Globspot

What's the best advice you've ever received as an artist?

2012-02-12T15:03:00.001-07:00

National Museum of Wildlife Art, Jackson, Wyoming.

I am honored and quite proud to say that the National Museum of Wildlife Art has invited me back to participate again in this year's Western Visions Miniatures and More show in Jackson, WY.

In their catalog they feature very brief quotes from all the artists in answer to a question.
One of this year's is 'What's the best advice you've ever received as an artist?'

It's difficult to pick just one, but I think I'll go with some advice I got from Harold Speed.
His two books were my constant companions for a few years when I lived in London just after college.

'The practice and science of drawing', and 'Oil painting techniques and materials'.

They are very beaten-up looking now, kind of like well used volumes of spells at Hogwart's, or recipes that have been in the family for generations.

They were written at a time when color printing was starting to make it much easier for art students to get their hands of reproductions of artists of any era from all over the world.
While this was obviously a great thing, Harold was a little concerned that there would be too great a temptation to flit from one genre to another without spending enough time to drink in deeply of any one before moving to the next, resulting in a kind of 'artistic indigestion'.

Gee, I wonder what he would make of the world now if he could pop back for a quick look around!

Well anyway, the piece of advice I took to heart was to avoid being distracted and instead spend a good deal of time soaking up the finest stuff that I was personally capable of honestly appreciating that inspired me, and pretty much let that be my guide and let the rest be, particularly while I was learning my way and developing my craft. After that you can enjoy numerous trips to the buffet table, having had time to develop a solid foundation and strong personal style.

I now need to get that last paragraph down to about 1/3 as long so I can send it in to Western Visions for my answer!

Since it's such a great question I'll ask you, what's the best advice you've ever received as an artist?
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I've had bunches of emails entering my contest to win a Winged Angel Mouse, and there's still time before the end of the month to make a guess if you haven't yet, or mention it on your blog for the blog draw method of entry.
Details in the post before this one.

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Win a bronze Winged Angel Mouse...x2!

2012-02-01T18:15:00.001-07:00

Angel Chubby (no patina yet, will be silver colored)

Angel Pugnacious (no patina yet, will be silver colored)

Winged Angel Sprightly (no patina yet, will be silver colored)

OK, here we go again!

Oh yes, it's time once more for 'guess the weight of the chubby artist after he's had yet another try at shifting some lard'...

Right, I've tried it twice before. And if you guessed during my earlier attempts that after 6 months I'd weigh about the same as when I started, or perhaps a bit more, you might have won!

Of course there's always the possibility that the third time will be the charm.
Plus I have my secret weapon, which I didn't have before...

This time I have my very own tiny fridge, for instant retrieval of ingredients to create my tiny feeds.
No hunting around the swirling morass of confusion and temptation that abounds in the regular fridge...
...I'm using the austerity fridge.

Pretty much all my austerity feeds will be looking something like this...

That's not dandruff on the plate, it's cheese (the rest is inside the wonderfully appetizing looking eggbeater blanket).

I kicked off on Jan 1st at a svelte 220.4 lbs with a cold and immediately gained a couple of pounds.
But then I got my fridge, and with it, my edge.
Did I lose any after that?
I'm not telling!

So roll up and place your bets!

Well, bet singular actually, since you can only have one guess.

Here's the RULES...

Winning the first Winged Angel Mouse...

Make your guess as to what I will weigh on the first of August.

Enter by leaving a comment on this post (BEFORE MARCH 1st) with your guess, or email me (BEFORE MARCH 1st) with 'Chubby Artist' in the subject line (or I won't find your emailed guess come August 1st).

You can email me from my profile page here, or my contact page on my regular website. Don't forget to put 'Chubby Artist' in the subject line.

Anyone making more than one guess will be disqualified.

I will announce the result and the winner on August 1st (or thereabouts).

In the result of a draw, I'll roll a dice to determine the winner.

I'll post my current state of lardiness in the form of pounds at the end of blog posts after March 1st, so you can check in and see if I'm heading towards or away from your guess!

Your responsibility is to check-in during the month of August and contact me if you won if I'm unable to contact you.

If I'm unable to contact you by Sept 1st, the next closest wins (that happened before with an earlier contest - the winner left a comment, but had no contact info on their profile page and didn't contact me).

Any arguments are decided by me, since it's my contest, and my mouse!

Winning the second Winged Angel Mouse...

If you have a blog (it must have existed before today!), you can enter by posting an announcement of this contest with a link to this post on your blog.
Let me know by commenting on this post, or email me ('blog entry' in the subject line) and you'll be in the blog draw for a Winged Angel Mouse of your choice.

Any bloggers who enter the second way before the end of this weekend (before Feb 6) gets a double entry - their name goes in the hat twice!

More info that might help you...

I'm 5'10" tall.

My scale reads pounds in increments of one fifth of a pound, eg

200.0
200.2
200.4
200.6
200.8
201.0

So if you want a chance at nailing it precisely, don't make a guess like 200.3

The heaviest I've been in the last 15 years (since living in the U.S. of A.) is 240, the lightest is 173.6 (for a few minutes, before I breathed in a particle of dust).

I don't have a method for tracking any facebook likes, tweets and what have you or I might have made it a triple offer, but if you'd like to hit the like button, I'd appreciate it!

That should do it, so good luck!

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Calf plaque finally finished...

2012-01-21T09:31:00.000-07:00

The calf plaque against a South Western sky all finished up (approx 6" x 8")

Here's my calf plaque with the cloudy background all finished up with patina.
When I first modeled it I was a bit worried that my somewhat obsessive fascination with anatomy could have resulted in a cadaverous looking beast, but after seeing it all done in bronze I was very happy with the finished results.

Besides that, I have been assiduously testing my bronze toad bottle opener and I'm happy to say it functions just fine after numerous openings!

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Am I an Art Bigot?

2012-01-10T05:46:00.009-07:00

Below is an article I wrote for emptyeasel.com
Since they edited (which I half expected) about a quarter of it out, added to the title and re-worded some bits, they have inadvertently diminished my main point (which I repeated for effect, and they repeatedly removed!), which focused on being able to ignore something (or, more to the point, not being allowed to ignore something) over the objectionable thing itself.

Without that as my main point strongly accented throughout the copy, I fear on their website it may just read as a whine about stuff I don't like!

Anyhow, see what you think, below is how I sent it, unedited.
Some of the parts emptyeasel subsequently either removed or altered that are key to my point are shown here in red...(in case you read their altered version on their website first).
If you didn't, and this is your first look, that's better!
There's a link to their version at the end.
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Am I an art bigot?

Why do I hate so much 20th Century visual art with such a passion?
I'm not that way with music.
I have everything from Mozart to the Sex Pistols on my iPod, and if I hear some awful music, I don't rail against it, I just ignore it.

But I really do hate so much 20th Century art. I mean of course the really ridiculous stuff that gets thrust in your face but can only leave you scratching your head.

Why does it get under my skin so much?
Every time I ponder that question I see the implication that I must be an art bigot or snob of some kind, while at the same time being a pleasantly open minded music appreciator.

Why am I not consistently open minded, or consistently vehemently apposed, in both cases?

I believe I know the answer.
It's because the musical equivalent of the modern/post modern pretend art is really nowhere to be heard, and is easily ignored.
Actually it exists, but one listen is all it takes to turn you off it for good.

It's called atonal music and it simply gets ignored.

This dawned on me thanks to having read THIS ARTICLE (definitely worth a read).

In it, Spengler points out that the reason atonal music is not often played to audiences is because you are stuck once it starts and in for an aurally painful experience, and you can't pretend to like it with a token 10 second listen and then quickly wander off.

Which you can of course, with things hanging around in a gallery, no matter how bad they are.

And so the visual art equivalent of atonal music, far from getting ignored, keeps getting pushed in our faces.

Since we've been mired in this for so long, it might be easier to describe a scenario where the situation that exists for visual art - but doesn't for music, were reversed…

An Alternative Reality.

I imagine right now everything in your music collection appeals to your emotions on some level.
And it all follows some musical laws.
The melodies and rhythms might not be to everyone else's taste, but there are melodies and rhythms none the less for you to enjoy.

I'm guessing you don't listen to any atonal music.

That's the stuff carefully conceived to sound awful: You'll find no identifiable rhythm, harmony, or tune.
In essence it bears no resemblance to anything harmonious, and won't illicit any foot tapping at all.

And so you just ignore it.
You might never have even heard of it before, it's that unbearable on the ears.

But now let's pretend something for a minute:
Let's say that music museums exist where you can go and somehow enjoy live performances of any musical experience the museum sees fit to exhibit, even if the performers, conductors and composers are all long dead.
Somehow (unlike watching a DVD) it would be just like being there for real.
True virtual reality.

Who would you want to see first?

Let's say it costs a fortune for the museums to acquire the exhibits, and your tax money is often used to buy them.
And they insist on buying loads and loads of the atonal stuff, and give you lengthy explanations of its genius, and how you must basically be a moron if you don't want to come and experience it.

Mind you, these curators and critics can't play a note of anything themselves, you just have to take their word for it that they know more about serious music than you do.
Even if you're a musician.
No, make that especially if you're a musician.

And if you kick up a stink, well what are you? Stupid?

They might throw in some token performances of actual music, but really, if you're serious about enjoying music, this atonal stuff is what you should really be focused on.

If all that was true, then you couldn't ignore it at museums.
And let's also imagine it keeps getting played on TV anytime serious music is discussed.

Let's say the atonal authors are getting paid enormous amounts for their cacophony.
And of course museums and collectors keep popping up in the news since they are paying such absurd sums to acquire it.

Of course it still wouldn't live in your music collection, at least not on any playlists you actually listen to, but it would be getting shoved in your ears all the time.

What would actually competent musicians and bands and orchestras make of that, once they were marginalized and diminished in value in favor of the more supposedly meaningful atonal stuff?

What if their rare gifts and wonderful performances were pushed aside and belittled, while a person dropping some pots and pans on a mattress at random intervals was glorified and hailed a genius?
Even though it was obvious the genius couldn't play a note on any instrument?

And your tax money was making them a fortune.

It doesn't bother anyone that atonal music exists because it's not regularly hailed as genius and shoved in our ears.

So if that alternative scenario was true: would the usurped and outraged musicians, along with those who appreciate their music become music bigots?

I think it would make perfectly good sense if they did.

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Emptyeasel's re-worked version HERE

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

The Winged Angel Mice are coming along nicely...

