A little of this, a little of that

The moose are back, but clandestinely sneaking around inside our fenced back yard in the wee hours of the morning (4 foot is nothing to those long legs I guess.) We have security cameras and caught them walking back and forth on our patio and staring into our glass door. Chopper is cleaning up the video for youtube, I'll post a link when he's got it done.

Stopped in to see some old friends at Art and Artistry today, a really great forum. Due to past spamming issues they ask that you register to look at what's there, but trust me....there's a mother lode of information and great artwork there, free for the looking :) 

I'm glad Tuesday is over...that's my mowing day. It's great exercise but after weekly mowings on a hilly 1/3 acre all summer I'm pooped. Did notice that the trees have gone real red on the hills behind us.

Planning on taking a day trip north of Yellowstone a couple weekends from now, hopefully the leaves won't be gone by then. Should have a nice batch of photos to share when we get back.

I started on a new sculpture yesterday...thought I'd have trouble working some parts out, but so far it's going fairly well, you can follow the WIP on my website.

And check out this sculpture site... Netsuke by Tom Sterling 

I found his site thru a blog called Unique Sculpture and got to Tom's netsuke page after downloading his free (huge!) PDF file on carving netsuke. Not that I'm going to take up carving but thought there'd be a lot of good info there that would also apply to modeling. Sadly Tom says he's no longer carving netsuke...a shame because I really like his work...I think my favorite is the baby alligators coming out of their eggs. Check it out!

Monkeying around

Did a little web surfing on modern netsuke artists this morning and ran into a couple online articles by collector Robert O. Kinsey. 

The first is a collection of monkeys ...am totally in love with that Gibbon by Alex Igunatius...those arms are wonderful.  

The second article is a listing of contemporary netsuke artists and examples of their work. 

When I started to play around with Polymer clay netsuke art was my inspiration. Even though I am modeling clay vs carving wood or ivory, it is the playfulness and skill that draws me to the art. I'd say of the four pieces it is my interpretation of Leapfrog that carries through most on this idea.

Although it is small at less than 5 inches square it is nowhere as small as the thumbsize tradition of netsuke. I am in awe of some of the talent these carvers have...put a knife in my hand and I'd probably cut my thumb off :D