New award, new lens!

Hello again!
Two fun things came in the mail for me today.
First: A Press Club award! Thank you, Great Lakes Publishing! I'll add it to the wall.


Second: My new macro lens! Wow, it's really something!! It's MASSIVE.... it's almost as if it was made by NASA, not Canon. I took it outside for a spin, and was petrified that I might drop it! I promise to pamper it & guard it with my life.

It reminds me of the scene in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery where Austin is embarrassed that Elizabeth Hurley's spy binoculars are so much larger than his... that's how my other lens feels right now! ;~)

Polymer Pups.

I'm still here, working on clay! ...and a new website, and some logos, and some self-promotion.... ;~)
Here are two little clay pups that need to go in the oven. One with a really bad attitude.

Hooray for Sunday Night Drawing Class!

Here are some sketches from tonight's figure class.

Feet!


Hands! (I'm not crazy about the face on this drawing, but liked how the hands turned out.)


Hands & feet are so hard for me to draw... I've been trying to really focus on them whenever I can.

My Dog as a Manatee

Ha! This weekend my sister was giving a treat to my dog, and noticed all the little whiskers on Terra's muzzle. She made a comment that it felt 'just like a manatee's would!' This drawing just had to come out :~)

Awards Time!

I've just been notified about 2 awards my work has recently won! ...I'm so pleased.
My paper illustration for the Oct 2007 Presstime Magazine cover, "World View," is a finalist for an award from the American Society of Business Publication Editors. We won't find out what it wins until the July 24th banquet. That's one of 2 awards that issue has won... congrats to Presstime!


...and my series of clay illustrations has won 1st Place in the 30th Annual Ohio Excellence in Journalism Awards (AKA the Press Club Awards)! This series in the Cleveland Magazine Summer Fun Guide was in the Multiple Illustrations/1 Story category. Thanks, Cleveland Magazine & congrats!

the Evolution of an Etsy Sculpture!

It's not very often that I'm asked to sculpt a dog as unusual as this Chinese Crested, so I thought I might make a little documentary of my process! This little guy's name is Fang, and he was rescued from a bad situation...but lives happily now with his owners in Sydney, Australia.

Step 1: I print out all of the dogs I need to work on, so I can refer to their photos.


I roll out the body. I added all those darker spots individually, then rolled them down so they were nice & flat. A little bit of wire adds strength to the sculpt.


...making some feet.


...attach those feet to the body.


Sculpting the head.


Here I'm adding some eyes. I use Hematite beads for eyes, I like the shine. That's a little polymer clay bowl I've made to keep my beads in.


Adding a mouth.


There! I've got all of his parts put together now. I think he kind of looks like a piglet at this stage.


I'm starting to add that white fur here.


...some shoulder fur.


Ta-da! All finished. Now all I have to do is bake him in the oven.


Onto the next dog on the list!

Published again!

Hey, everyone!
I realize that I haven't posted in a very long time.... I have been busy, though! Sadly, about 95% of what I've been working on for the past 2 weeks I'm not allowed to blog about yet. Some clients need their privacy :~)
I did receive a copy of the Charleston Alumni's magazine in the mail this week! I'll never get tired of seeing my work in print... always a great feeling.
Have a great weekend!