2012-01-08T14:51:00.000-07:00

'Angel Chubby' Metal Master

'Angel Pug' Metal Master


'Angel Sprightly' Metal Master

What you see here are called 'metal masters': finished metal sculptures that the foundry will use to make its own molds to produce my Winged Angel Mice.
Right now they are freshly sandblasted, but once they are finished they will have an other-worldly silver patina.

The early morning sun was creating a nice little show on the mantel, which I couldn't resist snapping pics of before the light moved along the wall to work it magic on other bits and pieces scattered about the place...

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Michelangelo vs Picasso

2011-12-28T09:40:00.000-07:00

There's no prizes for guessing who I prefer...

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Season's Greetings to you, from me and my crew!

2011-12-22T08:51:00.000-07:00

And here's a pic Kat sent of her Sprightly stuck out in the snow!
Thanks Kat!

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Bronze Toad Bottle Opener...

2011-12-13T12:55:00.003-07:00

Is it a kitschy, novel frivolity...

Or some fine art with a sense of purpose?

You decide...!

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

'Big Boy' in Sculpture Review article, Fall 2011 issue

2011-12-10T11:57:00.000-07:00

The National Sculpture Society's quarterly magazine heads off with an article on 'Humor in sculpture', which includes your's truly's Big Boy...

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And since Big Boy's in the spotlight, here's another pic or two of the grumpy fellow from my files...

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Calves, a masked man in the snow, and a dud casting...

2011-12-04T08:16:00.000-07:00

Here's a few random pics for your viewing pleasure!

Freshly cast plaques (need finishing and patina), a dud attempt at casting metal masters of my new angel mice, and an American Indian snow suited superhero keeping watch on Canyon Road (not mine, I just had to take the pic when I saw him!)

This plaque is my modified award one I did for Mercy For Animals to present to Bob Barker minus the lettering, plus some additional background sky. Needs sandblasting and patina...

The first attempt at casting the angel mice came out a bust (shrinkage, and bits didn't cast properly etc), but not to worry, it took six tries to get my metal masters done for Pugnacious and Rumpy and Pumpy mice.
We'll get there...

What's Angel Chubby whispering?

And when I saw this guy standing stoically up Canyon Road I had to get his picture!

The snow made it sort of a bit of a mash up of a day of the dead superhero American Indian character!
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Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

One of my tiny turtles wins big at miniature show

2011-11-24T14:03:00.000-07:00

Athos the turtle - second place for sculpture MPSGS 2011

Athos got second place for sculpture!
To be true to the headline I suppose best in show or something would be big, but I was having too much fun mixing up the big and small.

Well it's definitely something to be thankful for on this holiday feast.

That's the the pic they took of him for their exhibition page on their website (I suspect around Nov 2012 it will be all different, for the then current show, but for now it's the right link!)

I believe this is my third second-place win for sculpture with the MPSGS, which is very gratifying.

Here's how Wikipedia introduces them...

The Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers Society of Washington, D.C. (MPSGS) is an invitation-only organization dedicated to the promotion and encouragement of the practice of producing fine art in miniature. This miniature art society is headquartered in Washington, DC but includes members from around the world. Founded in 1931 by Alyn Williams, the Society is the second-oldest organization of its kind in the world and the oldest active organization of miniaturists in the United States.

Anyhow, happy Thanksgiving to you.

Unfortunately, and true to (wobbly) form, I know I'll eat too much!

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Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Diner napkin scribble

2011-11-13T08:12:00.000-07:00

What self respecting artist blog would be complete without some spontaneous napkin scribbles?
Here's someone else having breakfast at The Pantry here in Santa Fe.

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Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Rodin and the jigsaw puzzle

2011-11-06T07:35:00.001-07:00

I needed something small and flat to cover my wine glass (I don't like fruit flies landing in my wine).

I pulled this old Taschen postcard book of Rodin off the shelf. It was just the right size.
Of course I got a bit distracted looking through it while my wine sat unprotected.

It has some pictures of The Burghers of Calais.

I found myself looking at this portrait...

His city has been starved into submission, and he (along with a few others) are offering themselves as a sacrifice that the rest of city might be spared.

I stared, contemplating the poor man's state of mind at the time.
Of course I was also marveling at Rodin's work. Sensitive and powerful, and executed with consummate skill.

I knew about the story behind the piece, and started to wonder how I'd feel differently about the portrait if I knew nothing about it.

Or what if I was mis-informed, and believed the face was reacting to some other turn of events...

Let's say this man has been working on assembling the worlds hardest to do jigsaw puzzle on his kitchen table.
Puzzles are what he lives for, and he's been working up to this one all his life.
He's been toiling away for several months on the final stages alone, and is nearly finished.
Only this morning his house was cleaned top to bottom, and all the trash was picked up by the trash van for the celebration to come, with all his most fanatical puzzler friends invited...

Almost done, the floor around the table is of course spotless. Now he sees four spaces left in the puzzle, but only three puzzle pieces left in the lid of the box....

So, if that was the story behind this face, would that change my feelings instead of knowing what was really going on?

Of course it would, on an emotional level it wouldn't have nearly the same impact since it would make me feel differently about the person in question and the gravity of the situation.
Although for a few die hard puzzlers I'm sure it would resonate even more!

But I'd still feel the same about it on another level, where I'm just in awe of one person's ability to convey so much expressive form, so artfully, with just a lump of dirt.
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Here's a description from the Wikipedia page on The Burghers of Calais...

"The story goes that England's Edward III, after a victory in the Battle of Crécy, laid siege to Calais, while Philip VI of France ordered the city to hold out at all costs. Philip failed to lift the siege, and starvation eventually forced the city to parley for surrender.

Edward offered to spare the people of the city if any six of its top leaders would surrender themselves to him, presumably to be executed. Edward demanded that they walk out almost naked, wearing nooses around their necks, and carrying the keys to the city and castle. One of the wealthiest of the town leaders, Eustache de Saint Pierre, volunteered first, and five other burghers soon followed suit, stripping down to their breeches. Saint Pierre led this envoy of emaciated volunteers to the city gates. It was this moment, and this poignant mix of defeat, heroic self-sacrifice, and willingness to face imminent death that Rodin captured in his sculpture, scaled somewhat larger than life.

In history, though the burghers expected to be executed, their lives were spared by the intervention of England's Queen, Philippa of Hainault, who persuaded her husband to exercise mercy by claiming that their deaths would be a bad omen for her unborn child."

Oh, incidentally, here's another Burgher...

This one kind of made me think of a leaner version of Marlon Brando's Godfather for some reason...
Oh, and no fruit flies landed in my glass, I'm sure you'll be glad to hear!

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Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Snakes alive (but not for long), it must be Halloween!

2011-10-31T12:46:00.000-06:00

Around Halloween last year I jumped out of the car to help a snake off the road.
Turned out to be a rattler, and I had nothing to help it with, and the road was busy, and it was right at the entrance to our local community college.
So in pretty short order it became snake jerky.

It was the first rattler I've seen around here, every other time I've escorted a snake off the road it has been a harmless, non venomous bullsnake, which does do a remarkable rattlesnake impersonation.
Here is a video of a very large bullsnake I found on YouTube. It's demonstrating its hissing vibrato, and head flattening routine...

Yesterday I found my neighbor in the process of using a spade to hack off the head of a pretty small rattler (other neighbors have done the same thing to at least one bullsnake I'm aware of: a case of mistaken identity).

Well, in this instance it was definitely a rattler. So guilty as charged I suppose. Maybe a foot long, with 2 little buttons on its tail.

Even with its head off, it was wriggling all over and its mouth was opening and snapping shut repeatedly.

I reckon if I'd found it I would have got it in a plastic bin and let it go, away from houses somewhere, which is what I did with a baby hognosed snake a while back.

Anyhow, a little unsettling knowing while Meridee's gardening there could be more hiding out amongst the hollyhocks...

Besides that, here's the latest Kickstarter project news... I got double the funding I need to get my Winged Angel Mice up and running (or flying), so THANKS BACKERS!!!

They're still available for pre-order if you'd like to get in touch via email etc, although once they're in galleries it will be retail price only. I'm expecting that to be around Feb sometime.

Have a spooktastic evening!

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Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

An artistic assault on the ears

2011-10-06T20:04:00.001-06:00

I read a great little article which explains why 'museums are bulging with visitors who come to view works they secretly detest'.

Something happened in my twenties which this article reminded me of straight away.
It's why I think the author's main point is right on the money (there's a link to the article at the end of this post).

Here's what happened...

A friend of mine has a musical genius brother who was participating in a recital of his latest composition at London's South Bank.
I persuaded another friend of mine, Jeremy, who is also a splendid musician to come along too.
I thought he might enjoy it since I had it on good authority the composer in question was extremely talented and capable.

After the lights went down and the composition started Jeremy and I were both in for a bit of a shock.

In the dark, it sounded like some people with their shoelaces tied togehter were trying to steal the instruments, or perhaps a bunch of animals with xylophones and pots and pans strapped to them were banging into each other.

Sounds clanged and squealed.
It was worse than listening to a construction site.
At least there you could discern the rhythm of a jack hammer.

The players emerged from the dark as spotlights were employed.
I hoped their visibility might cause them some embarrasment, perhaps enough to squeak out a tune.
But the music remained relentlessly awful.

We were just at the start, with a couple of hours to go.
Jeremy just got up and left, since he wasn't a friend of the family.
I had to sit there, for what seemed like an eternity, for fear of seeming rude.

After all, I knew the composer, and was there with his brother.
And I was a friend of the family.

And I fancied his sister.
So there was really no escape for me.

For a while I kept hoping this torture would evolve into something bearable, but eventually I just stoically accepted my fate and sat it out.
At least until the interval, when I darted off for a strategic 'emergency bathroom break' and headed for a bathroom somewhere far across town.

On the way I had a drink with Jeremy, who had been nice enough to wait outside.

And now, with no further ado, I urge you to read THIS ARTICLE and discover the secret of how the 20th Century art scene got away with it (although of course it's not over yet)...

Besides that, my Winged Angel Mice are still available for a half price pre-order on Kickstarter (click HERE to see more).

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Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Bronze toad bottle opener...at least it will be later.

2011-09-26T20:28:00.000-06:00

Future bronze bottle opener...

I been busy testing my Frogoholic metal master, with very satisfying results!

What you see here is its toad cousin.

I have a cunning plan for this toad bottle opener, which is currently a wax and clay model ready for molding before creating bronzes.

