Sea Serpent Sculpt Finished!

I finished the sea serpent sculpture I've been working on this Thursday and got it listed in my Etsy shop :http://www.etsy.com/listing/68901992/sea-serpent-and-doryman I thought I'd share some wip photos with you. First I finished sculpting the clay waves over the wood base.

Then I mixed together Liquitex Blue acrylic paint with transparent green polytranspar paint to make a thin wash.

I applied the wash over the clay waves in thin coats.

After several coats of the blue/green wash I dry brushed in some white caps.

When my painted sea dried I gave it several coats of water based clear varnish to seal the finish.

While the varnish was setting I mixed up a small batch of EnviroTex Clear resin.

I wanted to do a test mixture of the Envirotex, sand and broken bits of shell to be sure it cured properly. The next morning I saw it had set fine - clear and hard!

So I mixed up a second batch and poured it into the bottom of the listing boat letting it settle to the side. I've never seen the floor of a work boat yet that didn't have some sea water slogging back and forth. The EnviroTex captured this look perfectly!

Here are some photos of the finished piece. Click on them if you'd like a larger view:

If I've piqued your curiosity about sea serpents you may enjoy these links:

The UnMuseum - Sea Serpent of Gloucester

The Shadowlands Sea Serpent page

This book by J.P. O'Neill sounds right up my alley! Amazon.com: The Great New England Sea Serpent: An Account of Unknown Creatures Sighted by Many Respectable Persons Between 16...

I'm Craving Clam Chowder!

I love making chowders especially New England Clam Chowder! I got the craving this weekend and went to the supermarket to pick up some of the ingredients I'd need.

The price for the little package of salt pork was ridiculous! But what they were asking for a quart of fat free Half n Half made the salt pork look reasonably priced!

So I switched gears and decided to pick up the fixings for making Manhattan Clam Chowder. After the supermarket my wife and I headed to Point Lookout to the The Doxsee Sea Clam Co . Doxsee has been at its present location since 1933!

Here is a photo of my wife Diane standing in front of the Doxsee "building".

It is a one room operation consisting of a freezer and some canned goods.

Their products and prices are posted on the wall.

You help yourself to the freezer full of clam products. This trip we got a bag of surf clams and large can of clam juice for the chowder. I couldn't pass up grabbing a bag of the breaded clam strips. And since I wouldn't be making my chowder till midweek Diane suggested I get a container of the Doxsee N.E. Clam Chowder to hold me over. Good thinking!

After you bag your food you stuff your money into the cash box mounted on the wall.

Afterwards we decided to take a walk around Point Lookout. When we got to the inlet there were quite a few ducks near the sandbar.

It was windy which was causing the inlet to kick up. I climbed out on the rocks to try and get a few shots of the waves as they were breaking.

Sea Serpent WIP Update

I haven't had much chance to work on the sea serpent piece due to the rotten weather we've been having! I'm painting the serpent in acrylic washes and I need to protect the finish with clear lacquer before progressing to the next step.

We finally had a decent day here and I was able to get outside and spray the serpent so I could finish the painting. The serpent is now done, the fisherman and boat are 99% completed. All that remains to do is create the waves washing over the base.

On past projects I've sculpted the waves in clay, made a mold, and cast the waves in resin. It is a time consuming process but provides a dramatic effect! Here is a post with photos of my sculpture of The Old Man And The Sea for a look at resin water : http://blacknick-sculpture.blogspot.com/search?q=resin+water

On this piece I'm going to use Apoxie Sculpt two part clay to create the water. The first step is marking off the direction I want the waves to flow using a marker.

Next I begin using foil to form my waves. The core of foil will save on weight and material. This weekend I hope to have the foil waves set in place so I can begin my wave sculpting.