Some Art and Updates

September 1, 2019 | M. R. Kessell

Forgive me followers, I have sinned, it’s been about six months since my last blog post.

I set myself some ambitious goals at the start of the year. But then I promptly forgot them, made some new goals, gave up on those, circled back to the first ones, fell into a creative slump, told myself that I need to just read more, got a second creative wind, decided to study French (pas pour la première fois), thought more about the original goals, binge-watched the second season of Mindhunter on Netflix, I had a turkey sandwich, and now I am here. Maybe just a quick nap first…

I’m not going to lie, the past six months haven’t been completely devoid of creative work, but I always feel like I should be doing more.

Sometimes I feel like I’m on the wrong path.

I’d like to share some stuff I’ve been working on recently. That hideous scene of eldritch horrors above is one of a handful of things added to my portfolio page. If anyone is in need of any Lovecraftian artwork for a book cover or to accompany any short stories, please let me know. I’d love to find some creative people to collaborate with!

I go through periods in which I focus on one medium to the detriment of all others. You could say I become obsessed. I recently decided again to work on this polymer clay maquette above, which I had started about three years ago. This is one of my latest goals, to finish this vulture goddess sculpt soon. We’ll see what happens.

A little time-lapse sneak peek.

The video above is my most recent work-in-progress, a follow up to probably my favorite piece from last year. Definitely the spiciest from last year. This is one of the last steps after the ink and watercolors have dried, the removal of the masking fluid. I should probably start the time-lapse recording a bit earlier next time, I’m just never confident enough that the piece will be successful.

Stay tuned for the finished piece and hopefully some other new weirdness.

À bientôt!

Bust of an Imaginary Man

April 18, 2017April 18, 2017 | M. R. Kessell

Herbert, Marionette #2, Finished

March 24, 2017October 7, 2017 | M. R. Kessell

Marionette Turtle polymer clay sculpture finished by mrkessell

After a few weeks of working on him, I’ve put the finishing touches on my second polymer clay marionette. I’ve named him Herbert.

Marionette #2, Strung Up

March 15, 2017March 17, 2017 | M. R. Kessell

Here are a few shots of the marionette attached to the final controller. Please disregard the chaos that is my desk.

Marionette #2, Work in Progress

March 14, 2017March 17, 2017 | M. R. Kessell

This is still a work-in-progress, but I can’t resist sharing a sneak peek of my second polymer clay marionette. This is at the stage where I attached all his limbs, strung him up and tested him out with a temporary wooden controller.

Dragon Bust

March 5, 2017April 12, 2021 | M. R. Kessell

Here is a small, polymer clay dragon bust finished last year.

Oskar, Marionette #1

March 5, 2017March 29, 2017 | M. R. Kessell

Inspired after seeing the marionettes of Prague, I returned home to finish this project a few weeks later, which had been in the works for five years prior. Originally going to be papier mache, he is now finished in polymer clay.

Talkin’ about dragons.

April 30, 2015April 30, 2015 | M. R. Kessell

Last year I got involved in a pretty cool robotics project. Luckily, I don’t need to know much about the robot part. A group of local Cub Scouts decided that they want to make a robotic, shoulder-mounted dragon puppet. Pretty ambitious. I volunteered to sculpt this model of the baby dragon.

This sculpture is comprised of polymer clay on a wire armature. It was designed so that the head, the wings, and the tail are removable. This should help in the molding process. I will be posting a more in-depth tutorial on the design and sculpting process very soon. Stay tuned.

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