Sing it George! - Step 2

Newspaper Armature

Below you will see a photo of another piece I am working on that will match my "Sing Your Heart Out Rosita!" piece.  This one I call "Sing it, George!"

So far I've sketched him out on a 30" x 60" wood panel, and now today on my back porch while the sun was shining this morning I built up his 3rd dimension using newspaper taped together.  I use the newspaper because it's lightweight, free, and I'm recycling!

Tomorrow, or later on this evening if I'm feeling inspired I will sculpt George with the Sculptamold.

I like to have multiple pieces going at various stages so that I've always got something I can work on, and I'm never stuck waiting for a piece to dry. 

Right now I've got Hired Help ready to paint, which I'll work on this weekend, Sing it, George ready to be sculpted, and another piece entitled "Proper Motivation" that I will be sketching out onto a big wood panel.  This last one has 5 figures in it so it's going to be a doozy to create, but I love the look of my bigger works and how they tell a story with lots of crazy characters.  As well, a good friend of mine got my wheels spinning with a bunch of new ideas that I need to get down in my sketchbook before I forget, so guaranteed this is going to be a busy weekend.

Step 3 - Newspaper Armature of "Sing it, George!" by Alison Galvan

On another note.....

Today I was interviewed in Wellend, Ontario for a regional art project called Art on Water.  It's a very cool idea in which they are taking images of local artist's work and projecting them huge on a waterfall and putting on a big show.  Almost all of the artists were video taped talking about their art and how the Niagara Region inspires their work and this too will be part of the whole evening.

If you are in the area, come check it out - Wellend , Ontario June 10th 8pm at the City Hall.

Once again, as always, Thank You for Visiting!

Hired Help - Sculpted

Step 3

After Sketching/graphing out the image onto the wood panel and then balling up newspaper to create the armature that gives the bulk to my relief work, I next use Sculptamold to sculpt the figure over the armature.

Sculptamold is a paper and gypsum compound that I mix with water to create a paste which resembles oatmeal.  Using my hands and an old butter knife I slather it over the newspaper molding the shape to match my initial sketch.  The Sculptamold does not go on very thick because of the armature, but regardless, when dry it will be like rock.  Drying time for a piece of this size takes about a week to a week and a half.

Now that the sculpting is done, first I paint on a layer of acrylic polymer.  I do this for two reasons, one it makes a smoother surface for me to paint upon, and two it seals up the sculptamold and makes it even stronger than it already is.  I could sand the sculptamold completely smooth first if I wanted a perfectly smooth look, but being at texture junkie, I like it the way it is.

After the polymer, I start painting with acrylics. depending on my mood I'll either do the entire background first, or do the figures.  Generally it's whatever I'm clearest about in my head when I visualize the finished piece.  For me I have to get clear in my head first otherwise it's a dogs breakfast!

So here is a photo of the piece in the sculpted stage and after this weekend I hope to have some photos of the finished work for you to see.

If you have comments or questions regarding my process, subjects, inpiration, etc... that you'd like to ask, please don't hesitate to contact me as I'm always open to sharing.

As always, Thank You for Visiting!



Sing Your Heart Out Rosita!

Finished!

 

Using my favourite colour combination, blue and orangy yellow, I finished "Sing Your Heart Out Rosita" last night around midnight.  I can picture her hanging in a Spa, or ladies gym for "inspiration".  What better motivation!

Find "Rosita" on Etsy Here....

And here are some detailed close ups...

You Go Girl! 

Hired Help - Sketch & Armature

Step 1, 2, 3

Inspired by my own son who once when he was a little fellow had a great time playing outside and got absolutely filthy (the true mark of a good time!). After taking a bath, he wanted to help me make dinner.  He was so scared that if he took the time to get in his pyjamas I might be done so he just grabbed his special apron that Gramma had given him for Christmas, pulled up his stool, and started peeling potatoes!

Step 1 The Sketch & Graphing

 

Step 2 & 3 Transfering the Sketch & Building the Armature

Next will come the sculpting and painting. Stay tuned!



Painting Babette's Skin Tone

She's really starting to come together now!

