Grizzly #399

Grizzly #399, work in progress! This is what I've been working on for the past nine months.

#788 "Happy Golden"

 11.75"H x 8.5"W

#787 "Turkey Study"

10"H x 8"W

#786 "Setter"

11"H x 14"W

#785 "Pintail Bas Relief"

 7"H x 8.5"W

#784 "Herd Bull"

13”H 21”W 7”D

Ed. Size 25

4500

The American Bison or buffalo has been elevated to the stature of the American Bald Eagle as a national emblem of our great country. Under recent legislation the bison became the National Mammal of the United States due to its economic and cultural significance in the history of our great country.

 

Not long ago more than 60 million roamed North America but by 1890 their story almost ended with extinction. The iconic mammal’s largest population today resides in Yellowstone National Park – two hours from my Wyoming studio.  While the bison has long been a favorite subject for my sculpture.  It is more than an animal to me, it is an emotional manifesto that exemplifies my deep affinity for the West and its history. 

#783 "Sunrise Sonata"

25”H 17.5”W 10”D

Ed. Size 25

4800

No bird better shows attitude than a rooster - chest out, tail up, comb erect - he struts forward meeting the break of day.

The passive and active elements of the bird's shapes present an exciting design source to the sculptor.  I have combined the shapes of body mass and tail profusion with controlled modeling of the head and feet in an attempt to design a symbol of arrogance and spirit.

#782 "Rising Mallard Door Knocker"

 

"Rising Mallard Door Knocker"

15"H x 10"W x 2"D

Open edition

1800

#781 "Pescado Door Knocker"

 

"Pescado Door Knocker"

12"H x 9"W x 2"D

Open edition

1800

#780 "Owl Door Knocker"

 

"Owl Door Knocker"
16"H x 7"W x 2.5"D
Open edition
1800

#779 "Fall Pheasant Relief" (Wall Mount)

12”H 15”W 3”D
Ed. size 25
(mounted on walnut plaque for hanging)

$1800

#778 "Above Timberline"

 

(click on image to enlarge)

"Above Timberline"

84,000

The process of bringing sculpture and nature together in an outdoor setting is dreamwork for most sculptors, myself included. "Above Timberline" was originally commissioned by Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado. My studio was located there at the time, and I had experienced the animal often west of town in the wild in Poudre Canyon. 

The over-lifesized monumental sculpture was designed to be mounted on a metal frame and installed with dry-stacked rock and site-specific landscaping. Elevating the sculpture on a berm enhances the visual impact. 

(clay model in progress showing scale - click to enlarge)

(detail of monument - click to enlarge)

Above Timberline maquette

14"H 14"W 7"D

3900

#777 "I Can't Hear You"

(click on image to enlarge)

"I Can't Hear You"

11"H x 13"W x 5"D

Ed. size 50

2400

The genesis of "I Can't Hear You" was a scenario I witnessed on a hike in Jackson, Wyoming. I heard a riotous cacophony of croaks and squawks and glassed a pair of ravens a short distance away. One bird was silent with a seemingly aloof, disinterested attitude while the other pursued an in your face uproar. The narrative of the event struck me and the sculptural depiction speaks for itself.

#776 "Trail Creek Brownies" Wall Mount

 

(click on image to enlarge)

"Trail Creek Brownies" Wall Mount

18"H x 10"W x 3"D

Ed. size 50

2200

When I see trout hanging from a twig I think of Ken Bunn.  Ken was a celebrated master sculptor whose work I greatly admire.  I lived in Ft. Collins, Colorado years ago and when Ken and Mary came up from Denver we would fish the Cache la Poudre River in the Rocky Mountain foothills.  Trish and I owned property there which had a tributary to the Poudre running through it called Trail Creek where we would all camp along the stream.

Ken grew up in Denver and was an excellent fly fisherman.  Each morning he would cast the beaver pond upstream and return with fresh caught brown trout for breakfast.  I can close my eyes and smell the bacon sizzling on the campfire and see the trout hanging close by waiting to be cooked in the hot oil.  Great memories of a missed friend.

#775 "Marsh Master"

 

(click on image to enlarge)

"Marsh Master"
17"H x 9"W x 12"D
Ed. size 35
4200

Herons are long-legged, long-necked fresh water coastal birds which can also be found along rivers and ponds. Their pointed dagger-like bill is perfect for catching fish and frogs. The design source for my new sculpture, "Marsh Master" was the Tricolored Heron which is a sleek, slender and fairly small heron compared to its cousin the Great Blue Heron. Reference for the work was gathered at Port Aransas on the Texas gulf coast and is the latest addition to an ongoing portfolio of coastal, wading, and shorebirds in progress.  

