"American Beauty" almost finished
Jose Rodriguez
Fridays work on "American Beauty" with Jose Rodriguez
Friday morning I finished sculpting the second foot ( other than overall surface smoothing). Jose continued work on the hair. I built a platform that allows me to get up close to the face without being bent over ( I need to protect my back). I made good progress on the nose with a little more to go. This morning I'll finish the nose and move on to the eyes and mouth. Looks like another long day today.
David L Phelps
 |
| sacrificing the knees to save the back |
 |
| Add caption |
 |
| believe it or not, the white model is life size |
American Beauty on Friday
I got a lot of sculpting done on the right foot today and Jose continued making great progress on the hair.
A couple of days ago we had all seven toilets in the building overflow at once. This is day two of the plumbing crew. They had a camera down the pipe and now have 90 feet of snake down the hole but haven't found the problem yet. Yikes.
The good news is that all the toilets are being completely rebuilt. Shouldn't have to worry about them for a while.
 |
| Hi Patsy!!! |
Monday's progress on "American Beauty"
Today Jose & I sculpted hair & ears; made great progress. Over the weekend, we added a layer of clay over the entire form to unify the color thus making it much easier to understand the form we're sculpting. Tomorrow will be more sculpting of the form as well as smoothing the overall surface with flexible steel ribs.
Monday morning with American Beauty
Today will be a 13 hour work day with Jose Rodriguez and Christie Hackler
Friday's headway on "American Beauty"
We've been working since 7:30 this morning; It's 8pm now and still 105°, I'm beat and ready to go home.
Thursday's headway on "American Beauty"
Work is progressing well on American Beauty. Jose Rodriguez is up from Austin offering invaluable help in getting this piece finished with the attention to detail that I'm looking to achieve. I'm also getting great help from Christie Hackler and Christie Owen.
 |
| American Beauty |
 |
| Red Head bad boy put back into service today to make another 160 lbs of oil clay |
 |
| Jose Rodriguez working on the hair |
 |
| Jose Rodriguez working on the hair |
 |
| Going over mig welding theory with Christie Owen |
 |
| Christie admiring the pattern |
 |
| Cutting steel panels with the plasma cutter |
 |
| Cutting steel panels with the plasma cutter |
 |
| Going over process |
 |
| Christie cleaning up the panels with the Dewalt |
 |
| Getting that steel sliver out |
 |
| Inspection |
 |
| Demonstrating interior welding |
Sculpting on American Beauty
 |
| Adding urethane foam to build up the form for the hair |
 |
| Jose added oil clay dams to guide where the foam should go |
 |
| 45 second working time with this foam |
 |
| Mixing the foam quickly. |
Sunday studio work
Working on Sunday with Christie Owen and Jose Rodriguez. Sculpting on American Beauty and getting some pieces patinated to ship out to Whistler Village Art Gallery and to a private collector.
sandblasting
heating up the Oarsman
patina notes and chemicals
Spraying Lacquer
finished "Dive"
finished "Oarsman"
Mixing oil clay batch 2 with the new and improved Bad Boy Oil Clay Machine. We mixed 160 pounds of oil clay at once.
We lost some detail in some areas of the first body cast so we got Kim back in today to sit for some additional bodycasting. Once these new sections are dry, I will cast urethane foam into them to use as visual reference while sculpting the large piece.
David Phelps Art
David Phelps Art
Sculpting today with Christie Hackler, Christie Owen, Jose Rodriguez. Making good progress.
David Phelps Art