...I'll go into more detail once I have a few cast...

Besides that, my Winged Angel Mice are still available for a half price pre-order on Kickstarter (click HERE to see more).

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Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Pre-Order my upcoming new Angel Mice at Kickstarter (for around half their expected retail)

2011-09-18T10:18:00.002-06:00

Angel Pug wax and clay original (pre-cast)

That's right, if you like my new upcoming Angel Mice series now's your chance to snap one or more of them up for a steal!

They're a available for pre-order through Kickstarter.com for 30 days until Noon on Tuesday Oct 18th New York time.
Click HERE to go straight to my project.

It's my second Kickstarter project.
I had a blast first time, and I have to say I love their whole win-win concept.

I'd like to offer another huge thanks again to you if you participated last time or have collected my work through galleries or my Etsy store.
You are making it possible for me to do what I love to do.

And also a big thanks to anyone who's reading my blog and enjoying my handiwork!

I can't speak for other artists, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who's ego gets a tickle every time someone likes what they do!

Above: Angel Chubby wax and clay original (pre-cast)

Winged Sprightly wax and clay nearly finished original (pre-cast)

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Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back

or my Etsy store, CritterVille

James Bond, beer, and tree frogs.

2011-09-10T15:20:00.000-06:00

Frogoholic - raw bronze (no patina yet)

It's fun combining things I like, so I'm combining
• my bronze wall hanging tree frog,
• secret James Bond-like gadgetry, and
• beer...
to make Frogoholic!

It's the wall mounted tree frog that's now also a stealth bottle opener.

What could be more fun than that?!

Unassuming wall mounted tree frog, soon to become weaponized to 'Frogoholic'...

Frogoholic has yet to receive its patina, and is currently still in the testing phase, since I want to make sure the bronze doesn't get all chewed up after opening bunches of bottles.

I call it research and development.
Then, a bit later, I call it searurch and dvelelopment...

Then, assuming the metal holds up nicely, I'll get some made, probably with a yellowish green patina and send them off to M-I-5...

'Right, now do pay attention double-O seven...'
'Excellent, just the thing for unwinding after a rough day at the office.'

Frogoholic patina options- I think I like second down on the right best...or possibly top left...what do you think?

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Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back

or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Toadem Pole: It's a totem pole made of frogs (or toads)...

2011-08-27T18:46:00.001-06:00

Wax and clay original of my toadem pole

I've been having far too much fun playing with my home grown building blocks, as you can see!

The top frog is a double header.
Besides sporting a pair of wings (it is a totem pole after all) the toad in pole position is looking forwards and backwards at the same time.

Looks to me like it might also make for a very unusual rapier handle...

...or candlestick holder...

...or a fire stoker handle...

...you know once you start making things, you just keep coming up with more things to make!

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Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back

or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Sprightly is also becoming a winged mouse...

2011-08-20T13:59:00.000-06:00

Winged Sprightly Mouse

I suspect all my mice will eventually sprout wings, but here's a wax version of Sprightly sporting a fine feathered set of wings.
Destined to be bronze with a silver patina when all's said and done.

Winged Sprightly Mouse again

At the time this was taken there was still a bit to do in the area where the wings meet the body, but it was nearly finished and gives a good idea how Sprightly will look as a winged mouse.

Winged Sprightly Mouse from behind

I went with semi-folded wings.

Would that be just having landed, or about to take off...?

In the last few posts you can see Chubby and Pugnacious in their wingcarnations...

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Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back

or my Etsy store, CritterVille

My primitive frog 'Rocky' is finished...

2011-08-13T13:25:00.000-06:00

Meet Rocky.
Since a pocket full of these would weigh you down like a bag of stones, Rocky is what I'm calling my bare essentials frog.
Rocky is all action. Perhaps not too well mannered, but chock full of personality and attitude!

Reckless and eager to break new ground (and windows), Rocky dreams of being launched from a slingshot, far off into space...

Actually Rocky kind of has a bit of an Aztec-esque feel.
I should sprinkle a few around some old ruins and see if they show up on the History Channel...!

Rocky, Rocky, Rocky and Rocky meet Penny

Rocky has a Lego like quality too.
I'm having fun piling them atop one another.
Ancient Aztec lego toys, that's what they are.

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Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back

or my Etsy store, CritterVille

All mice go to heaven 2...

2011-08-07T19:12:00.000-06:00

Here's Angel Chubby in wax and clay yet to be molded and cast in bronze...

As you can see this chubby little mouse is furnished with a dainty pair of wings that hardly seem able to lift the critter heavenward...

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Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back

or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Dangerous liasons, and my big news...

2011-07-29T15:10:00.006-06:00

Naughty Rumpy and Pumpy mice rudely invading a Dan Ostermiller bronze...

I was dropping off some mice for this years Barkin' Ball at the Humane Society to benefit Santa Fe's animal shelter when I noticed a splendid sculpture by Dan Ostermiller...

I couldn't help myself: I just had to put Rumpy and Pumpy mice in there since the piece seemed to be made specially for them!

Rumpy and Pumpy mice

I wondered if I just left them there: would anyone think to move them, or just assume they were welded in place?!

I've had fun photographing Nosey mouse playing on Dan's famous bears before, which you can see if you click HERE.

Two other people's work that grabbed forcefully for my attention when we moved to Santa Fe were bronzes by Sisko, and Louise Peterson.
That was nearly six years ago.
Seeing all three of those represented around town gave me the kick up the pants I needed to get serious about sculpting.

I was struck by their obvious love of and respect for nature, and the elegant and restrained degree with which they stylized their designs.

My BIG news!

And now for my BIG NEWS which I'm exceedingly puffed up about right about now, just having got back from the mail box and all...

I have a letter informing me that I've been elected as a sculptor member to the National Sculpture Society!

From their website...'In 1893, our founding members, including Daniel Chester French, Augustus St. Gaudens, Stanford White and J.Q.A. Ward, established the Society to "spread the knowledge of good sculpture." Today, NSS continues to support sculpture as an active, vital, not-for-profit 501(c) 3 organization.'

Up 'till now I've been an associate member, which allows me to enter their annual shows, get the magazine and what have you.

But Elected Members are sculptors whose work is juried and voted on by other elected sculptor members and the NSS Board of Directors.

I imagine every artist relishes being recognized by their peers; not only that, but now I can officially put NSS after my name if I'm feeling flash!

Dan Ostermiller is currently president of the NSS (and not for the first time).
I hope he doesn't mind my little mice playing on his sculpture, otherwise I could find myself banned even before my certificate and pin arrive in the mail!

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Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back

or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Frog fetish anyone?...(or: All work and no play makes Steve a dull boy!)

2011-07-23T14:58:00.000-06:00

I've always liked lively sketchy drawings, so I thought I'd try some really quick sketchy frogs in clay.
I made a few, probably spending no more than a minute on each one.
Just the absolute bare bones minimum number of squishes into the clay to convey froggyness.
They got briefer as I went.

This one is my favorite, so I've now it molded and I've got some waxes with the sprues still in place.
They'll be cast in bronze, the sprues cut off, then the bottoms flattened nicely before the patina is applied.

This one struggles under the weight of a penny

I noticed they look a bit like Native American fetishes carved from stones, but with intensely staring eyes.
This Santa Fe living must be rubbing off on me at least a bit.

All work and no play makes Steve a dull boy!

Those baby swallows are flying all day now, but still come back to roost in extremely cramped quarters in their tiny mud nest!
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Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

All mice go to heaven...

2011-07-11T20:47:00.000-06:00

Everything eats mice.
They have their place in the food chain, which sadly for them is right at the bottom, so every day they quietly make the ultimate sacrifice.
And yet no monument honors them...

...I recently tried out a silver patina for a change which gave my mice a heavenly look.
It would seem the perfect icing for my new mouse cake.
A mouse cake with wings.

Meet winged Pugnacious.
Or angel pug if you prefer...

Angel Pug is my tribute to the bazillions of mice who've died, and will continue to die, so other creatures might live.

Here he is in wax and clay for now.

Before long he'll be crash landing on my table with a loud clang since he'll be solid bronze with a silver patina.
Then he'll be followed by others, like Angel Chubby, and Winged Sprightly who are waiting in the wings even now (groan!).

I like Angel Pug.
He sort of reminds me of old Ray Harryhausen movies, or those monkeys in 'The wizard of Oz'.

Speaking of wings, we've got some fat baby swallows with giant mouths outside our front door.
One at least has started to fly already.

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

'Creatures' show at Sisko Gallery in Seattle

2011-07-10T07:47:00.000-06:00

If you're in Seattle between July 14th and August 21st pop into Sisko Gallery for this year's 'Creatures' show!

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Guess my weight and win a mouse contest results...

2011-07-05T08:03:00.000-06:00

212.6
It seems I'm still immune to shame.
Or perhaps I stubbornly refuse to be shamed into anything, even when it's me doing the shaming, and it's for my own good!

So after 6 months my weight loss is a few measly pounds, and so the winner is TX Cupcake, who also won the first time, but never got around to claiming their prize!
So as per the rules, after one month it went to the next closest guess.

TX Cupcake, since your entry came in the form of a comment, and you have no contact info on your profile, it's up to you to get in touch by the end of the July (I'll give you 'till Aug 5th since it's the 5th now)!

This time, if TX Cupcake doesn't claim their prize of a mouse by Aug 5th (from Sprightly, Nosey or Chubby) the next closest will win again (in this case Bob Coady who optimistically assumed - via email - I might lose a staggering 9 lbs in 6 months, which I didn't!)

Now for my tasty breakfast of hippo burgers and elephant pie chasers, all washed down with bath tub of whale's milk while I plot a more effective plan to dump some lard...

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Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Godzilla Mouse attempts to terrorize New York City!!!

2011-06-26T11:34:00.001-06:00

Godzilla size Sprightly Mouse checks out the Met while jaded New Yorkers refuse to bat an eye

I had this genius idea a couple of years ago, but I couldn't make it work.
I wanted to photoshop my mice into pics of famous (famouse?) landmarks the world over and drop them into Goggle Earth so when people clicked on the little photo icons every now and then they'd be surprised by a giant mouse striding Godzilla-like across the landscape.

I started with the Met in NYC, but I couldn't get the upload to work.
The photoshoppery was easy enough though, which just sparked another idea...

If you have a pic you think one of my bronzes would make an interesting addition to, shoot it my way via email and I'll see what I can do.
You could stick it on your fridge or something.