Tonight I will paint her shower cap and "microphone" and add her little heart tattoo. 

I'll let you guess where!

Thanks for Visiting!

Painting my Juicy Songstress' Shower Stall

Backgound Painted!

My very favourite colour combination is blue and orangy yellow.  I've painted my juicy girl's shower stall with blue tiles and I'm looking to paint her shower cap and "microphone" orange and yellow.

Here she is so far.

 

Tomorrow I'll be posting photos of her skin tone painted. 

Babette is really starting to come together! 

(Yes, that's the name that keeps popping into my head when I think of her!)

Thank You for Visiting!

Preliminary Sketch for a Matching Set

Step 1 - Preliminary Sketch

I decided that my nice chubby lady in the shower needed a matching friend!

 

 

I've ordered a 30" x 60" wood panel to sculpt this big guy on. 

The next step will be transfering the sketch to the panel (that's why I've graphed it).

Step 3 is filling out the figure using newspaper to create the armature.

Step 4,  sculpting over the newspaper with Sculptamold, a paper and gypsum mixture, and finally I get to paint this big juicy guy!

 

Step 1 - A first sketch of "Proper Motivation"

Proper Motivation!

Here is a sketch of my next project inspired from The Chocolate Race that was held here in Port Dalhousie, St. Catharines, Ontario this past April.  During the race at the water stations free chocolates were given away, and of course at the finish line they had chocolate brownies, truffles, ice cream and chocolate martini's.  Now that's what I call Proper Motivation!

As you can see I've put graph lines over the sketch to help me transfer my drawing from sketchbook to wood panel.  I've ordered a 36" x 48" wood panel from Curry's Art Supply online shop and it should get to me on Monday or Tuesday and then I can get started!

Step 1

Had to Take a break, but I'm back!

Change in Plans

It's been a busy week and a half with daily paintings, The Chocolate Race and visiting family from California! 

As you can see I haven't posted anything new for a week and that's because I've been doing a bit of a rethink about my daily paintings and what direction I'd like to go with my art career. 

The positive thing about doing my daily paintings is that  it forced me to create and to continually practice my sculpting and painting everyday.  The negative thing about doing my daily paintings is that they took up all my time, leaving me with no time to spend on my larger works. And now, recently, after doing a bunch of art shows, I realized that I really don't want to do them anymore.  My work is big and because of my materials, my pieces are heavy.  Loading and unloading, setting up and taking down, wind, rain, heat - all of these factors combined make shows exhausting.  More than that though is the fact that invariably one of my pieces always seem to get damaged and I end up having to do repairs - something I find upsetting after all the hard work. 

Besides when I ask myself who is my target market, and more importantly who do I want them to be, I have to ask myself if outdoor art shows are the place to find them.  Don't get me wrong, those that come to the art shows often have lovely complimentary things to say about my work, but they don't walk around outdoor shows with several thousand dollars in their pockets, nor are they in the mindset to make those kinds of purchases on their credit cards at that time.  They are there to find some beautiful handmade jewellery, or a weathervane for the garden, etc...

What I want is to show and sell my work in Galleries. 

I've been reading a fantastic book by Jason Horejs, owner of Xanadu Gallery in Arizona called "Starving" to Successful, and his follow up book How to sell Art.  In his great books I've learned a huge amount about preparing for, and getting my foot in the door in galleries that would be a good fit for my work. 

All this being said I've decided that if showing and selling in galleries is my ultimate goal, then focusing on growing my portolio of larger works is what I need to pour all my energy into and just as I was successful at creating a smaller daily painting, I'm turning my guns to creating one large piece per week, blogging each day with photos and updates of my progress.  I will be working on several pieces at a time, all at different stages, sketch, transfering to the wood panel, newspaper armature, sculpting, and finally painting. I will keep you posted!

Below is a piece that I started a while ago, but put off because of my daily painting challenge.  I had her sculpted and now I'll be blogging about painting her.  Haven't decided on a title yet, so for now in my head I just call her the rather unimaginative  "Singing in the Shower".  Hope that even in this unfinished stage she gives you a laugh, and lightens your spirits!

Thank you all

for your support &encouragement.