Continuing On

This piece is a continuation of the bas relief I am working on - which I discussed in 'How I Start'. At this point, the layout and portrait details are pretty complete. You can see a little of the photo I am working from off to the right. The sculpture is currently in plastilina clay, which is oil based. In this form, the clay is still pliable - actually it never dries. I am working on a piece of plywood panel - which I borrowed from another piece (which I started talking about back in the July postings - 'One Shouldn't Sketch & Drive'). After the client reviews this and 'proofs' it - I will have to then make a mold. In order to do that, I would build sides around the sculpture - and then mix a mold resin and pour it directly over the clay. When that dries, I peal it off, clean out the clay and have a 'negative' mold. Into that, I'll be pouring a compound that will harden and the final piece will look like a white marble or stone. I then take all the clay off the board and save it for the next sculpture. I will clean up the board underneath and get it back into shape for use on the other taping. It is kind of funny - I got three plywood panels for the other taping I am working on but they end up getting used for other 'stream of conscious' pieces - one being Ogallala which is in process, and that is a funny story all it's own.