#774 "Tempest"

(click on image to enlarge)

 "Tempest" 
17"H 21"W 8D
Ed. Size 25
4200

My personal ideal of equine aesthetic perfection is an ongoing pursuit and at any given time I have several horse sculptures in progress in the studio.  I'm influenced by Greek and Renaissance sculpture from antiquity as well as Bayre and Fremiet from the 19th century and Anna Hyatt Huntington and Adolph Weinman from the 20th century.

My goal while creating "Tempest" was to present a feeling of dignity and drama with a symbolic pose of wind- tossed mane depicting power, beauty, and proportion. As a lover of horses, one who grew up with and has always owned horses, I enter the realm of instinct while contemplating the design of what I consider the most beautiful animal on earth. 

#773 "After the Hunt - Ruffed Grouse"

(click on image to enlarge)

"After the Hunt - Ruffed Grouse"
16"H 12"W 4"D
Ed. Size 35
3300

Hunting scenes and still lifes became popular in Holland in the late 17th century when secular art was the rage.  Unlike Flemish art which typically portrayed religious scenes, Dutch art celebrated the real world.  The depiction of fur, feathers, and fish in sporting scenes remain a traditional motif to this day.

The reference for my new wall mount sculpture, "After the Hunt - Ruffed Grouse" is the result of a fall hunt at the Lake of the Woods studio in Ontario with our beloved Brittany, Penny.  The delicious bird was enjoyed on Canadian Thanksgiving which is in October.

#772 "Screech Owl"

"Screech Owl"

10'H 9"W 9"D

Ed. Size 50

2,400

Blog, text, photos, drawings, and sculpture . . . © Sandy Scott and Trish

#771 "Eager"

                                                 Happy Dog Day!

Sandy Scott

Orginal etching

Blog, text, photos, etching . . . © Sandy Scott 

#770 "Sea Turtle"

 

"Sea turtle"

Dimensions  20"H 14"W 8"D

Medium:  Bronze on post

Edition 35

1500

#669 "Midnight at the Oasis"

"Midnight at the Oasis"

7"H 11"W 5"D

Ed. size 30

2100

Covid 19 has had me studio-bound and I’ve taken advantage of no travel deadlines to put forth a plethora of new work.  My subject matter has been diverse and much of it reflects recent travel before covid as well as  2020 travel plan that were put on hold. 

“Midnight at the Oasis” was inspired by a 2019 trip to Morocco and while there, Trish was determined to ride a camel. The bus stopped outside Marrakesh where men with a group of camels were giving rides to the tourists.  As Trish bounced along across the sand, I took pictures and took it all in.  I found myself humming Maria Muldaur’s old 1973 tune, “Midnight at the Oasis” all the way to Fez and planned my sculpture of the gaily tacked camels in a recumbent pose. . . every camel stop resulted in more pictures.

Back home in the studio, true to my self-imposed rule of never modeling an animal unless I’ve experienced it afield, the inspiration remained safely in my mind and digital reference.

Blog, text, photos, drawings, and sculpture . . . © Sandy Scott and Trish

#768 "Remembering Puerto Vallarta"

"Remembering Puerto Vallarta"

11"H 13"W 5"D

ED. 50

2100.

During the 1990s through 2008 Trish and I spent the first two weeks of December in Puerto Vallarta. The holiday season is lively and colorful in Mexico and one of the biggest celebrations is the Festival of Our Lady of Guadalupe on the days leading up to December 12.  Nightly parades through cobbled streets, mariachi music, food,  daytime off-shore fishing in a beautiful tropical setting . . . joyful days that defined our Christmas for many years. 

I’m always on the lookout for animals indigenous to any area I visit and the green iguana is a common species seen in Puerto Vallarta. Men in white clothes would walk the beaches with the large captive lizard offering tourists a chance to have their picture taken with the creature wrapped around their neck. We preferred being at sea, fishing from an open panga with a captain, his mate, and an iced cooler for refreshments and the delictable fish that was cooked for us nightly at our favorite beach cantina.

Blog, text, photos, drawings, and sculpture . . . © Sandy Scott and Trish

#767 "Pacer"

"Pacer"

11H 13W 5D

ED. 50

2,100

A trotter moves its legs forward in diagonal pairs whereas a pacer moves its legs laterally – right front and hind together, then left front and left hind.  The pace is a faster gait than the trot and a majority of horses that compete in harness racing are pacers.