It could be a mouse Godzilla-like, or maybe you just want to see how something would look on your mantle, in your yard, or anything really.

I'd need to photograph the critter in question at the right angle, in the right light and (if you want it to appear actual size) to the right scale, so if you send one pic of the location, and a second pic of the same thing with a soda can parked where you want the critter I can work out those things from that (unless we're doing 'Godzilla style', in which case just the one pic of the location will do just fine).

It won't take a few minutes for me to snap something that will work.

Also, since I don't always have every sculpture immediately available (lots of stuff in galleries), you might check what I do have, much of which is up on my Etsy store.
Other pieces might require me to pull something from the gallery in town for a day to take the snap.

So, if you want to see Nosey peering off the Arc de Triomphe, or Sprightly sniffing the Eiffel tower or doing his best impersonation of the Colossus of Rhodes email me a pic (just make sure you aren't infringing any copyrights-your own holiday snaps are ideal- since I may post them here later).

Go to 'view complete profile' in the sidebar (or just click HERE) to find my email.

In the example above I used a pic taken by a friend of ours who's website Duaflower you might enjoy.

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Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Sumo toads take their place in the sun...

2011-06-19T12:54:00.001-06:00

Manitou Galleries second home in Santa Fe at 225 Canyon Road

Manitou is the gallery in Santa Fe that shows my work.

Recently they snagged a second location in a cul de sac at the bottom of Canyon Road which actually has a wonderful sculpture garden, so it seemed fitting to let my sumo toads out for a romp around in the sun.

Since they are so aggressive by nature, we transported them from the other gallery in separate crates so they wouldn't be able to fight on the way across town, but as soon as we opened the lids they hopped out across the gravel to wrestle over who gets ownership of the large chunk of rock they both decided was so desirable.

They're still at it even now.

They seem to like being out of doors.

If you live around Santa Fe the gallery is having its official opening on Friday June 24 from 5-8pm.
Hop on over and say 'hello'!
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Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Guess who forked out $250,000 after getting one of my bronzes...?!

2011-06-11T21:54:00.004-06:00

That's right, Bob Barker!
Mercy For Animals awarded Bob Barker their 'Compassionate Leadership Award', which (I'm both proud and honored to say) took the form of my framed bronze plaque.

Then Bob handed them a check for $250,000!

Click HERE to learn more about Bob's donation at the Mercy For Animals event.

Of course while it would nice to think he felt moved to such generosity by my touching handiwork, in reality he's a diehard defender of animal rights with a formidable track record of donating millions to causes that support those goals.

When I told Lee (who made the mold and pulled the wax), he said I should have personally called Bob earlier and offered him a 20 percent discount!

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Art is an animal.

2011-06-04T14:47:00.001-06:00

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This post was inspired by this link a Mr. David Purcell sent me (thanks for that David).

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303745304576357681741418282.html

It's a great read, and I couldn't help myself but leave a comment.

My favorite comment is Robert Ulrich's suggestion for a t-shirt slogan.

Did you read it?

OK: Imagine you're having a conversation with some people about an animal.
Only you think the animal in question is an elephant.
And the next person thinks it's a snake.
And the next one a fish, and another person thinks it's a snail but you all think you're talking about the same thing...

'It wouldn't scare me if I woke up with it on my bed'
'Oh, I wouldn't fancy that much!'
'I'd have to rush out and get it a bowl of water'
'Wouldn't scare you? Bowl of water? You're all nuts, I'd be out of there in a shot to get my gun'
'That's a bit extreme'

That's why conversations about art so often go nowhere.
Everyone knows what real art is, but it's a different animal in every person's mind.

Pick ten things that make something art.
How would you arrange them if you had to put them on your fridge door in a certain order?
Most important first, least important last, to satisfy your idea of what makes something art.

Here's a few to pick from to get you started...

Clever. Funny. Understandable. Concept. Well known. Skill. Liveliness. Handmade. Popular. Shock value. Beauty. Message. Famous. Artist's reputation. Connecting emotionally with the viewer. Detail. Simplicity. The story behind it. The esteemed critic's explanation of it. Uncompromising. Price. Market value. Virtuosity. Craftsmanship. Artistry. Made it look easy. Looks really hard. Inspired. Incomprehensible.

Or anything else I haven't thought of, if those options don't help you find your ten.

Then start a debate about the role of assistants in the making of art.

Or any debate about art, for that matter!
Like what is it?

Unless you're talking with a bunch of people with very similar looking fridge doors to yours, the passionate debate could be heading in a thousand different directions the minute it starts!

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Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Everything you need to know about 'The Philosophy of Art' in one sentence...

2011-05-29T09:36:00.004-06:00

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Actions speak louder than words.

In the case of Sir Frank Brangwyn's take on the philosophy of art, I'd say actions add enormous weight to his words.

And those words are...

'There is no philosophy of art other than the doing well of a given job for a given purpose.'
Sir Frank Brangwyn, R.A.

So there you have it, and here's an extremely brief smattering of a hint of some of the enormous amount of truly great work he put out in his lifetime.
His unbelievable output (in terms of both quality and volume) includes murals, etchings, water colors, oils, drawings, book plates, posters for railroads and war bonds and a whole host of other things...

If you like these images, you'll LOVE a trip to THIS WEBSITE...

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Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Would you like a Chubby Mouse fridge magnet?

2011-05-20T19:54:00.001-06:00

'I love your food' Chubby mouse fridge magnet

Seeing that Globspot has just got 100 followers, and my facebook mouse page has just over that many likes, I'm in a rather good mood and would like to say 'Thanks'!

If you'd like a Chubby Mouse fridge magnet (whether or not you have signed up for my facebook mouse page or follow my blog) shoot me an email.

You can find my email on my profile, or HERE on the contact page of my regular website.

They are about the size of a business card, and I just got quite a pile of them.
And if I run out I'll mention that here.

Include the word 'magnet' in the subject line, and of course where you'd like it sent in the email itself and I'll pop one in the mail for you.
Free, of course.

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Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Show announcements...

2011-05-14T16:03:00.000-06:00

Just me tooting my horn for a few show announcements in this post...

'Crossing Over' will be part of the Society of Animal Artists 51st annual show...

My smaller sumo toads have been selected (I'm pleased as Punch and proud to say) for the Western Visions 'Miniatures and More' show in Jackson, WY at the National Museum of Wildlife Art.

'Crossing Over' has been selected for the Society of Animal Artists 51st annual show.
They're both around September time.

I had to write an artist's statement on Crossing Over for the Society of Animal Artists show, so here it is, sandwiched between the next two pics....

Life is a journey.
As much for mice as for us.

Sadly for mice, they usually end up as a tasty snack.
Happily for us, we're more likely to glide up to the other shore in our old age.

Either way life is fleeting.
Might as well enjoy the ride.

I'm also honored to be a part of the Albuquerque Museum's Miniatures and More show, which is closer to the end of the year.

Table top sized 'Sumo Wrestling Toads' will be at Western Visions, Miniatures and More, at the National Museum of Wildlife Art, Jackson, WY

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Working on the move with my (not so shiny) new Treadmill Desk (which I made myself) !

2011-05-07T11:45:00.002-06:00

So I Googled 'news' and found this great article online called 'Is sitting a lethal activity?'

And it spurred me to take immediate action since it's now May, and my contest finish line to give away a mouse to whoever guessed my weight the closest on July 1 is fast approaching.

And I haven't lost an ounce (yet - there's still time!).

About the article...

Basically some doctor scientist boffin type by the name of Dr. James Levine developed some undies that constantly detect any physical movement.

Then, I suppose, he thought of a really good use for them....

A number of people as test subjects were fed an exact amount of calories every day.
Their weight was stable.
Then the calories were increased (by a thousand a day if memory serves).

They weren't allowed to exercise.
Some started gaining weight, while others didn't.

An examination of the data collected from the undies showed the ones that didn't gain weight were subconsciously adding fidgety movements into their daily routine to burn off the excess calories, while the others (who gained weight) didn't move any more than usual.

Then it mentioned something he came up with: A new phenomenon called 'Treadmill Desks'.

So I just made one (I'm plodding along at 1mph as I write this).

I wonder if I might have a tendency to do the opposite of the fidgety people:
Perhaps, with a calorie deficit formed by exercise, I'll eat pillows in my sleep.
Or perhaps Meridee will wake up missing an arm?

But I hope not!

Here's how I made my treadmill desk...

I built a dimensionally accurate (although very simplified) version of our treadmill in SketchUp, along with my proposed design for a desk and shelf.

my simplified rendering of my treadmill and envisioned desk - the computer and accessories were swiped from Google's 3D Warehouse.

Then I got all carried away and decided to add my drawing/computing room too...
Just to see how it would look in situ...(much neater than in reality, as you will see)...

The 3D person needs a bit more belly, but he came that way (from the 3D Warehouse) so I'll use him as inspiration...

We've had this treadmill for years and, of course, never used it.
I've tried to give it away twice.

Now I'm glad I had no takers.

I bought my supplies from Lowes...

Treadmill Desk supplies

I got busy with a drill, saw, and screwdriver.
Can you spot the deliberate mistake?

Checking it out in the living room...

Getting the treadmill through my door (which I had to take off) was the hardest part.
I had to fold up the belt, lay it on its side, and using carpet sliders, jiggle it about until I got it through the door.

Then came the woodwork assembly...

Here's the deliberate mistake

Oops...won't be able to shut the door when I put it back on!

A bit more work with the screwdriver and....

That fits much better!

I used a lot of non-slip rubbery stuff between the desk layers to reduce vibrations to my computer.

rubbery 'shock absorbers' on the treadmill hand rests, on which the desk top is placed

Now as I either work (or waste far too much time - whichever fits the bill) on my computer at least I'm losing a bit of lard (I hope!).


Ta-Daaa....Me hard at work on my completed treadmill desk with Sprightly mouse along for the ride...

Now I need to go and have a sit down!

Learn lots more about treadmill desks...Click HERE
Treadmill desk blog...Click HERE

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Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

How to make a bronze bas relief award plaque honoring Bob Barker...Part 3

2011-04-30T15:27:00.003-06:00

My plaque came back from the foundry.
Lee chopped off the sprues, welded a hanger on the back (just in case it's ever taken from its frame), and gave it a once over in the sandblast cabinet.

sandblasted bronze, ready for patina

After that, it's time for me to create the patina (being sure to take all the necessary safety precautions, of course).
I gave it a soak in sulphurated potash (just a sprinkle, mixed in water) to turn it black.
Then I scrubbed it back with a scotch brite pad, and then some very fine steel wool.

