More Like a Mule

Here is another progress report on the sculpture of the Marine guiding his mule-- A Mule and his Marine is a more realistic title...
Yesterday I worked on the figures' heads, adding muscle and skin to the skulls.

 

 

 Adding a fleshed-out head to the sculpture certainly gave the mule a spark of life... I hope that one day soon he may even look stubborn!

Fleshing Out

Well, friends, I finally began putting wax onto The Mule and his Marine (!)

I began by stuffing the open areas (the guts, basically) with aluminum foil. I continued by stretching metal screen over the form in order to hold the foil guts in and give the surface "tooth" for the wax to adhere to. I then secured it all with wire.

I slowly added hot wax to build up basic shapes which will eventually become muscles and hide.

 

(all that stuff behind the figures above is what's on the shelf in my home studio) 

 

The torsos are now covered with a basic layer of wax. Tomorrow I'll begin on the heads and legs of the figures.

 

Wax on!

More Mountains Made

More work from yesterday and today on the Mule and Marine armature:

 To the base I added some wire screening, on which I'll add plaster cast strips to keep the form.

 

  On the dry, hardened plaster form, I added wire mesh and sculpting wax...

 

The wax has been added, to make the basic mountain form. Soon I'll begin adding wax "rocks" and other mountain-typical objects, to make the base read "Mountainside"...

The difficulty with sculpture "in the round" is that one must take care to make a pleasing composition from several angles-- basically from each point around 360 degrees of the compass.

This particular base must be large and wide enough to hold the weight of the large mule figure and its load, but also must be visually balanced and yet seemingly unstable (like a mountain with talus slopes)
. No pressure, eh?!

UPDATE 4/15/2012
Friday's work on the base:

 Tomorrow, I begin to put "flesh, clothing and gear" on the figures.

A mule and his Marine-- Making a Mountainside

Today I finished constructing the basic shape of the armature which will hold the "mountainside" under the Marine and mule figures.

I had started a few days ago on the slope, using wood and nails to block it out:

Then I used wire screen and staples to make the form upon which the sculpting wax would be applied:

Finally, I applied melted wax to the screen and thus fleshed out the armature mountainside.

Next, I will add some girth to the base of the armature, so that the final cast bronze will not be top-heavy with mule... but I want to make sure it's not too heavy-looking and that the base has an uplift and a lightness to it. This may be a stubborn task-- perhaps just as stubborn as the subject itself!

Mule and Marine Maquette

Today I got the basic maquette worked out for the upcoming "A Mule and his Marine" sculpture-- it's of course an homage to Frederic Remington's Mountain Man, but will have a fully-packed mule being led down the slope of a mountain by his Marine packer.

Today's Work

Today I got in the equine and human armatures, for use on the Mule and Marine sculpture!

A company makes them anatomically correct in several sizes, for ease of posing and to take away hours which otherwise would have been taken up by the artist having to correct and re-correct the proportions of the skeletal armature.

In a related subject, here's today's graphite wash sketch of Marines and a mule in the mountains of the Mountain Warfare Training Center in Pickel Meadows, CA:

Here also is an oil sketch I did several weeks ago, based on an experience in Afghanistan--

The subject is a group of Marines playing cards after dark at FOB Delhi (the same group of guys who I'd seen playing during the day) At the risk of over-featuring the subject of such Marine leisure activities, I decided to paint this scene because I've only done one nocturne before, and the lighting here was dramatic and gave for a loose brushwork I find interesting.

Art Update

Here are some of the drawings and oil sketches I've done lately.

They cover everything from Afghanistan to Haiti, and are in a variety of media.

From Bridgeport and environs, I have a couple sketches in graphite wash as well as an oil study of a column of Marines going down the road in the desert near Hilton Ranch

From Afghanistan, there's a figure study in oil of Chaplain Roberts doing his laundry at FOB Delhi, and a composition study in oil depicting Marines and interpreter talking to a local Afghan farmer.

From Haiti, there's an oil sketch of a sail boat I saw just off shore near Carrefour.

From VA hospital in Richmond, there's a portrait of Wounded Warrior Zach Stinson

"Fly Marines!" Marine Combat Art on Exhibit at the National Air and Space Museum

If you're ever in the DC area, I strongly recommend you take the time to go see two of the best museums in the world-- namely, the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, and the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.

For the next year, until Jan 2013, you can see an excellent bit of the Marine Corps Combat Art Collection at the NASM, in a show entitled, "Fly Marines! The Centennial of Marine Corps Aviation 1912-2012." ( See a review of the show in the Washington Post Arts Section here).

The exhibition features more than 90 works of fine art and artifacts, each relating to Marine Corps Aviation history. Artists in the show include Howard Chandler Christy, Felix W. De Weldon, Howard Terpning, Col. Avery Chenoweth, Col. Michael Gish, Col Edward Condra, and James Butcher, to name a few.
Here are some examples of the fine Marine Corps Aviation art on display there:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I, too, am honored to have two paintings in the exhibition, as well as my sketchbook and field art gear in a display case...

Two of Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Kristopher Battles sketches on display at the “Fly Marines!” exhibit in the National Air and Space Museum. SHFWire photo by Frank Bumb