 

The pace is performed by the Standardbred horse and although it is an artificial gait, it is natural to the breed.  There are five natural gaits of the horse:  walk, trot, canter, gallop, and back.  Additional artificial gaits include the flashy rack, performed by the American Saddlebred and the running walk, characteristic of the Tennessee Walking Horse.

Blog, text, photos, drawings, and sculpture . . . © Sandy Scott and Trish

#766 "Mama Always Liked You Best"

 

"Mama Always Liked You Best" 

10"H  23"W  7"D

Ed.  35

3,900

Blog, text, photos, drawings, and sculpture . . . © Sandy Scott and Trish

#765 "Wooded Water"

 

"Wooded Water"
21"H 18"W 13"D
Ed. size 25
4,200 

At daybreak, a female mallard banks sharply, lowers her feet, tilts her body to brake and zeros in for splashdown in the flooded timber.   There, she dabbles for food with a small flock in the shallows and loudly quacks her resentment at any intrusion.  The female is the mouthy one; the male drake makes a soft, raspy sound and lets the hen do all the quacking. 

Many mallards winter in the lower Mississippi valley and when spring arrives, they wing their way north to prairie potholes and small inland lakes to nest and breed. Typically, when they arrive the ground and ponds are still frozen and they feed on grain leftover in the fields until the thaw; often with Canada geese.  The large duck is truly universal and can be found in all of the northern hemisphere as well as Africa, Asia, and Europe. 

   Blog, text, photos, drawings, and sculpture . . . © Sandy Scott and Trish

#764 "Earitated"

 

"Earitated"

6"H 10"W 7"D

Edition 50

1,500 

This little rabbit has an irritating itch that must be tended to.  The gesture is typical of the long-legged creature and body contortion is not needed to reach the spot. Rabbits continue to be a very popular subject.  

   Blog, text, photos, drawings, and sculpture . . . © Sandy Scott and Trish

#763 "Owl Knocker"

"Owl Knocker

16"H 8"W 3"

1,800

Over the years I've created many functional sculptures including door knockers.

The molds no longer exist for these early works and I'm in the process of remodeling and remolding several popular designs.  I've started with the owl knocker and next is the rooster, fox, horse, bear, trout, pig, and much more!

   Blog, text, photos, drawings, and sculpture . . . © Sandy Scott and Trish

#762 "Orchard Porker"

 

"Orchard Porker"

14"H 21"W 10"D

Edition 50

4,200

   Blog, text, photos, drawings, and sculpture . . . © Sandy Scott and Trish

#761 "Hard Turn to Starboard"

 

"Hard Turn to Starboard"

8"H 11"W 5"D

Ed. Size 50

1,800

                               Blog, text, photos, drawings, and sculpture ... © Sandy Scott and Trish

#760 "The Strut"

     

"The Strut"  -   clay model in progress  -   40" highThe current covid quarantine has caused an unplanned and productive block of creative studio time.   Typically, I'm traveling to shows, enjoying my seasonal cabin on Lake of the Woods in Ontario and spending museum time in Europe . . . this year, planned trips to Spain and France had to be canceled.  Many of these works are workshop demos and startups that were abandoned for one reason or another. Lots of time has resulted in a return to the sculpture stand to pursue their worthiness for casting. Among over twenty new sculptures in progress is "The Strut".
                          Blog, text, photos, drawings, and sculpture . . . © Sandy Scott and Trish

#759 "Lunch"

"Lunch"

Wall Mount

17"H 12"W 3"D

Edition 35

1800

Blog, text, photos, drawings, and sculpture . . . © Sandy Scott and Trish

# 758 "Bird of Peace"

"Bird of Peace"

8"H 12"W 7"D

Edition 35

1,900

Blog, text, photos, drawings, and sculpture . . . © Sandy Scott and Trish

#757 "Secretary Bird"

"Secretary Bird"

7"H 9"W 5"D

Edition 50

1,800

  

       Blog, text, photos, drawings, and sculpture . . . © Sandy Scott and Trish

 

#756 "Flightless Tondo"

"Flightless Tondo" (Wall Mount)

17" Dia 3"H

Ed. Size 25

2,700

The Italian word rontondo (round) coined the term tondo and was used during the 
Renaissance for religious and mythological imagery.  The circular shape has 
challenged sculptors and painters since Greek antiquity.

I have been influenced by classical sculpture since my student years 

at the Kansas City Art Institute and the time-honored tondo seemed 

like the perfect format for my new creation – “Flightless Tondo”.  

The inspiration for the bas relief was provoked by the discovery of 

a dead bird in snow under my studio window.

  

Blog, text, photos, drawings, and sculpture . . . © Sandy Scott and Trish