Wanderlust

Today's blog will consist mainly of pictures, as I was in the studio for hours today. In the morning, I sketched my remaining animals for my ceramics container (horse for Europe, elephant for Asia, and monkey for Africa)... 

And at 1pm I headed to the studio to work. My rhino, which I have named Msanii (artist in Swahili) is still undergoing surgery. My animal head is probably the largest in the whole class, and thus the heaviest so I need to hollow it out as much as I can. Hopefully this will be okay now because I really want to put it back together!

After I spent nearly an hour hollowing him out, I began to sketch my animals on my hexagonal box, which took a lot more time than expected. Because the clay is so stiff, I can't afford to make any mistakes (because I won't be able to mush the clay over if I mess up). So, I had to first lightly sketch in pencil (which was still very hard to erase mistakes) and then I went over the general outline with the pen tool. However, I had to go over each line at least three times to make sure no clay chunks were in there! Ugh. 

This is how the elephant turned out (which looks MUCH better in person).

Since my container is all about traveling, I decided to write "wanderlust" on the inside. For those who don't know.. Wanderlust (n.) a strong desire to travel. (Though I would even argue that it is something stronger than a desire... It is something I feel I need to do. Traveling has provided me with experiences that no amount of schooling ever could. Traveling is in my blood. Ok, enough with the dramatic explanation...)

I'm still working on my whale, but this is it so far. It will be super hard to erase mistakes at this point, so I need to figure out how to go about doing that without messing the entire thing up. No pressure or anything. 

Tomorrow it's back to the studio as I have to draw four more animals, and do the detailing on the lid. But before I go to the studio, I think I will go on a little shopping spree, weather permitting! 

Ciao for now!