Barn Owl hanging sculpture The hardest part about birds in clay is finding a way to show flight and make it have life. One day it hit me I could do them hanging like they were coming out from the wall in flight. The first thing was to figure out the balance, size and weight which would work. Next was how high out from the wall could I sculpt it with it not being top heavy. After that is was just the point of getting the barn owls details right and in proportion.
Barn owl After getting the sculpture done in clay, dried out and fired in the kiln. Then it was time to paint in all the details and coloring. Bird wings are complex. They have to look right, one cannot hurry, enough details have to be there. The coloring has to appear natural. The sculpture had to look real in order to be any good. So I painted a base color, then a wash on top of that , then started on the face working out. The wing's coloring had to be layered in a lot of layers to give depth. Sculpting is a long process compared to painting. A painting I can generally do in 10 to 15 hrs. But a sculpture might take 40 hrs to sculpt, two weeks for the clay to dry before firing it in a kiln, two full days to fire hoping the kiln does it's part, and then another 20 hrs to paint. A long process.
Barn owl The finished sculpture hanging at the exhibition I had on Endangered animals. It is nice when an idea comes together as you envisioned it.
Direct Correspondence to:
Cindy Billingsley c/o Cindy Billingsley Fine Art
1455 Abner Allen Rd.
Cookeville, TN
USA 38501 Tel: 615-423-4532