Bronze Whales

Several years ago, I was experimenting with wax and foam in the construction of my models. One of the difficulties with working with wax is that it's not easy to build up your masses quickly.  So I tried carving styrofoam into a basic shape and then applied modelling wax on top.  The whales were the first to be tried in this manner and I thought the results at the time were successful. After the models were completed,they were moulded and cast into bronze.  When I picked up the bronze whale castings from the foundry, I started to work on them,sanding and finishing. But shortly, thereafter I stopped working on them.

Some years later, friends of ours John and Arounna of  bookhou  came by to visit us in the summer of last year. Arounna had noticed the three unfinished bronze whales lying on my studio floor and asked me if  I was interested in selling them. I agreed to finish them which my partner Barbara of  sparrowavenue.blogspot.com beautifully photograghed the finishing and patina process back in the fall of last year.

Images shown are Copyright Art  Di Lella

Afterwards, the whales were put on display in bookhou and the Beluga(the smallest) sold.  At this time,the other two whales are still at John and Arounna's shop.  Thank you to Barbara,Arounna and John for their help and encouragement.