Tamara Bonet Sculpture, Bronze and Ceramic Figurative Art
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Luisa clay sketch

Luisa clay sketch

Hi Everyone,

Here’s a quick sketch of Luisa, a close friend that is 89 years old. She’s the sweetest lady that you’ll ever meet.  She is an artist herself and paints beautifully.  She eminates love to all, strangers or dearest friends. I just had to make a clay sculpture of her.  I worked from pictures that I had and memory.  I know it would be better to have her right there, that is for sure.  Now I need to have her come and make some alterations to her body because I have her torso too long and knees to narrow.  Working from life prevents backtracking and reworking the sculpture. :)

To see sculpture pics please click below:

After making the clay armature harden up, I spent one and half sessions of speed sculpting to finish this basic sketch of her. Then I worked it just a bit here and there and had her come to sit for me for an hour or so.  I was able to do some adjustments to her face and hands while she sat. She got sleepy sitting in the chair since she had been working weeding and doing yardwork.  After a while I told her I was done with her face and that she could sleep because I was working on her hands.  The bible kept slipping out of her hands as she nodded to sleep.  :D   I felt bad that I was keeping her up like that. 

One of her eyes is a sleepy eye due to eye surgery on it.  I think I have the other eye a little too large though. Also, I see that one tear duct is closer to the nose than the other.  It look like the eyes are maybe set a tad too high.  With sculpting so fast, I’m happy that I was able to get the likeness that I got.  My friends say that to them it looks just like her so that is good. 

This kind of quick sculpting is so refreshing to do.  I plan to do more quick sketches for fun.  I’ve have  more friends with a lot of character that I’d love to sculpt.  Now that I know I can do a likeness, it opens up new doors for me.  I still love doing conceptual type of sculpture, but portraits are fun too!

~Tamara

Unfired Low fire clay-  15 1/2 inches tall -  She’ll be holding an umbrella.  Her trademark is her hat and umbrella.  Often she uses both of them in the summer because she says she’ll melt from the sun.  She wanted to make sure I had her earrings on.  Also, she had me make her hair a bit longer than I had it. 

Luisa sitting on chair made of wire and Magic sculpt.

Luisa sitting on chair made of wire and Magic sculpt.

Luisa clay sketch.

Luisa clay sketch.

Side view of Luisa.

Side view of Luisa.

Luisa sitting on her chair.

Luisa sitting on her chair.

The body doesn’t look right because I worked it so quickly.  If I would have taken time to sculpt her nude then it would have helped but I just did the very quickest sketch of the body and clothing.  The chair is made of wire and magic sculpt for the cushion.  I’ve cut her legs at the ankles so that when she dries, she will shrink okay.  After firing I’ll drill holes, add wire and epoxy the ankles to the legs.

Luisa's signature.

Luisa's signature.

Using her signature from a card that I have from her, I drew her name in the clay the way that she signs it.

Cat sculpture.

Cat sculpture.

She used to have 7 cats that adopted her but now she is down to 4.  She loves animals so I had to have a cat in the sculpture. 

Front view of Luisa.

Front view of Luisa.

Luisa

Luisa

11 Responses to “Luisa clay sketch”

  1. doris says:

    hello tamara, now that is great to see your luisa sculpt here in such a wonderful presentation. i enjoyed reading more about how you made her, as well as looking the sculpture as well. i do think you captured her well, she not only shows likeness, but i have the feeling can see some of her character too. not an easy task with such a quick sculpture… but maybe it has to do with that the speed let you concentrate with your heart on your work, and made it turn out so beautifully. will you fire the clay or make a cast ? … i like not only the liveliness of the work, but also the texture, i like this rough way of working surface anyway, and here it adds to the mood of the piece, as well as giving me the feeling i could sense the different fabriques… wonderful work, and a great piece for memory.

  2. ZooDoc says:

    Wonderful! Looks exactly like her. I’m sure that if you ever do a life-size portrait you’ll do an amazing job.

    In your picture of Luisa, she has such smooth facial skin, I was wondering if the “rough” sketch does her justice. I know that’s a sculpting style, and it would’ve taken a lot more time…but that is just my thought. ZD

  3. Tamara Bonet says:

    Hi Doris,

    She was so easy to sculpt because I know her so well. Maybe sculpting a stranger wouldn’t flow out like that but with her it was so easy. I’ve seen her profile so many times and the way that she holds her body that it was just natural to translate it into clay. The instant gratification of quick sculpts is very enjoyable. :-)

    After she dries out then I will fire her in my kiln. I may make a mold of her first so that if I want to make duplicates of her, I can. Maybe I’ll make at least one bronze of her.

  4. Tamara Bonet says:

    Hi ZooDoc,

    Thanks for your thoughts. :-) I know that her skin is smooth and she has few wrinkles for her age. Maybe I’ll smooth out the tops of the lumps of clay on her face just to tone it down just a bit.

    She is so young at heart and full of love. I hope that this shows through in the sculpture.

  5. Kurt Fischer says:

    Very good work Tamara, I like it very much! You got the likeness well, judging from the photos seems like it’s her in person, but there also is a slight caricaturistic touch in it, in a very good sense, of course. I’m sure she will like it.

  6. babek from Tabriz,Iran says:

    I surprised.Your website is fantastic.I have been started sculpture since past february and i love this art.thank you for your great website!

  7. Tamara Bonet says:

    Kurt- She does like it which makes me feel happy. I know that she sometimes is down about how she looks so I wondered how she would feel about it. Surprisingly she felt honored that I sculpted her and thought it looked like her. Having friends tell me that it looks just like her is very good to here too. Sometimes in our own minds eye it looks like the person but what others think is important.
    Babek- I hope you continue with sculpture as it is a wonderful form of art. We’ve been hearing things on the news about Iran and the difficulties with the election. Maybe doing art will help you to escape from all of that and have your expression be in your art. Thanks for your compliments to my work.

  8. babak says:

    hi.you are right.but i try to do my work and continue sculpting.at first we worked by clay and now i try to do with palster.but i like to practise on marble.
    at the end i am sorry for my bad english and late answer.
    best wishes
    babak.

  9. Ted Moomaw says:

    Hi Tamara, as you may remember, I love this sculpture, do you have pics of Louisa after firing?

    Still thinking of Bronzing her?

    This style in which she is sculpted is really appealing, lots of feeling. My tastes in sculpture lean more toward the style you have worked her in, you have achieved a very natural look that is borderline tight, borderline loose.

    Nice,

    Ted

  10. Tamara Bonet says:

    Hi Ted,

    Hi Ted

    Yes, I’m going to go into bronze with her. :-) This sculpture makes me smile because she’s such a wonderful lady that I was privileged to sculpt. After I get done molding her then I’ll fix up the original. I intend on using some yellow glaze on the umbrella she’s holding which will be a cheery color. Also, I’ll put a few other glaze highlights here and there. When she’s done, I’ll be sure and put her on the site. :-)

    Thanks for your comments,

    ~Tamara

  11. I love this piece – the texture and sweetness are extraordinary!

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