Bighorn Sheep Sculpture
Wild Sheep
Okay...here is the latest bronze... "Crash of Thunder" this one my sheep fever at bay for a bit... Here is the finished piece...it is pretty big 33 Inches from end to end. I have seen battling rams before (pretty much every postion or tyhing and animals can do has been painted or sculpted many times before....so you have to bring your style and feel)...but never really saw one I liked that had a sensation of collision. They always kind of looked like they were leaning against each other....so it kept knawing at me to do my own.
I will show the general process...it is a very invloved art with lots of steps.
I just looked at the clay...the digital messes with the proportions....
Also 3d art...turned into a 2d photo always loses lots of power...in person you have all the depth and proportions from every angle...and when it goes from a 10 inch photo to almost a yard long make a huge difference...
I used to watch an artist buddy of mine, Dennis Jones, do his bronzes. Pretty awesome what you guys can do.
Talent way beyond anything that I posses. I love checking these threads out. It's amazing.
This is the copper tooled insert I did you can see on the window of the sculpture base
Above is the raw copper...this is the acid stained insert
Cool stuff...I've watched a buddy a few times - John Parsons - work on a variety of pieces. His live-sizes are amazing. I have no clue how you guys do it.
Hope you're doing as well - financially - as he is with the bronzes.
Back side of the finished piece...
Writer it is the same way I approach my stories and likely the way you do too. A general idea..and inspiration and then the ideas and adjustments keep coming until it is done...
That's awesome stuff! You have a special gift.
That is just beautiful and you are gifted for sure! Question: Can you get more than one bronze sculpture from a mold?
Idacurl...kind of yes...I will be showing the step by step process...you make a mold of the clay/wax and then pour waxes into it to create a wax replica/shell and then tune up the waxes which then go to the foundry and then cut them up and then cast the bronze after thay make a mold....
Very nice. Thanks for sharing.
Did you build the base for the sculpture also? There is a amazing amount of work in this piece,how many hours does something like this take to complete? You definitely have talent!
Idacurt...thanks...I have a friend that that has a very cool garage woodworking area. I do the design and tool the copper and he cuts the blanks and I put it all together...lots of work believe me. Time to complete. I started this concept likey 8 months ago...I work really slowly..I have to 'live" with the piece over a long period of time to see it in all moods amd lighting. My Studio is my main living area so I look at the work many times every day and I might not touch the piece for weeks and then the mood strikes me or the the light hits it right.. I might work for hours or a 30 second adjustment. Every artist needs to find how it works for them...nothing can be forced...for me it takes time....lots of time....
Sweet work; love how you captured the action!
Would love to see it in person.
Thanks for sharing your God-given talent!
Carl
Thanks Carl...yes any talent it is God given...
Per your PM on more terrain or such. I do that in other pieces. This piece the base needs to be fairly clean not to distract the eye from the balance of the Rams. This base is kind of like a frame that sets up the rams collision...it is slightyly curved to bring more pressue visually to the rams collision.
You like terrain...here is my Mountian Lion piece called "Dangerous Crossing" this cat is stalking down fresh tracks you will see to his left
Ted you do phenomenal work! I've seen the rings you have posted before and those are amazing but I had no idea you're a sculpture as well. As others have said you have incredible talent! I absolutely love it.
Thnaks guys..
Once you get things just so in the clay you have a mold made. They cover the clay with molding rubber and then give it a hard shell of plaster. Then you have your mold. Then you pour hot wax into the mold and roll it around creating a wax shell and very close to exact replica to the clay...they you can fine tune and make adjustments to the wax... I like this step allot as you can give and play with really cool textures and detail that will be exact in the bronze.
Here is a mold...actually the lion and two waxes of the rams
Here are some other waxes I am working on...making a series of Silver sheep skulls and this Buff is going to a be a small table top
Very nice!! I have always wanted to try my hand at something like that...
Bon arro....thanks........ try away....I did realize I could do this until I was 49...
Thanks for sharing,please keep the pictures coming if you have other pieces,I like the sheep skulls.
Idacurt...I have been toying with different things with the sheep skulls...I could engrave a Grand Slam Number...P+Y score to dad...etc in the wax and then it becomes permanant in the silver or Bronze.
One of my biggest goals is to capture the "character" of the animal and not just make a replica.
This is the "patina" process once they are cast...the piece needs to be welded back together and and the metal worked to look like seamless art.. Then this fire and acid staining gives i its final finish...the patina can vary widley with the type of acid and time of heat..
Astonishing is about the only word I can come up with when I read this thread. Incredible artwork for sure. I can't wait to see your Oryx sculpture...and mount [with a little luck of course]! ;-)
Jesse...yes usually I am so jazzed from thos once in a lifetime hunts I can't help put hit the clay...;) Luck? you don't need luck when you have "Jesse the Streak" to run them down and bulldog them to the ground...;)
Just be sure the sculpture is ONLY of the oryx...without the "streak"...
Smarba...no just the Oryx not the Jesse the Streak....somebody already beat me to it...;)
Is that your shop in the patina picture? Looks very neat! Do you have a furnace/forge there?
Can you imagine the success that sculpture Donatello created could have realized if only the Streak would have been accompanied by a beautiful Oryx? It might have been displayed inside a Cabela's or Bass Pro or Sportsman's Warehouse or some other significant venue where it could truly be appreciated. Instead it's collecting dust in some shack in Florence where the only people who see it likely don't know the difference between a compound and a recurve!
Adventurewriter, I trust you have learned from the mistakes of those who carved before you. ;-)
That wanna be artist was actualy Michealangelo...too bad he never amounted to much and I have been to that shack in Florence and I know the difference... I know your life long desire to be featured in your loin cloth running thropuh cabelas....maybe some day your dream will come true...;)
Thank you for the clarification. I knew it was one of those mutant Turtles that carved that thing. So far, I've only graced a few select sporting goods stores with my presence. I've never visited a Cabela's, but when I do I'll be sporting my finest fig leaf. ;-)
