A treat to work from a live model

[Mary Sparrow]

Wow Heidi, that is terrific! You amaze me.

[Michele Rushworth]

Amazing - especially the hair!

[Mark Branscum]

Originally Posted by Heidi Maiers

Sure Julie, that's pretty much the meaning of an open studio. A place to get to practice making a "quickie" from a live model.

Geary, thanks. I always enjoy reading your enthusiastic and humorous posts. I can well relate to what you are saying. Hand me a piece of charcoal, graphite, pen and ink, and I know what to do with them. Throw color into the mix and I am TOTALLY lost!

Hello Heidi,

Wow, So beautiful, I am at a loss of words to be able to describe how I felt when I saw it. I can say it was pure amazement.

My brother does that for a living. In fact he was just commissioned to do a 9' piece of Chief Supulpa, for Supulpa Oklahoma. He is probably one of the best I have ever seen. But, I can say this, your work reminds me of his, similar style.

His work on Chief Supulpa will be shown live via Web Cam step by step. As soon as it is online, which will be soon, I'll let you know if your interested.

But anyway, you should be proud of this work it is good, very good.
Oh and by the way, I dont see any of your weaknesses you mentioned in it.

By the way I tried getting to your site but the link wasn't working.


Mark Branscum

[Heidi Maiers]

Thank you so much Sharon, Mary, Michele, and Mark

Mark, I would very much like to see the works of your brother that you mention and look forward to a link from you. The bronze process is pretty involved and amazing.

No doubt, we are all our own worst critics. I work in ceramic for the most part, but am getting more and more bronze opportunities which is encouraging and have several life size figure commissions in the planning stages.

For some reason, my domain has been misbehaving this week and clicking on the link brings up the ol "page cannot be displayed" error. Hitting the refresh button however brings it right up. It can also be accessed through the domain name "portraitsculpting.com".

[Linda Brandon]

Heidi, I just spotted this on the Forum, and I am so impressed. I'm astounded that you can work this fast. I love looking at your work.

[Heidi Maiers]

I thought I would post the finished piece now that it has been dried, fired, patina'd, and mounted. (You could never make a finished one in an open studio since the drying alone takes weeks.)

I thought I would show the interesting effect firing at different temperatures can have. Normally, I fire this clay in the mid range of about cone 2 to produce a nice creamy white. If I had fired it to maturity (cone 5), the clay would have been pure white.

Here, I only bisque fired it to cone 018 (about a 900 degree temperature difference). The result was a nice peach skin tone which I just sealed and covered with a clear wax. Since no repair was needed at such a low fire, I could leave the natural color of the clay show through.

[Heidi Maiers]

Couple other angles and close up if interested in details...

[Geary Wootten]

Heidi,

TOTALLY and completely mind blowing AWESOME!

And, your firing technique was perfect. This is just getting better and better. I sure hope you're havin a ball doing this work.....cause I'm havin one looking at it!

-Geary

[Jeanine Jackson]

The joy you had in creating this is evident! Let my voice join my the chorus of amazed and admiring viewers.

[Denise Hall]

Heidi,

My husband and I are in awe of your work. I especially like the peach low fire look. I was a ceramics minor way back when in college and understand the process you must go through to get this fired without breakage and I know you have some sleepless nights sometimes.

Thank you so much for posting such great pictures of your work. I would love to see your work in person - do you show in any galleries on the east coast?

Denise