After that, I heated it with a weed burning torch and sprayed on a mix of ferric nitrate and cupric nitrate, then waxed it while hot.

A quick buffing after it cooled was all that was needed before popping it into a its frame.

Next stop: Mercy For Animals.
Final destination: Bob Barker!

I've cast only two of this version (one to be given to Bob, and one for me to keep), but when I get a bunch of my non-award version cast (which has a cloudy sky instead of award lettering and will be sent to galleries) I'll post pics of that too.

This has been both an honor and a great deal of fun to make.
Thanks Mercy For Animals!

And thanks Lee for helping me get it done in time!

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Michael Tatom's bear necessities...

2011-04-23T16:16:00.002-06:00

I'm friends with jeweler and sculptor Michael Tatom.

Our styles of work and sculpting approaches are very different.

My approach so far has been additive with a focus on a certain kind of realism, while Michael's is subtractive and more stylized.

I've always been impressed by artists who can pull off the subtractive method as Michael does with such excellent results.

Luckily he's taken some pictures, so I can share his process with you here...

He'll start with just a couple of pictures of his intended subject for reference.
I think he's rather amused by my piles of reference pictures when tackling a subject!

First he makes fairly orthographic drawings to transfer onto a block of very hard jeweler's carving wax.

If his wax isn't a thick enough block, he'll heat up surfaces and stick them together.

He's etched along his dotted lines.

Then he uses a band saw to roughly cut away the waste areas, before going back in with rotating barrel grinders.
No prizes for noticing that these next pics are of a different bear!

And some other things...

Barrel burr

'action'... demonstrating on another piece of wax

Not yet fully smooth...

As the form nears completion he moves on to files and gravers, finally finishing up with paper towels and solvents to achieve his signature smooth surface...

Getting scraped...

Files, gravers, and burrs

Look at those skinny files. I reckon Michael could probably do you a half decent root canal in a pinch...

Here's a magpie ready for molding...

His paintings aren't nearly as refined as his sculptures, as you can see on the cupboard door :)

A small sampling below...

See Michael's website HERE...
or his Etsy store HERE...

All pictures in this post are copyright Michael Tatom, and used with permission.

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Upside down vision, and making the blind (half blind, anyway) see. Perhaps. And some Pugnacious mice...

2011-04-15T18:14:00.001-06:00

It's a fact that if you wear special glasses that turn everything upside down, after a while your brain will flip everything back over again in your head.
It even works on cats, apparently.

This brain's way of making sense of the world has had me wondering:
Every year around the time I go for my eye exam, I wonder if the brain could make someone who lost an eye see normally again?

Here's what I've been wondering might work...

Let's say our test person lost the use of their left eye.
Light that would normally come to it is deflected across their face via a 45 degree angled mirror.
It is then re-deflected into their right eye via a semi-silvered mirror.
So along with the deflected light from the left side, will also come light from the right side, straight through the semi-silvered mirror.

In the above diagram the dice is far out of the top of the frame, and we are looking down on the top of someone's head...

You'd see two images superimposed on top of one another, which would probably give you a headache.

Or would it?

Say after a few days of weirdness and pain, maybe the mighty brain's visual unscrambler could go to work and turn it all good?

After all, it kind of knows what it wants to be seeing (if you lost your eye, not if you'd never had it, I imagine).

I don't know, but every year it gets me wondering.

Is this ludicrous? Might it work? Has it been tried? Can you already buy these at WalMart?

I have no idea.

If anyone thinks it would work or not, I'd be all ears!

Oh, and just to keep it all properly sculpture related, here's some pics of my first full litter of Pugnaciouses, which will be heading off to their new owners who backed them on Kickstarter.

They're like mice, only crossed with both piranhas and meerkats...

Beware roving gangs of Pugnacious mice...

What's that smell?

They can bring down large prey by cunningly chewing through the laces...

Rumpy and Pumpy aren't ready yet, so if your backing activities included them, hang in there, I'll keep you posted...

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Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

How to make a bronze bas relief award plaque honoring Bob Barker...Part 2

2011-04-08T13:33:00.001-06:00

finished plaque (added after this post was first published)

I had planned to have Lee Wilson mold my calf, pull waxes, and then I'd letter each one directly onto the wax.
Luckily I like to run my plans past Lee when they involve production steps since he's very efficient and always thinking the next step (or three) ahead to streamline the process from mold making to metal chasing, since he works on all the steps in between.

He thought it would be awkward for me to letter them directly onto the thin, delicate waxes.
And doing it twice would be no fun!

So he gave me a big chunk of wax with a smooth surface to letter on, which he would pull rubber from, and make waxes of the lettering to chop into the plaque.

That way, if anything went wrong it would be possible to assemble another wax with much less fuss and bother.

So I traced over the lettering with a ball point pen, which left a nice indentation on the wax.
And I used some white 'trace down' type paper to put in the horizontal lines.

Metal ended tool with a stalk and a ball shaped end

Rubber mold

Lee finds household appliances handy for melting wax.
He's very careful not to pour molten wax on himself, as the hair on his arms reveals.

Trimming the edges of the lettering...


Lettering cut into place...

After the lettering has been cut into the plaque Lee 'welded' it in place with hot wax.
Then I used a scrapey tool to carefully chase away the nasty looking weld, Lee cleaned it up with mineral spirits, I re-tooled the lettering to sharpen it up a bit and etched my name into the bottom edge and it's ready for a trip to the foundry for spruing, investing, burnout, casting and de-molding.

I'm making two: one for Mercy For Animals to present to Bob, and one for me, which will also serve as insurance against anything going wrong with the casting.

If one gets messed up somehow, there's a back-up.
Hopefully all will be well though!

Wax welding

Lettering in place before clean up

Lettering in place after clean up

Off to the foundry...!

I like the clean look around the lettering, so I decided to leave out additional cloud elements.
However I'm using the original art to make a new piece starring the same calf, but with a new background of clouds and rain, which I'll feature in an up-coming post...

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Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

How to make a bas relief award plaque honoring Bob Barker...Part 1

2011-03-30T09:15:00.002-06:00

finished plaque, added after this post was first published

I got an unexpected call the other day from Mercy For Animals.
They saw my mice up for silent auction at the Humane Society's Genesis Awards recently.
They wanted to know if I could make a calf in bronze they could award to Bob Barker on June 4th, so they'd need it shipped by May 25th.

Mmm.
Great opportunity, but not enough time to research, make, mold, pull waxes, invest, burn out, cast, clean up and create a patina on a calf in the round!

I wondered if they might fancy a plaque instead?
That would be do-able, with hopefully some wiggle room in case of any unexpected casting issues.

'Perfect', came the reply!

I think Bob Barker is a great name for someone who supports animal activism.
After all, plenty of creatures bob up and down, and then there's barking...

I wonder if he ever just lets loose and bobs about the house barking up a storm at the same time?
I would;
If that was my name.

Anyhow, a combination of lots of calf photo's from Mercy For Animals, and my own results from digging for more, along with some anatomical info got me familiar enough with the shapes and proportions to design my plaque.

I have always enjoyed the stylistic sensibilities of a lot of Art Noveau, Art Deco, and the Arts and Crafts movements.

I wanted to incorporate that hand crafted feel to the lettering as well as the relief, so I whipped out my pencils and got busy.

I did the lettering first so I could see what space I might have left over to work with for the image.

I scanned them and jiggled them about a bit in photoshop...

Next operation: transfer the image to my masonite board and start laying on some clay!
I used some white trace down paper (kind of a white version of carbon paper).

Oh, those black blocks are magnets. I made my drawing board from thin foamcore over sheet metal so I can have it up at an angle and keep things in place.

After taking care of the furthest away elements I used wax paper over my drawing to make the background legs since they lay over the far background and I'd get it all chewed up if I tried to do it in place.

Getting it off the wax paper is a bit tricky since I prefer a fairly soft and quite sticky wax based clay!
Popping it in the freezer for a few minutes stiffens it up a bit, and pressing the clay into my fingers while folding the paper back on itself seems to do the trick...

Anyhow, as you can see, since I'm an artist living in Santa Fe I've enjoyed myself giving it a bit of a South West feel with the distant rain and what have you.

The clouds and terrain certainly make great design elements.

What a spooky looking calf!

You have be very careful when putting elements together that the whole doesn't get disjointed, all of unrelated thicknesses and what have you.
But I find keeping a careful cross reference back and forth throughout the process allows things to work out fine...

So far so good...


Ignore everything in focus!!

My camera thought I wanted to take a pic of the floor (it's so very interesting, after all!).
The blurry strip in the foreground is an edge-on view after sticking my smaller masonite panel onto a slightly larger one, and kind of 'grout filling' between them with clay.
I took the pic to show how low the bas relief is.

By being careful how I define overlapping planes in the sculpture I've been able to achieve a good sense of three dimensional form, in barely more than two dimensions.

I suppose drawing for a living my whole life has helped out with that!

Next time...
LETTERING!

Incidentally, there's no spoilers here since I learned that Bob knows he's getting awarded and I have been given the all clear to post 'in progress' reports!

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

The Rolls Royce of shoe horns has completed its test drive...

2011-03-19T23:07:00.001-06:00

Snail shoe horn

Wall hanging tree frog shoe horn

Lately I love putting sneakers on, perhaps more than anyone else alive!

I've been using my extra long tree frog shoe horn most days.
I whip it off the wall to slide into my sneakers, but it feels so nice to hold I usually swing it about a bit before hanging it back up!

I might even chase Meridee about with it if she happens to be passing at the time!

It feels great to hold. Nice and heavy, with perfect balance since the heavy frog is at the grasping end, a bit like the pommel on a sword.

Edition of 25. The dark shape at the bottom of this picture is to the top of the slot for wall hanging.

The snail shoe horn sits neatly on the mantel, and when I'm planning to squeeze my plates of meat into my sneakers whilst sitting, I whip my snail off its stand and take care of business that way.

One of the most fun things about being an artist for me is that I can make things for myself that otherwise I'd have to be Bill Gates, or Warren Buffet, or Richard Branson, Sir Alan Sugar or Donald Trump to own.

In fact I had to sit my Walmart shoe horn down in the board room earlier today, for a little chat...

'Walmart shoe horn...

It's not that you're not doing a fine job.

