friday, 17 May 2013

Head Transplant Hyper Realistic Reconstructed Sculpture Homo Erectus/Ergaster Part 3

Copyright         Art  Di Lella 2013
Copyright       Art  Di Lella 2013
Copyright         Art  Di lella 2013
A short post today, I just wanted to show the process and progress of building the new head for my figure sculpture. I'm still sketching out the muscles and making connections so my "head transplant" will appear seamless. As you can see a face is starting to emerge but there's still a long way to go.
I'll be back soon. Have a great weekend.

Tuesday, 14 May 2013

Head Transplant Hyper Realistic Reconstructed Figure Part 2


Copyright        Art  Di Lella 2013
Just a quick post on my figure. The surgery to connect his new head is still in progress. I just wanted to show the neck muscles as they are the first part in connecting the original body with the new head.

Copyright          Art  Di Lella 2013
Copyright     Art   Di Lella 2013
Copyright     Art  Di Lella 2013
You'll notice that the nasal bones and brow ridge have been repaired with clay.  The next stage I'll sketch out the muscles, start building the facial features and by then a face should start to emerge. We'll see how it differs from the original.
I'll be back soon. Have a great week!

Friday, 10 May 2013

Head Transplant for Hyper Realistic Reconstructed Figure Sculpture Homo Erectus/Ergaster

Bone Clones                                                       Replica made from fossil cast
Recently,I came across an authentic casting of the skull of Turkana Boy, a 1.5 million year old fossil skeleton from Kenya.  I found this casting on ebay of all places. The cast that I purchased was made in plaster with a resin jaw. The cast appears to have been moulded once before with some loss of surface detail and some distortion especially with the mandible. So I repaired this new cast and then made a resin copy to compare with the skull cast used as the armature for the head of my figure. The original skull that was in the sculpture before was by Bone Clones.
It's a decent replica which is a carefully crafted model and is close to the original but not as accurate as the  new cast. But after comparing the two skulls with photos I had of both I decided to ditch the first head.
 The differences are mainly with the facial details such as the nasal bones and eye sockets where there is a noticeable difference between the two skulls although not very discernible with the above image. The other issue was authenticity, I wanted to base this figure on an actual cast but found obtaining one before difficult so that's why the Bone Clones version was used in the first place
Copyright       Art  Di Lella 2013

Copyright     Art  Di Lella 2013

Copyright    Art  Di Lella 2013
Now that the original head has been removed and the new skull installed,it remains to be seen if this move was wise or foolish. We'll see how this head transplant works out. I feel bit like Dr. Frankenstein.

On other news, I'm still working #8 and that Monster Clay portrait plus moulds and casts of other artists' works.
I'll be back soon. Have a great weekend.

Saturday, 27 April 2013

Hyper/Photo Realistic Reconstructed Figure #1 Adjustments

Copyright        Art  Di Lella 2013

Copyright          Art  Di Lella 2013

Copyright        Art  Di Lella 2013

Copyright        Art  Di Lella 2013

Copyright        Art  Di Lella 2013
Over the past several weeks I've been reassessing this natural size clay model of Homo Erectus/Ergaster.
The main concern has been that the figure was too thin and the modelling lacked sufficient force. The subject is based upon the fossil remains KNM-WT-15000. The descriptions by researchers has been that this individual was a juvenile although not quite like a modern one, had a very slim muscular build with narrow  shoulders and hips. The challenge for me is the proportions of this figure are not natural when you compare him with modern adolescents.
For example the shoulders are extremely narrow for someone 163cm(5'4") tall which is further enhanced by the very wide neck muscles. Additionally, the upper thorax apparently tapers more severely than a modern one which has made the modelling for me at times a bit awkward. Other challenges include the very narrow hips with thigh bones that have unusually long necks which has a direct influence on the shape of his buttocks as well as the muscle groups immediately above and below his hip bones.

In the end it still comes down to believability.
I'm hoping to finish these adjustments over the next couple of weeks. I feel it's going in the right direction. We'll see.

I'll be back next week. Cheers.