More snow and cold but spring is not far off...

The snow and cold have kept me inside so I have kept busy with this water clay of dancer Sergei Polonin.  I have also been fascinated by dance and as there are lots of photos and videos online, I thought I'd try my hand at a portrait.  I am going to do a series of small bronze dancers and I will use this as reference for some of the work.
The head and chest were made hollow to begin with, a wood dowel runs the height of the piece to stabilize the head.  After I added hair I realized it was adding a lot of weight and could be an issue so I split open the head and removed the excess clay, filling the void with damp paper towels.  In this photo I have added arms which are supported by pieces of clay and wooden clay tools.

I rearrange the supports as I work using an upside down cup which offered more stability.  I have a second prop under the hand.  I scooped out the clay from the arms by using a wire tool to slice off the tops of the arms stuffed in damp paper towels then put the slices back with slurry and worked strips of clay where the cuts were made.

Now that the arms are lighter and the clay has begun to dry a little and stiffen up I can remove the supports.  The supports left deep marks under the arms which I filled with slurry and clay.

He is almost finished, just a couple of bit of finishing to go.

My  maquette for Earth Dreamer has been drying ...

Pretty soon I will be able to get back to the Lion.  There are a few areas I want to refine and his teeth need to be defined...



There was another snowfall followed by temperatures near zero.

The road was plowed but not much more than one lane.

A tree in the lower field casts its shadow on the snow.

Icicles on the house seem to cage the birds which come to eat the seed I put in the front yard.

A bit of mud trapped in ice.

Ice in the bark of a tree

Finally the snow is melting and temperatures are getting more spring-like.