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"The Watcher"
I've always liked owls anyway, and when I got hooked on "Harry Potter," I added Snowy Owls to the owls I thought were gorgeous. A "Weekend Sculpting Challenge" on WetCanvas.com led to my actually sculpting an owl, so here -- *ta-da!* is The Watcher. He's a male Snowy Owl (male because he's mostly white) and he's available in a variety of patinas, from white to two fantasy shades of silver. All the patinas give the Snowy Owl effect, but in a variety of stylish ways.
Above you can see the three patinas side by side. Please let me know which patina you prefer by stating its number -- the one on the left is my "Artist Proof #1," the second one is #1/50, the third one is #2/50 (some of these are now sold, so you won't get this number on your piece - I'm just using these numbers to specify the patina you want.)
Bronze. Limited edition of 50. 6 1/2" H x 3 1/2" W x 4" L
$570 plus shipping/handling.
 
 
 
Following is a journal on the creation of "The Watcher"
Those of you who've been following the progress of this little guy may remember I had planned to leave the top of his head, his back and breast smooth, but as I was finishing his wings this evening, I picked up a small rake tool and did a squiggle on his chest and thought "hmmm, that's kinda cute!" So now he has feather texture all over. Below is a "history" of how "The Watcher" came to be.
On WetCanvas, a website where artists exchange ideas, talk about problems with their work, and ask questions, the Sculpture forum decided to have a "Weekend Sculpting Challenge" in which everyone who wanted to participate had a certain number of hours in which to sculpt a piece based on reference photos provided on the forum, doing the subjects specified. Taxidermied ducks and a snowy owl were the subjects provided. I didn't have much time to work on it because I had a piece I HAD to finish ("Frolic") in order to ship it to the foundry ASAP ("Frolic" is being cast as I write this), AND it was my birthday weekend, with dinner out on my birthday itself, then church on Sunday morning and going to see "Mamma Mia" (my birthday present) that evening, so my hours were very limited. On Saturday I built the armature and did one hour of work, with the following results:
 
The armature is a plumbing floor flange and a 3/8" pipe, I've forgotten how long (maybe 6"?). I wrapped aluminum wire around the pipe to give the clay something to bite into. As you can see, at first, I didn't have these "branches" on the armature, but the reference photo showed the bird sitting on a branch with smaller branches around it, and I thought I'd do that -- at first. After I started sculpting, I realized the bird itself would be small (with so little time to sculpt -- 30 hours was the total amount allowed -- I wasn't going to "work big" on this one, plus if it was any good, it would be more saleable as a small owl than a large one). So I pushed back the clay from the wires and cut them off against the pipe, pushing the sharp ends down into the clay so I wouldn't scratch my fingers. The piece proceeded rapidly from there. The next pictures show the piece with one hour of work in it.
 
 
I keep taxidermy eyes and earrings around to use as eyes for my horses. These eyes happen to be flat-back bird eyes I used for a sculpture many years ago (before I decided I prefer the round glass eyes or ball earrings for my work). I based the size of the piece on the size of the eyes, so this piece is about 1/4 lifesized for a snowy owl. The reference photos we were given showed an owl looking straight ahead, which is a pose I will nearly always change. I think animals look much more interesting with at least their heads turned or cocked, looking as if I've caught them in motion. Having a turn in the head also makes a more interesting sculpture, giving a C curve between the head and the top wing on his back. I've also incorporated an S curve into the stump, having one of the owl's feet higher than the other because of the break in the stump, and having one of his feet with less under it, so the toes extend farther down the front of the stump than the toes on the other foot do. All these little details are what makes it not only better art, but also makes it look more alive.
Sunday, I spent an hour and a half working on the owl, with the following result:
 
 
Okay, now it's Feb 11 and I haven't had time to work on the owl for a while -- I'm in the middle of making trophies for year-end awards for a breed association and have a deadline pushing me. I got the trophies assembled this afternoon, they just need their name plates and felt on the bottoms and I can ship them out, so I took a moment to take photos of the owl again. I did another two hours on him about a week ago, revising his proportions, etc., and now he's where he needs to be, just needs detailing and touching up. I spent a lot of time on his eyes -- see his eyelids? They're more delicate and thin than my fingernails! BOY were they hard to sculpt! That took most of the time I worked last time, actually, nearly two hours resetting the eyes themselves, redoing the eye rings, trying to get the eyes correct in every way, and trying to get eyelids in to show the expression I want. I think he's there now, at least in the eyes. The tail is good now too, just needs feather detail and cleanup to be done. The wings aren't far off either. I'm pretty pleased with this little guy so far.
 
 
Now back to the present. I got this guy done in about 6 1/2 hours of actual sculpting, but there was a lot of research time beyond that. He was a lot of fun to sculpt -- I may do more birds in the future, who knows! In the meantime, I've started a chipmunk sculpture. Watch for that to be linked to my Work in Progress page soon. If you're interested in the precasting special on "The Watcher," please contact me via the link below. Thanks for your interest in my work!
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