You are.
You get my sneakers on very nicely.

You're nice and long, with a flexible spring. I never had to lean down at all.

That string in your handle lets me dangle you from anything.

You're as light as a feather, and thinner than my new bronze shoe horns.
You've always slid between heel and shoe with no trouble at all.

But you're cheap.

You look cheap, you're bendy, and you're no fun to hold.

Once I've got my sneakers on, I can't wait to drop you like a hot potato.

Just take a look at my Rolls Royce of shoe horns.
Either one.
I can't bear to put them down.

Why couldn't you be more like that?

Walmart shoe horn, I'm left with no choice.

Get out.

YOU'RE FIRED!'

........................................................................
Click HERE to see all shoe horn related posts (making of, etc).
........................................................................

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Chameleon #1 bronze bas relief plaque

2011-03-12T12:20:00.001-07:00

Here's how my bronze bas relief plaque turned out...

I think this frame really sets my vine crawling chameleon off nicely.

Unframed bronze plaque

Detail

The back has washers welded into place for hanging unframed.


Just for scale, and an idea of thickness... And if you click HERE you can see some in progress pics...

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Mice up for auction at the Hollywood Humane Society Genesis Awards bash...

2011-03-05T10:09:00.000-07:00

It's the special 25th anniversary Genesis Awards event for the Hollywood Humane Society.
It's on Saturday March 19th at the Century Plaza Hyatt Regency.

I don't know if tickets are still available, but if you click HERE you'll be at their website.

I've got a bunch of mice up for silent auction, so I hope they do well and raise a big bunch of cash for needy critters.

Up at the top there is my ad which is going in the brochure...!

Manitou Gallery's show was lots of fun last night (any excuse for a glass of wine and lots of chin-wagging!), I think it will stay up for a couple of weeks until they start preparing for the next one.

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Pugnacious Mouse's first public appearance...public indecency and a tree frog guarding books.

2011-03-03T20:38:00.001-07:00

Manitou Gallery is having a joint show for the better behaved of my sculptures and Jennifer O'Cualain's paintings tomorrow (Friday March 4).

Pugnacious Mouse will be making his first public appearance 'in the flesh', so to speak - for order taking purposes only, since my other 'metal master' is on the way to the foundry and if it gets lost in the mail I'll have this back-up ready.

Rumpy and Pumpy Mice weren't invited to the show, in fact they were asked to stay away since they have no sense of public decency and simply can't control themselves in front of people.

There'll be plenty of other newly finished things besides Pugnacious which will be at the show, and they'll be making their way onto these pages soon enough...

...here's a tree frog you can hang on the wall (or book case, or anywhere!)

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Show opens on Friday, and last chance for snapping up pre-orders on Kickstarter...

2011-02-26T11:24:00.002-07:00

There's nothing like an upcoming show to make the gentle breeze of time passing turn into a gale and rip the pages off the calendar with frightening speed.

Especially when you're trying to get a few new pieces ready in time, and hoping a large piece arrives safely in time from a museum show the next state over.

Luckily I can rely on the handful of talented professionals I have come to know over the last few years to do a great job every time. Thanks guys.

Testing my tree frog shoe horn for hangability before finishing, while Lee welds on a mouse tail...

Tree frogs with their sprues cut off

Snail end of one of my shoehorns. I might do this snail also as a stand-alone in the future...

Needs welding

Post weld hammering

Plenty of my old favorites will be in attendance, like my Monkey Discus Thrower, Bear Back Rider, various toads, and barring any disasters my large Sumo Toads, along with a handful of new pieces like various small turtles and tree frogs on a vine which are already installed, plus...

I've dropped off my artist's proof of 'Crossing Over' at Manitou, but several others (my tree frog clinging on a wall, my wall hanging tree frog shoe horn, snail shoe horn, Pugnacious Mouse) should be ready this week, with my chameleon plaques not getting into my hot little hands until likely Thursday, which will give me just enough time to patina them before hanging.
Some of these new pieces will be mostly for order taking only, since I've only had a few cast so far.

I also need to sort out the resin for my swimming turtles.

Anyhow, I'm very excited about it and I'm sure all will go well, even if it's just in time, although Manitou are also opening a new gallery at the bottom of Canyon Road which will have garden space to display outdoor sculptures, which is great!

So they'll be even busier than usual this next few weeks!

I'm the sculpture half of the show, so I'm proud to be sharing with painter Jennifer O'Cualain.
Her animal paintings will be the ideal complement to my bronze critters, and she generously painted a picture for my Mouse Project book.

Unfortunately my favorite mice are looking a bit too risque for this particular gallery.
I was a bit surprised since I never really saw myself as the Damien Hirst of Santa Fe!

Rumpy Mouse and Pumpy Mouse - metal master, pre-patina

I'll be forced to sell them shadily on ever changing street corners from the trunk of my roving mouse mobile!
Coded messages shall appear in the newspaper, alerting those in the know where and when the next secret rendezvous will be...

My Kickstarter project is almost over, and I'm very happy to say that I achieved my funding goal early and then some thanks to the enthusiastic support of my backers who I'm delighted to say love what I do!
Which is extremely gratifying, and makes being an artist all the more rewarding.
Thanks backers!

It ends around midnight at the end of ~~Sunday~~ OOPS, I MEAN SATURDAY!, mountain time, so if you'd like a quick look before it ends you can click HERE.

Pugnacious metal master with a little metalwork to go before patina...

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

'Crossing Over' - Bronze on blackened steel base, 18" x 10" x 4"

2011-02-22T07:21:00.000-07:00

Here is my artist's proof for 'Crossing Over'.
Bronze on blackened steel base, 18" x 10" x 4"

This is what the foundry will refer to for positioning and patina while they make the edition of 25.
It's currently (although only for the next few days before it's offered in galleries) available for pre-order through my Kickstarter project at a significant discount, along with a few other new mice.
You can click HERE to check it out.

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

The Rolls Royce of shoe horns is rolling along, plus other tree frog and Kickstarter progress...

2011-02-19T21:42:00.000-07:00

My epic shoe horns featuring either a snail or a tree frog are progressing nicely through the many stages that bronze casting demands.
The top of the shoe horns featuring the critter in question are being cast separately from the main portion. They are hollow to accommodate a screw head sticking from a wall for hanging after the back side is welded on with 'keyhole' cut into it.
The rest of the shoehorn will be welded to it and worked in metal before a final sandblast and patina to create the seamless whole.

Shoe horn - handle end

I took pics of some castings of my hollow wall mounted and solid paperweight tree frogs.
They mostly still need some metalwork done (small vent off the nose, flattening the bottom), before a final sandblast with glass beads for a silky smooth look and then the final patina application.

My Kickstarter project is only a week from over...
It finishes around 2 AM on Feb 27, so if you fancy getting your hands on my new mice at the pre-order price before time runs out, click HERE.

I'd again like to thank everyone who's snapped up something using Kickstarter with their pledge system.

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Happy Valentine's Day - Chubby Mouse Style

2011-02-14T08:56:00.000-07:00

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

More slow-moving chameleon action...(another bas relief plaque in the works)

2011-02-13T10:57:00.003-07:00

Hot on the heels of my first chameleon bas relief plaque comes....
.......ta daaa.........
....another chameleon bas relief plaque!

They aren't cast in bronze yet, but have been molded and I have a couple of plaster casts to keep me going while the whole bronze casting machinery slowly grinds into motion.

Bronze pics coming soon...

Just like watching a chameleon in 'action', bronze casting is not a particularly speedy process.

Here's a couple of 'in progress' pics...

Meanwhile, at a top secret mouse breeding facility hidden deep inside the German countryside...

'Rein und raus' squeaks each tiny mouse (in perfectly synchronized unison of course).

Actually they aren't really in Germany, the pic just conjured up thoughts of German efficiency for some reason!

They are waxes awaiting investment and casting and metal chasing and finally then to receive their patinas.

Available for pre-order through my Kickstarter project (until Feb 26 2011) at a sizable discount before they hit the galleries...click HERE to learn more.

Meanwhile, since TX Cupcake never appeared to collect their prize, tip top painter and next closest guesser (as per the rules) in my contest, Deborah Paris got her Nosey in the mail yesterday.

She's made painting her immediate surroundings her mission and her sensitive paintings on her blog are a must see...

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

'Crossing Over' - New mouse sculpture underway (and also pre-selling on Kickstarter)

2011-01-29T19:03:00.000-07:00

I wasn't going to announce this piece until it was finished, but since I just added it to my Kickstarter project (available at nearly half what it will cost once it's in galleries and on my website) I'll also add it here.

It's called 'Crossing Over', and features Sprightly, Nosey and Chubby looking forward, backward, and enjoying life in the moment while on their journey aboard a primitive dugout style canoe filled with tasty seeds.

The pictures show it unfinished since the patina on the canoe, and the base are not done.

When it's finished the steel base will cradle the bronze sculpture, holding it aloft.

TX Cupcake, your time is running out to claim your mouse...
the next person in line is chomping at the bit to claim it in your stead when your time runs out at the end of the month...

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

First bas relief plaque ready for molding...(can you tell what it is yet?)

2011-01-19T20:33:00.004-07:00

Here's a side view of my bas relief plaque....

As you can see it's like a large wafer with some thinly sliced cheese on it...and out of focus, of course!

Can you tell what it is yet?

Things are getting clearer now...

Rather spookily lit!
Yes, it's a chameleon!
I was nuts about them as a kid, and would stand watching them literally for hours (it takes that long for them to do anything) when I was visiting London Zoo with my dad (who no doubt was bored to tears, hoping for a dramatic crocodile escape to happen behind me or something. Hang on, he used to do train spotting when he was a kid. Well I guess that explains it then).

I would make sure to go on a Friday which was feeding day in the reptile house. Any other day and all you might see in the way of reptiles might be obscured patches of scales snoozing beneath logs or behind leaves. Reptiles can sleep for days.

Chameleons have been known to keep their heart rates elevated with an thrilling game of 'watching the paint dry' for as long as they can stand the excitement.
Then they have to calm down and take a rest.
Probably followed by some naps and an early night.

Originally I planned this plaque (which I made on a piece of 5" x 7" masonite) to go in a 5" x 7" frame, but I didn't like how shaded the top got pushed up inside the frame so I stuck it onto a 6" x 8" piece of masonite so the image area would poke forward from behind a bit more when installed in a 6" x 8" frame.

