This afternoon I pushed aside my little Morgan sculpture on my main work counter to make way for the other sculpture in the works this winter, and as I stepped back I realized that gee, it looks like things are actually happening around here! And they are!

In my November post-vacation blog entry when I got back from Budapest, I mentioned an idea for a new sculpture that came to me one sleepless night in the hotel. Well, you can see it there. I’m sculpting a winged horse. I know… that doesn’t sound very earth-shattering compared to how enthusiastically I described this mystery project. But here is how I see it:

Winged horses are a fantasy, a myth, which means that there are no rules for them. How liberating for a sculptor! Just the perfect thing for me to break out of a realistic sculpture rut yet not give up on horses all the way. The enchanting part (for me anyway) is that I want to make it believable. In fact my idea is not to sculpt just another heroic, grandly depicted winged horse or Pegasus. This one is going to be just standing there, hipshot and weight off the one hind leg, eyes half closed, idly preening the feathers of one wing. That is what I am going for anyway.

The other enchanting part of a winged horse for me as a ceramics finisher, is there are again no rules about color!! Just imagine all the art-glaze colors and real horse combinations just waiting to be played with on this piece. I mean, who says a winged horse has to be white? Mine won’t be. Mine are going to be… dappled black-bay with an incredible array of russets and browns and reds in the wings. Cobalt blue tobiano pinto with black points… palomino, with subtle purple in the wings and shadings… sea-aqua teal blanket appaloosa… oh BABY what fun this will be in the kiln! I want it in my hands RIGHT NOW!

Oh, drat, I still have to sculpt it first. That is how I felt that night in Budapest: I wanted it in my hands right THEN! My working name for the sculpture is “Imre” which is a name that pops up a lot in Hungarian history. (I might re-spell it “Imri” after a favorite fantasy-fiction book character of mine…)

I have been studying wings a lot lately, of course. That is going to be the hard part!! I’m still in denial about it; just working on the horse part for now. I do know that I am going to use Heron wings as my starting point of reference. I built-in wires for the wings on the armature, but I haven’t decided yet whether having even just the wires there is going to impede getting the horse sculpture right. They might just get in the way. I have a real need/desire to do this sculpture all in one piece to really get it to be one work, rather than finish the horse and cast that in resin and then add the wings I sculpt in epoxy or some other material. So, I am just feeling my way along at this point. I have a feeling this is going to really test my mold-maker over in England, though! Wheee!

Anyone who knows me or has been reading my blog, knows that I have been spending a lot of time in the last year or two flailing about trying to “find” my artistic self. Or I’m in a pre-retirement midlife crisis. Or, pre-menopause. Or, who knows what??? Anyway, I’ve been about as changeable as the winter winds in Boulder about my art work and whether it is work or play or…

Recently I read a horoscope that really resonated with me. Basically it said that I shouldn’t turn away from what I do best just because something I can’t control affects how I do it. (That would be for me: marketplace and work life changes). Which got me to this:

I love horse figurines, I always have. I don’t love tiles, pins, medallions, boxes, dogs, or anything like that, in the way I love figurines. Of horses. I shouldn’t listen to anything or anyone but my inner voice that has been saying (for my entire life): Karen, make horses.

So yesterday between kiln glaze firings I started another horse. It is small (only 5″) and that means when it becomes a ceramic horse it will be even smaller due to the mold and slip shrinkage. But maybe someday it will be my next horse sculpture, a little walking Morgan stallion.

I’m not promising anything! Next week, it may be dog tiles again!!

I finished glazing the matte Boreas, and here are a few of my favorite photos:

I thought I was a dedicated glossy finish fan, but after working on this matte bone china I am so enchanted with the results I may have to change my loyalties! This piece was commissioned by Jeanene Bernardin of California, and it will be on the way to her this week.

Well, thanks to our timely beach vacation at the end of January, I find myself in the new month with batteries recharged!

However, It was really, really difficult to go (in the same day) from this view:

to this view:

But I did survive it and am actually happy to be back in the studio.
My leg has nearly healed so I was able to go snowboarding last weekend for half a day! And tennis tomorrow for the first time in 3 weeks. Life is good again!

Today I tried casting a clay tile in my Keeshond mold. I think my urethane rubber mold is too “soft” for pressed-clay tiles, so I will need to make either a plaster mold or buy more rigid rubber for the next mold. The tile is being reviewed by Keeshond breeders so I’ll be making some minor revisions to the sculpture anyway. But I did make two clay tiles in the mold that I can use in a test kiln firing, to check the shrinkage etc.

I also got another session in on the matte dappled grey Boreas glazing. This piece is going to be simply spectacular; I can’t believe I have to let it go to a client, aaaugh!! Working the glaze right on the bisque is allowing for really superb detailing. Here are the latest shots:

Also, I started on my new Quarter Horse tile. These photos show how I have quickly sketched my design right onto the acrylic base, and then laid flat pieces of clay roughly down in place. (As I was putting clay down, I played a bit with the idea of a windswept mane, unlike my sketch. Not sure if it is going to stay that way.) Just the first stage in the process!

And I did all that just today! Amazing!