#641 Prix de West, 2015

By this time next Sunday, Prix de West in Oklahoma City will be over and I'll post and update.

For more information about the exhibition, go to the museum and catalogue links and the blog links below:

http://pdw.nationalcowboymuseum.org

#254,  June 19, 2012

#313,  September 17, 2012

#538,  June 11, 2014

#539  June 14, 2014

This year is my 27th year to be invited to participate in the Prix de West Exhibition at the National Cowboy Museum and Western Heritage Center in Oklahoma City.  Like most artists, it's important for me to introduce new work at the prestigious event and no one wants to drop the ball!  The collector and museum expects new work and my studio method and working challenges demand it. The Prix de West, like the Autry, Eiteljorg, Briscoe, Jackson, Cody, and others gives the artist an opportunity to engage in a catalogued museum gala venue and sale that is as good as the artist chooses to make it . . . 

I can't imagine not giving it my best and respond with new work and over the years, I've attempted to do just that.

Below, are images of one of the new works for the exhibition entitled, "Jake".

The sculpture is a quiet study of a young male Wild Turkey and is shown cast in bronze and during patina.

The patina is achieved by applying liver of sulfur to cold metal then scrubbing back, revealing darks in the negatives
and lights on the high points.  Next the sculpture is heated and cupric nitrate is sizzled on to the hot metal.
Then, ferric nitrate is applied while the bronze is still hot.  The sculpture is waxed with Johnson's Paste Wax
after cool-down, and "Jake" is placed on a walnut base.

The close-ups reveal the "woodsy" feel and coloration I was attempting to convey with the patina.

For more information about see post
#635 May 17, 2015

Go to the BLOG INDEX on the right for more information.

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

#635 "Jake"

Please see the previous post for more information about this subject.



Wild Turkeys have a distinguished ancestry and are truly an all-American bird.
The big bird has survived since early pioneer days and our forefathers once
feasted upon its delicious meat just as we do now.

For wariness and cleverness, it is unsurpassed by any other bird but it's possible
to get relatively close to them in the wild at Brookgreen Gardens because
they are used to human activity.

 www.brookgreen.org


Over the years, the species has been one of my favorite subjects for not only sculpture,
but for etchings and drawings.   Brookgreen Gardens in Murrell's Inlet, South Carolina offers
an "in-the-field" experience and a great place to observe, sketch, and photograph Wild Turkeys.

Below, are images of a new sculpture entitled "Jake".  The bronze will be introduced at the 2015 Prix de West Exhibition
in Oklahoma City next month at the  National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.   The show opens June, 13.

"Jake"

3600

Shown below, is the clay model in progress.

Below, our Brittany, Penny joins Trish in the mold room while making the flexible rubber mold of Jake.

Below, I'm at the foundry placing the sculpture on a base plate for welding and the addition of terrain shapes.

 Below are two photos of Jake on the patina rack . . . after patina and before wax.

A Jake Turkey is an immature male turkey.  A Jake has shorter feathers on each side
of the tail fan and a small snood above the beck.  A snood is a flappy piece of skin that hangs over a turkey's beak.
All of the tail feathers on a mature Tom will be the same length and will appear as a symmetrical semi-circle
when he struts.  See the previous post for an image of a strutting Tom and the sculpture entitled "Tom".

Below, are photos of Wild Turkeys taken last month at Brookgreen Gardens.

The photos shown below are of a mature male gobbler or Tom. . . . a Jake's beard is short and grows with age.

Go to the BLOG INDEX on the right for more information.

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

#634 Wild Turkeys at Brookgreen Gardens

For more information about Brookgreen Gardens, see blog posts #625 and #627 throughout #631.

Additional info can be obtained by typing in Brookgreen Gardens in the "search this blog" box.

brookgreen.org

Brookgreen Gardens, located in Murrell's Inlet, South Carolina is an accredited museum boasting the the largest and most important collection of American figurative sculpture in existence.  I recently returned from there and am still under the spell of beautiful Brookgreen.  While the sculpture collection is paramount, the 9,000 acre grounds are an award winning horticulture masterpiece and home to an accredited zoo and aviary.  Over the years, I've come to know Brookgreen well 

and upon entering the grounds - especially in the early morning - I'm sure to encounter free ranging 

Wild Turkeys which is the subject of this and the next two blog posts.

For many years I have visited Brookgreen and continue to know it as an "in the field" experience. . . 

a camera and sketchbook is always close by and I've accumulated lots of photos and drawings of Wild Turkeys.

Below, are photos taken last month at Brookgreen.

Below, is a new sculpture entitled "Tom".  Also shown,  is the clay model in progress before the mold was made.

Additional images are shown of the bronze sculpture during the patina process at the foundry.
The patina was achieved with the following chemicals:  Liver of sulfur, cupric nitrate, and ferric nitrate.

Go to the BLOG INDEX on the right for more information.

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

#535 In the field: Brookgreen Gardens, con't . . . turkeys

Start this series with  #522,  April 16, 2014.  http://www.brookgreen.org/

http://www.brookgreenworkshops.com

While in South Carolina in April, I encountered the Wild Turkey.  The big bird is a common resident on the more than 8,000 acres of Brookgreen Gardens, located along South Carolina's coastal lowcountry.  I spent many early morning hours before my bird sculpture workshop began, stalking and photographing the Wild Turkey.  Spring is mating season and I could hear and spot them in the piney timber in Brookgreen's natural and untouched areas.  It was also possible to experience them in the more formal and manicured sections of the grounds and although they were always wary and unapproachable, quiet mornings and a telephoto lens proved invaluable.

Below, are photos taken on the Brookgreen grounds.

The Wild Turkey is a North American native.  The four main sub-species are the Eastern, Osceola, Rio Grande,
and Mirriam's.  The Eastern is what I encountered in South Carolina . . . they range the entire eastern half
of the United States.  The Osceola is common in the Florida peninsula.  The Rio Grande ranges through
Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico, Colorado, Oregon, and California.  Merriam's ranges
through the Rocky Mountains and the prairies of Wyoming, Montana, and South Dakota.

A friend of mine is a South Carolina turkey hunter and gave me the wings and tail
 of a beautiful Eastern gobbler to use as reference for a
strutting turkey sculpture in progress in the Wyoming studio.

Below, are photos of Hal Cunnigham's turkey.

Below, are drawings of the Wild Turkey.

Below, in 1992, I created the art for the Arkansas Turkey Stamp. . .  an original watercolor-tinted etching.
The Eastern Wild Turkey is common in the state of Arkansas.

The Strut
Original Etching by Sandy Scott

To learn more about the subjects in this blog go to the links below.

For a complete list of  the blog subjects go to the Index Page and

type the subject in the Search This Blog link on right.

#24 Remarque: "Wild Turkey Fragment I"

 Can a fresh discovery be made by stripping the figure of the unessential?

 Go to the BLOG INDEX on the right for more information.

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