This will be cast in bronze and some will also be made in another more experimental way, which I'll elaborate on when it's been done and I have pics.
For now, I tweeked the photo in photoshop of it in a frame to see how it might look with a green patina just because I'm impatient that way!

Maybe it's a sea-sick chameleon heading around the Cape of Good Hope on Charles Darwin's 'Beagle'.

You can see this plaque finished if you click HERE.

As for my recent Kickstarter project, it's off to a flying start having got 94% of the required backing in less than a week!
Thanks backers!

And TX Cupcake, if you're out there, you've got until the end of Jan to claim your mouse prize!

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

New mice launched through Kickstarter...Meet Pugnacious Mouse, and Rumpy and Pumpy Mice.

2011-01-13T08:38:00.000-07:00

I said I'd be a little unconventional with the reveal of my new mice, so here I go...

I discovered Kickstarter recently and immediately knew I'd have to give it a try!

It's a brilliant way for people to get creative, meaningful or fun things done.
Or to pre-sell soon to be released creations for a limited time at a great price.

If you haven't heard of it before they're well worth a look.
Basically you launch a creative project stating the funding goal needed to complete it, and if people's pledges add up to your goal you get funded, and if not then no money changes hands.

But the great bit is the rewards.
You can offer different rewards if people pledge at least 'x' amount, or 'y' amount.
For my project (to turn my clay mice into bronze) the rewards for backers include getting one or more of the new mice at around 1/2 price thanks to their early commitment.

The down side is you then have to wait for them to get cast!

If you've seen clay originals displayed in galleries for pre-cast orders to be placed at a special rate, my project is an online version of that.

Anyhow, click HERE to see my project on Kickstarter...

And if you have any projects of your own that need financial help to get them off the ground, definitely give Kickstarter a look!

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Uniquely produced bas relief plaques and a snow storm...

2011-01-09T17:49:00.000-07:00

I'm excited to be working with someone who's developing a unique way of producing metal plaques that reproduce the original art at unbelievably high fidelity (as good if not better than lost wax casting), yet are very light so they can be displayed in frames without pulling chunks off your wall.

I'll have a couple of small bas relief sculptures ready for him in the next week or two to continue his experiments (I'll keep you posted on progress).

Meridee and I were visiting her relatives up and down the east coast these holidays, and we managed to squeeze a couple of days in New York City on each end (it's good to have friends who live in NYC!), and we made it to the Brandywine Museum too so we could enjoy the work of N.C. Wyeth in the flesh.

We both love N.C.'s illustrations. And I've only ever seen them in books. In the flesh they are incomparably better! They just glow and radiate atmosphere and life.
Meridee loves the way you feel as though you are looking into a crystal ball at another world when viewing his work.
Apparently the amazing success of Treasure Island that he illustrated paid for his purchase of the buildings that the museum now occupies.

We also got to spend some time at the Metropolitan Museum in NY and wander through the park in the snow.

Nice day for a white wedding!

As well as randomly bouncing around aimlessly inside I particularly enjoyed hunting down work by Rodin, Barye, Anna Hyatt Huntington, and others.

Rodin's 'Thinker'

We got stuck in the blizzard, and were stranded at Penn Station for several hours until a power cut was fixed somewhere on the train line we needed so the whole place filled up to bursting with people while we waited.

Upper East side

driving on the sidewalk

As soon as the first train to Trenton was announced it was as though a giant tray of ball bearings had been slowly tilted to one side as the mad crush of people converged on the escalators heading down to the platform.
Not much choice but to go with the flow!

I was hoping to announce my new mice and show them this week in an unconventional manner. It had to wait since I've had a cold (I don't want to be spluttering all the way through the video portion!) but I'm hoping I can have it ready later this week...

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Oh ye of little faith.....YEP, you WON!

2011-01-01T07:08:00.003-07:00

Contest Winner!

That would be this contest I started in June or July...

It seems I'm immune to shame.
217.4 this morning, so the winner of my 'guess my weight in the New Year' contest is TX Cupcake.
Congratulations. I move a few pounds in the wrong direction and you get to pick out a mouse from Chubby, Nosey and Sprightly (little Santa hat not included)!

So I have two things spinning in my head.
1. The definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
2. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

So in order to achieve the second, without incurring the first, I'm going to re-run the exact same contest for the next six months (guess my weight on July 1), with one small difference.

The plan I had for last time (move about more, eat a bit less): I'm going to implement it this time.
I have the whole New Year's resolution thing working in my favor.
See if that helps!

I'm keeping everyone entered from last time, so if you don't want to change your guess just do nothing.
If you want to change it, shoot me an email with 'change contest guess' in the subject line.

If you didn't enter the last one, have at it. Same rules apply (click HERE to read the original post - entry period expires at the end of Jan 2011), results on July 1, 2011, when someone again will win a mouse!

Other News...

I have a few new mice I'm going to unveil in a fairly imminent post.
I'm going to launch them into the world in a slightly unconventional fashion, so check back in a week or so and see what's up with that!

Part of it involves making a video, but my voice is all bunged up and croaky with a cold so as soon as that's over I'll get right on the case.

Sisko Gallery in Seattle is opening a show of my work on Thursday Jan 6th.

Happy New Year to you all!

I hope your resolutions all work out for you, and thanks of course for staying tuned to this channel!

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Turtle maneuvers, and rock hard headaches...solving my granite drilling and bronze mounting problems

2010-12-25T06:47:00.002-07:00

These guys are heading off somewhere with a united purpose in their semi aquatic minds...

Drilling holes in the granite bases and screwing in the semi submerged turtles for Bumper to Bumper was giving me some major headaches.
Some turtles were drilled and tapped with a smaller size hole for 10/24 screws, while the others were larger for quarter twenty screws. I got different turtles cast and metal worked at different times, which explains that.

Keeping organized was a lifesaver, with each base numbered, and each turtle marked on its underside according to which base it went on and it's position in the lineup.

Getting the hole locations marked was easy enough. After smearing some release agent with a Q-tip around each hole on the undersides of the turtles (thanks for that, Lee) I pushed a flattened pea sized ball of soft waxy clay over the hole, positioned all the turtles on the base and then removed them.
Voila!
Six little flattened bits of clay with short stalks corresponding to the holes under the turtles were stuck nicely to the granite.

Then I just lowered the right sized diamond core drill bit into place, clamped the granite, surrounded the area with a dam of clay, filled the dam with water, removed the tiny blob of clay I was aiming the drill at, and slowly and carefully drilled through the rock on the slowest speed my drill would go.
I've mentioned before how much I love that rubbery stuff on rolls you can buy for your cutlery drawer from the supermarket.
I find it great anytime I need some grippy friction and cushioning, so it was great under the granite to help hold it steady.
I took my time and lifted up the drill several times so as not to overheat the granite since that might cause it to crack.
When the drill went right through the water drained out into a bowl underneath and I repeated the process until done.

I used a chinagraph pencil to remind me which were the quarter twenty holes on the granite (so I didn't drill the 10/24 ones with the same bit)

My legal disclaimer goes here...water and electrical appliances don't mix. So of course I'm not suggesting you do what I did, I'm just saying it's what I did. Check with the manufacturer of your drill press to find out what you should do, and of course wear safety goggles.

And a snorkel too, if you like.

Oh, and super hot bits of rock could shatter and fly off and do you or others all kinds of damage.

So wear all the appropriate safety gear and keep kids/pets etc away.

I used a half inch glass and tile bit (looks like a spear) to widen the holes and act as a countersink on the back side while spritzing the bit with water to keep the granite dust from rising, and to keep the drill and granite cool.

So, to continue my legal disclaimer, don't drill anything without using a proper air filter on your face or the dust might kill you. Only work in well ventilated areas. And get the proper supervision.

And don't get water on electrical equipment. That's just asking for trouble.

So the procedures I've taken and am describing here are not meant as advice. They are for your entertainment so you can marvel at how I have somehow survived such reckless behavior. (so far, anyway). So view this not as a 'how to' post, but as a 'how NOT to' post.

Best to simply hire a pro.

So later I used a nylon washer with each screw. The washer is essential otherwise the screw gets jammed in the hole, while the nylon washer can become crushed into the hole and provide some compression for the ever tightening screw.

That worked wonders for the smaller 10/24 screws, but the larger quarter twenties didn't have the wiggle room and got jammed up inside the narrow 1/2" wide steep sided hole.

A 5/8 or 3/4 masonry bit turned out to be the answer to that problem.

Masonry bit

Depending on how deep you make the countersink, and how many nylon washers you use, and how long your screw is, and how thick your granite is, you can get it to work out every time.

Before I got the masonry bit to use as a countersink I spent a whole evening messing about trying (unsuccessfully) just to get a couple or three turtles screwed into place that were needing quarter twenty screws. It was a frustrating nightmare.
But when I got better tools to do the job, it was a breeze in comparison.

For quarter twenty screws I'll use a 5/16" diamond core bit, and a 5/8" masonry bit for the countersink, with 1/2" screws and one or two nylon washers in each for granite 3/8" thick.

For 10/24 screws I used 1/4" diamond core bit, and the 1/2" glass and tile bit that looks like a spear.
I'm sure a 1/2" masonry bit would work great for that too.
After some clean up, felt dots go on the bottom of the granite to keep it from scratching the furniture, unless you're really determined of course.
Where there's a will there's a way.

Oh, I almost forgot, Merry Christmas!

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Through a glass darkly...here's a spooky looking scene...

2010-12-18T07:35:00.004-07:00

Cut up bits and pieces embedded in mold material, waiting to be cut out so waxes can be made.

You might recognize the snail from one of my shoe horns, and of course a tree frog which I'm making as a stand alone wall mounted frog.

That isn't Rumplestiltskin in the background spinning straw into gold, it's Lee flattening the bottoms of my Bumper to Bumper mid size turtles.
Somehow he manages to keep his fingers off that fast spinning abrasive disk (I'm very glad to say).

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Season's Greetings from my politically correct singing mice!

2010-12-11T19:17:00.001-07:00

They may look to be singing in perfect harmony, but these politically correct mice are all squeaking different songs celebrating different things in different languages at the same time.
It's a cacophony that looks way better than it sounds!
Mice at least can't sing very loud!

After they finished they all rushed off as a man (or a mouse) to share a tangy meal in the garbage can, followed by a nice communal snooze.

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

You can't beat a good story...

