Trying to Get Back into Things

I've been fighting off the flu for a few weeks now which has made working with clay hard for me (thus all the recent posts about web stuff). Something about being congested messes with my ability to focus my eyes, things just seem to swim around.

I'm feeling almost back to normal so I'm gearing up to get working with clay again and I have lots of ideas. Top of the list is of course to finish up Selkie Emerging, and I have a fun idea of a fire dancer. I'll try to get a mockup sketch done sometime this week.

Selkie Emerging Update #4

Brand new photos. Finally got the arms more or less done! So I got to start the hair finally, she looks so much better now that she's not bald.

Larger versions can be found on flickr in my Work in Progress Set


Previous Selkie Emerging Posts:
Selkie Emerging Update #3
Selkie Emerging Update #2
Selkie Emerging Update
Selkie Emerging Concept

Selkie Emerging Update #3

With all that's been going on I haven't been able to sculpt as much as usual but I have made progress on my Selkie Emerging sculpt (and some other stuff but that's for a later post).

The base is now fully weighted and bulked out, I still have the clamp there just in case but it's quite stable now. The arm pulling at the skin is done and came out nicely, the other one is giving me a little trouble but I'll get it soon.


Past Selkie Emerging posts:
Selkie Emerging Update #2
Selkie Emerging Update
Selkie Emerging Concept

Selkie Emerging Update

So I've finally gotten back to work on my Selkie Emerging sculpt. With the Lionfish Mermaid commission and getting jewelry and ornaments ready for christmas shoppers I just haven't had the time to work on her.

The real tricky bit has been the base. I plan on sculpting over the bare framework I have now with rocks and water splashes so I needed room enough to do that later on but still have the base stable enough now to not tip over. I'm not sure what wood that section of dowel is made of but it's got a bit of weight to it.

Selkie Emerging Concept

This is a concept I came up with in the last couple days. So far it's still in the planning stage, I'm trying to figure out the best way to do the armature right now. Please pardon the wierdness of the sketch, I'm a 3d person, perspective and stuff like that I just don't get.

So here's the basic idea. Selkies in celtic folklore are women (if there are male selkies they just don't appear in folktales) who live below the sea and take the form of seals. They can take excursions on land where they remove their seal skin, if a man wants to marry a selkie he must hide her seal skin because otherwise she'll leave to return to the sea. Some tales tell of selkies living on land for many years and having children with their human husbands only to find their hidden seal skin and disappear leaving her children forever.

This sculpture will be of a young selkie rising from the sea, pulling away her seal skin.