A Second in a Series of Respite
‘Grizzly in Respite — Munny’
I made this piece for a show opening this Saturday, March 18th at the (art)ificial Gallery in Lakewood, OH. It was curated by Rick Sans and will feature custom vinyl toys from various artists. The opening runs from 6pm until 9pm. I’ll be in attendance for the brunt of it so if you read this, you are here by obliged to attend.
Some of the other featured artist include: Tharp, Roberto Andujar, Wil Delgado, Bob Peck, Richard S. Cihlar, Jeff Hulligan, Gary Meacher, Nicka, Kevin Smalley, Debra L Kozak, Thomas Durdella, and more.
Yeah sure, they may have made some mistakes along the way, but they are basically good kids with a rough past and it would be great if you could come out and show them some support. Maybe have a few beers, maybe enjoy a little art while we all get together and help these long winter days unwind.
As for the bear here, I chose to stick with a Munny as my base form of choice. This was the same figure I chose for the Awesome Possum Munny that I made last year. I like the 8″ size and relative simplicity of the form so it makes sense for me to stick with it for now.
The bear himself comes from the Naked in the Woods series I’m painting now. I used the painting above for reference while starting out the sculpt. For now I stuck with Super Sculpey, but I just ordered some Magic Scupt epoxy clay so I’m anxious to give that a try for another show I have coming up in May, (details forthcoming).
The muzzle of the beast is the dominant characteristic of the face so I started with it. First I smeared a thin layer of sculpey over the face just to ensure that I could get good adhesion when adding on the features. Next come the cheeks which cover the Munny’s “ears” and the eyebrows to get the boxy shape I wanted for a grizzly.
Then on to the chin, teeth, eyes and ears. It’s and idiot’s resort, but whenever I set out to make one of these features that I will need to make two of, I start by separating the equally sized balls of clay for both features before I sculpt either. If I make the left ear and then go to grab clay for the right, I will never get the size right. Never. Symmetry is my enemy so I try to short cut its foils.
Here’s a quick example of how I make the feet. Starting with the toes stretched out and then bending them into place creates natural looking folds in the joints.
This is how it looked after surviving an hour in the oven and its initial primer. I covered it in a flat acrylic coating of a deep aqua blue to start it out.
The rest is just a full shift with my trusted oil paints. I know I work pretty simply, but hopefully this gives those of you who ask some helpful insight on how these things I make come about.
Well, scratch one Munny off the list, but I still have a lot to do before May. I’ve got some weird stuff coming around the corner so I’ll talk to you guys when they get here.
Ciao.