2010-12-03T08:40:00.001-07:00

John Buscema preferred Harold Von Schmidt to Frederick Remington.
That's what he said in an old interview I was reading in the summer.
Well in that case I figured I'd better get familiar with Harold Von Schmidt (since John Buscema is one of my all time favorite draughtsmen and visual storytellers - I've collected bunches of his work over the years).

So I found a book online ('Harold Von Schmidt Draws and Paints the Old West' by Walt Reed, published by Northland Press) and ordered it, then took off for Loveland's Sculpture in the Park show, via Vail (to drop off some bronzes for Cogswell Gallery and make their acquaintance in person ) this past summer.

While in Vail Meridee and I visited Claggett Rey gallery since we knew there'd likely be loads of great stuff in there.
I was bowled over by this huge painting of a bull making a break for it that was full of drama.

Turns out it was by... Harold Von Schmidt!

Now I was seriously anxious to get my hands on that book!

The above reproduction of that painting is from the book...

And here it is again, with Harold sitting in front of it!

The book is just a gold mine of great stuff, and I also learned the bull wasn't making a break for it, but because it is white it is being driven from the herd to prevent contamination and preserve the pure bred blood lines.

Great illustration is great art, of that there is no doubt in my mind. And what I love about great illustration is how it draws you in.

I didn't need to read anything to know these two were contemplating settling in the valley below them.

Personally, what first attracts me is usually skillful execution, deep anatomical knowledge and the compositional sensibilities of an inspired and accomplished artist, and then I might find myself completely sucked into the story they're telling...
...you can't help pondering those lives, what led them to that point, and wondering what might have come next...like this guy...did he make it?

Harold says in the book that one of his jobs as an illustrator is to sell the story, and make sure you go on from looking at the picture to at least read the first line of copy.

One of things I love about the silhouette below is how much Harold uses the viewer's brain to fill in the blanks. There's just enough there to clue you in, but your mind 'sees' everything it needs to to complete the picture.

Being a storyboard artist myself I guess I'm just a sucker for a good story that's beautifully told.

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Impatience vs Perfectionism...

2010-11-23T09:51:00.000-07:00

So you have an idea for a piece.
And you're itching to see it done.
You have some clue of how certain things must look - how good they have to be - in order to make seeing it finished worth while.
If you're anything like me these two opposing forces of impatience and perfectionism pop up as a dialogue time and again when you're working on a piece.

Just like the little devil on one shoulder, and the little angel on the other, lazy Steve and perfectionist Steve perch whispering in my ears...

'Go on, just slap a bunch of clay on there and fill out the shape, you'll get an idea of how it will look finished much sooner that way'

'Don't listen to him, get the proportions right, you'll only have to pull it all off and do it over when you realize the proportions are all wrong'

'Come on, this is taking forever, why don't you just fill out that bit really quickly and see how it looks'

'You know if you don't work out from the skeleton and carefully add the muscles before you concern yourself with the surfaces it'll look like a lifeless blob, then where will you be?

'Don't listen to him, your sketch is lively enough, did you start from inside out with that?'

'You're only going to make it once in clay, it will be around forever in bronze, and it will have your name on it. You want to cringe and wince every time you see it?'

First little clay sketch I did of sumo wrestling toads


Completed clay (table top size)

Sumo wrestling toads large version in bronze

There's lots of other thoughts and feelings swirling around besides these, but these tugs of war never go away for long!

Although I do take pride and pleasure in the things I've made, as soon as something's done, then there's always the next thing.
But the last thing still has to take on its final appearance in bronze.
And there's always a lot to be done before that happens.

And time itself continues the work where I left off, hopefully revealing depth and character and continuing to tell the story of each work through the changing patina of age.

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Top to bottom tree frogs, and my first New Mexico rattler...

2010-11-16T10:14:00.001-07:00

After I posted some out door 'tree frogs on a vine' close ups (but no complete top to bottom single images since I was going to do them inside), Deborah Paris commented...

'the natural light makes them look fantastic. Anyway you can photograph the whole thing that way in a natural environment? It would look super!'

So I thought I'd do both!
The 'no distractions' way (might as well take advantage of how dark it gets here at night!), and around a pond.
Good job I got around to it quickly too. The inferno of color from the leaves was gone the very next day after a severe frost, and it even snowed last night.

This pond has bullfrogs in it (too cold to find any now though!)

2 different patinas

So thanks Deborah, great idea and right in the nick of time!

I still have to tidy up the indoor pics I just took (lots of dust on the table surface etc).

A couple of days before halloween I ran into my first rattlesnake since moving to Santa Fe five years ago.
I'd encountered a couple in California out walking about on some hiking trails (I wouldn't call myself a hiker: I start crying, sit on the floor, thrash about while turning purple and refuse to walk any further after about an hour and a half).

This time we were driving home and I saw a snake in the road.
As per usual I pulled over and jumped out, as I've often done before to encourage with my feet what is usually a bullsnake to get out of the road.

This time it was a rattler.
It had some blood on it, wasn't moving, but looked alive in a normal snakey pose (plus it wasn't flat yet!).
I noticed it was a very pale sandy color with very distinct markings, and some black and white bands by its rattle (which was up, but wasn't rattling).

My guess is it was hit once, maybe just dead, maybe nearly dead.
Anyhow, caution being the better part of valor where I'm concerned, I didn't attempt to usher it to safety since I didn't have a broom or anything on me.

A bit later we drove past the same spot where it was a barely noticeable ring of snake jerky on the road, and the next day there was no sign of it at all.

Eager to identify it, I googled some descriptions, home ranges and pics of various New Mexico rattlers and in the process saw some rather gruesome photos of hands that had been bitten.
They looked like rather gory balloon animals or over cooked sausages that had burst on the grill.
Chilling, to say the least!
Anyhow, I reckon it was a Western Diamondback, and it was right at the entrance to the community college which is right near a lot of houses.
So I didn't feel too bad that I couldn't save it!

And if you really want to give yourself a scare, do a google image search for 'rattlesnake bite'!

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Tree frogs in my back yard?! Some bronze tree frogs on a vine.

2010-11-08T15:57:00.001-07:00

I haven't got around to photographing the whole piece from top to bottom in one photo yet, so here's a bunch of close ups of my recently finished 'Tree Frogs on a Vine' bronze sculpture, in an edition limited to 250.

You can't beat shooting bronze in the dying embers of the sun's as it bids goodnight over the horizon.

I imagine I will post the whole piece this weekend, shot more traditionally indoors...

I tried out a couple of different patinas (or to be more precise, Mike Masse did).
He always does a stellar job.
Can't quite make my mind up which one I like best.

I'll probably go with the one that matches the Froggyballs.

Is that the 'great pumpkin' and friends, lurking in the pumpkin patch?

2010-10-30T07:00:00.003-06:00

What have we here, scampering about among the pumpkins?

Why it's none other than Sprightly, Nosey and Chubby, looking for seeds!

Could it be?

Is that the elusive 'Great Pumpkin', come to join his crittery friends?

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

The Mouse Project - Ah, the excitement of opening my box from Lulu...

2010-10-29T08:59:00.001-06:00

Nosey, Chubby and Sprightly were as excited as me for a first look inside!

After a great deal of superb work by a whole bunch of terrific people (thanks again so much everyone!), I received my copy from Lulu.com yesterday (it looks GREAT!) and so The Mouse Project is officially launched!

What does that mean?

I have a page devoted to it (see the link next to 'home' at the very top of this blog? Or just click HERE, or vistit TheMouseProject.com) which includes:

• A link to the Lulu.com page where you can preview or buy the book

• An image from each artist used in the book, with links to their websites.

• A free to download PDF 'lite' version of the book that also takes you to all the artists' websites.
It's kind of a preview with one image from each artist (plus the clickable links to their websites).
A portfolio of more than 20 of the very best painters you'll find anywhere online.

• A quick YouTube trailer showing a lot more pieces than the PDF (but you can't blink or you'll miss some!)

Profits to benefit animal shelters.

So without any further explanation, just click HERE and check it out!

And here's the YouTube trailer just for good measure!

And many thanks again to Karen Appleton, Chris Beck, Paul Coventry-Brown, Bill Cramer, Jelaine Faunce, R. Garriott, Claudia Hammer, Jeff Hayes, K Henderson, Diane Hoeptner, Martha Kellar, Meridee Mandio, Carol Marine, Michael Naples, James Neil Hollingsworth, Craig Nelson, Jennifer O'Cualain, John Poon, Roseta Santiago, Dreama Tolle Perry and Lynne Windsor for doing such a great job in helping turn an idea into a better looking reality than I even hoped for!

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Tree frog 'Rolls Royce of shoe horns' progress, museum show, and my mouse project book is officially in the mail...

2010-10-23T17:04:00.000-06:00

The tree frog shoe horn is coming along, after a few glitches (described in an earlier post).
But I'm liking how it's coming along (not so thrilled with my photography skills on this bunch of pics!).

I decided to fill in the hole that hangs it on the nail, and have the frog hollow, with a keyhole shape cut into the leaf on the back side (only the keyhole is upside down) so it hangs magically on the wall.

I think this one and the snail complement each other nicely.

Or will when they're done, after molding, wax pulling, wax chasing, investing, burnout, bronze casting, de-molding, metal chasing, and patina. That's quite a process!

So it might take a while!
But it is the Rolls Royce of shoe horns, after all.

I filled the hole in and will hang it 'invisibly'

unfinished wax original (yet to be molded)

unfinished frog on leaf shoehorn

In the meantime I'll just have to make do with the cheapo and unsightly (but perfectly functional) shoe horn I bought from WalMart.

I recently published 'The Mouse Project' through Lulu.com, but have it set to 'private' until I get to see the printed book. It should arrive on Wednesday.
If all's well, I'll hit the 'public' button then and immediately post that it's alive and kicking!

I can hardly wait, I'm very excited to see the printed version, having been messing about with it for ages now on my computer.
Thanks to all the amazing work from 21 other artists I'm sure it will look great!

My Froggyballs and Athos, Porthos and Aramis the turtles are on display in the Albuquerque Museum's Miniatures and More show for this year which opens tonight, so I'm eager to find out how that goes.


Froggyball #1 a soda can, and Froggyball #2

Athos (top), Porthos (bottom left) and Aramis (bottom right)

Last year's turnout was very impressive, as I'm sure it will be this year too.

I'm working on some new mousey things which I'll no doubt post about very soon.
And I'm still planning on taking some pics of the critters in the pumpkin patch.

It's fun having a few balls up in the air at once!

Thanks for reading...

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille