The long creative process

Rabúo, Cyanopica cyanus
Oil painting on wood, 30x21 cm.

Detail


Sometimes I think I make my processes very complicated. It takes me too much time to finish a work; that´s why I´m usually working on some of them at the same time.

Making a study from life in the Islote del Moro - Cabo de Gata (Almería)

Every work of 'wildlife art' begins in nature. You have to go out and watch animals to soak up their forms, gestures,...study and feel them.To that end, attired with the necessary optical devices in order not to disturb these creatures, we are ready to take notes: drawings, texts, photographs or simply to watch: For me, this is the best thing, watching, enjoying the act of looking carefully the beauty of animal morphology, without any other distraction.

Some of the sketches 

Studies from life of Yellow-legged Gull
Islote del Moro - Cabo de Gata (Almeria)
Graphite pencil on paper, 30x42 cm.

Studies from life of Black-winged Stilt
Las Salinas - Cabo de Gata (Almería)
Graphite pencil on paper, 30x42 cm.

Studies of Great and Little Ringed Plovers,
"The mother of marshes" - El Rocío, Almonte (Huelva)
Graphite pencil on paper, 21x30 cm.

 Studies of Calandra Lark and Crested Lark,
Road from Tomelloso to Ossa de Montiel
Graphite pencil, watercolur and felt-tip pen on paper, 21x30 cm.

Detail

Studies and sketches for a work on Red-legged Partridge,
Road from Tomelloso to Ossa de Montiel
Graphite pencil and watercolour on A4 paper

Study of Common Coot and Marshy mare with colt 

"The mother of marshes" - El Rocío, Almonte (Huelva)
Graphite pencil on paper, 21x30 cm.


Drawing made with my left hand.

Sketch for painting of an experience lived at "The mother of marshes" 

Graphite pencil on paper, 21x30 cm.

Studies of Mallard and Moorhen 

Navaseca Lagoon - Daimiel (Ciudad Real)

Graphite pencil, felt-tip pen and watercolour on paper, 9x28 cm.

Later, with the photographs taken that day, I made a more elaborated graphite drawing which I used to make a bigger work. 

Too see the picture  click here

Studies from life of White-headed Duck and Black-headed Gull
Navaseca Lagoon - Daimiel (Ciudad Real)
Graphite pencil, watercolour, felt-tip pen and colour pencil on A4 paper


It was coloured later. 

After collecting experiences, ideas...; to sum up, inspiration, I go on with the work in the workshop.
Firstly, with all the material, I made sketches-morphological analysis of the species to portray, if it´s going to be a sculpture.

Sketches of Aphanius iberus and Chub, previous to the sculpture. 
Graphite pencil on paper and digital treatment, 21x30 cm.

Sketch of  Chasquita (Motacilla alba), previous to the sculpture.  
Graphite pencil, felt-tip pen and colour pencil on paper, 25x50 cm.


To make these sketches I use memories of previous experiences to compose the pose and studies from life and photographs I take for the details. I have also used bibliographic material for the fish. I intend to take a diving course to add these species to my works.

Then we go on with the making of the model in wax.

Wax model of White Wagtail (Motacilla alba) -in process
Real size

At the workshop, modelling in wax. 

Wax model of Woodchat Shrike 


Sketch in a previous post - Click here to see the sketch

I work with galvanized sheet, embossed and welded with tin-silver. This work is similar to the way I model in wax, though this material implies harder work.

You can see some samples of tin-silver works in previous posts.
      Alpine Swift, Apus melba
      Good and bad, equal at the mirror II

When making paintings, firstly I study the composition and make the "grisaille" in graphite, fixed before colouring it. Needless to say, before starting a work I prepare the panels by applying a primer, almost a stucco, as my way of working requires it.

Atenea´s eyes, Athene noctua - In process

Graphite pencil and oil on wood, 60x42 cm.

Detail

Disrupting dreams -In process
Graphite pencil and oil painting on wood, 60x150 cm.


Sorry for the quality of the image. 

Net, Charadrius alexandrinus - En proceso

Graphite pencil and oil painting on wood, 30x42 cm.

Once the pictures are finished (look at the image opening this post), we have to build the frames. I do it at my brother-in-law´s - Francisco M . Sánchez - workshop; it´s easier with his help.

Frames ready to be patinated and varnished.

Sculptures imply harder work. After modelling in wax, you have to build the casting tree, prepare the ceramics shell, cast... 

All this process can be watched in previous posts: 

      Course on Drawing and Bronze Sculpture, Priego 2010 (My Work)

     The first casting

      Priego 2011 Sculpture

      Course on Fusible Crucible

After this we have the most boring and hardest part of the casting process: removing of the ceramics shell and polishing the piece. 

Male avocet - Waiting to be polished.

Bronze, real size

When this phase is finished the pieces have to be patinated. We mainly use very toxic substances such as acids and oxides though I´d rather use natural stuffs (citric acid=lemon juice, sugar...) and give colour by means of pigments and wax polish. 

Works with the first coat of sugar patina. 

There is the preparation of the structures for the final assembly left. 

 Assembly of  'Lapwings'

Structure for the assembly of 'The living river II' 

As you can see there is no time for resting... and with every outing,  more occasions to be incorporated to new compositions mount up. 

This summer, Lolita Paz, Andrés J. Naranjo and me are planning to cast again and I´ll try to finish some of the pictures and add some sculptures... but I need more time to do everything I want. 

Circus aeruginosus

Circus aeruginosus (female), sketch and study
Graphite and colour pencils on paper, 30x21 cm

Two weeks ago, on my way back home after work I was lucky to see a scene of great plasticity. A female harrier passed in front of my car carrying in one of its legs the skin with leftover meat from a rabbit, probably run over. I was struck by the gracefulness of movement and beauty of this bird of prey. As I got home, I made a quick sketch of the experience and then with more calm and the help of some pictures I made a work in colour (the image here). I am preparing a panel for an oil painting.

This image was previously published on the number 10 of the magazine 'Bocetos' ​​of AEAN.

The little hunter, Lanius senator

Little Hunter (sketch)
Graphite pencil and marker on paper, 25x25 cm.
I show you the sketch I´ve made for my next work in bronze. I´ve had this project in mind since, a summer evening, I went with my friend David Novoa to the Acebrón Palace in Doñana and, on the road which connects it with the road to El Rocio Matalascañas, we enjoyed watching a male Lanius  senator for half an hour long. This species is easily seen in the fields which are not exposed to pesticides and insecticides and reminds me of my childhood "outings" between the agricultural work that my father urged me to do. When, in a little notebook, I drew insects, small reptiles, birds and little mice that a family of Woodchat Shrikes sticked into the thorns of a small orange tree in my father´s orchard. I also remember how, in the outer branches of a big orange-tree, they placed their nest and I could see the breeding of the chicks from a hide I made with some canes and rushes, following the instructions given my uncle Fredesvindo.
I am also busy with a checking of the bronzes I have (a more arduous task than modelling, casting and peeling), besides, I'm with making the structures and frames of some paintings.

On the cable, Passer hismaniolensis

On the cable, Passer hismaniolensis
Oil painting on wood, 30x15 cm

`The noisy colony dwelt in others´home.
The look of the winged .... examines."

This text accompanies this small work. I usually insert texts in my works; they are a sort of haiku, sometimes anecdotes or experiences in nature, another times they are data about the featured species.

I began to insert them after taking part, in December 2002, in a group exhibition, together with James Foster (photographer) and Alfonso Aramburu (watercolorist), which served as the opening of `The 9th meeting of writers in Doñana´, and after an inspiring weekend, full of art and culture, with Luis García Montero, Almudena Grandes, Antonio Ramírez Almansa, Alfonsa Acosta, Diego Ropero, Juan Drago, Caballero Bonald, Pérez Mercader and Arcángel, among others.

Female Mallard - Anas platyrhynchos

Female Mallard - Anas platyrhynchos
Graphite on paper, 30x23 cm.

This is a drawing I made as a study for a big work in which I´m working.
It´s a scene that I was lucky enough to see at Navaseca Lagoon, Daimiel.

Course on Fusible Crucible

Balance, Recurvirostra avosetta
Model in wax, 100x47x29 cm aprox.

Every artistic process of Wildlife Art begins with direct experience in nature. I was lucky to see a mating between two avocets at the Navaseca Lagoon next to the Tablas de Daimiel National Park . I had already thought about making this kind of work and watching the scene was a great help so as to correct some little mistakes in my previous sketch.

Preliminary study of the work in wax
Wax, 60x30x23 cm. aprox.

These days I am using sheets of wax as construction means. This sketch is a round shape made to be developed in polyester resin and painted in oils.

Sketch of Balance, Recurvirostra avosetta
Graphite pencil in paper, 50x25 cm.

Morphological study of a wing of Recurvirostra avosetta
Graphite pencil on paper, 50x25 cm.

Sketch of a female Recurvirostra avosetta
Graphite pencil on paper, 25x50 cm.

I made some morphological studies of the species; as this is a dynamic process I had to make new notes during the modeling process of the piece.

After the modeling (which was a 3 week-process working five hours a day), the intensive week in which wax is transformed into bronze begins. This time I attended the lessons of Dr. Juan Carlos Albaladejo González, Professor in the Department of Painting and Sculpture of La Laguna University, in Tenerife. He showed us his innovative method in artistic casting: Lost-wax casting by using `fusible crucible´

Here are some pictures of our work during last week.

Preparing the casting tree.

Dr. Albaladejo explains how to join the crucible and the casting mould.

Preparing the support to separate the mould from the floor.

Removing wax.

Our improvised workshop at the yard of the Community Center "Casa de las Sirenas" in the Alameda de Hércules (in the historic center of Seville).

Finally I could make two moulds: the body and the wings of the male. I´ll try to cast the female in July.

First knocks on the mould after the casting.

Removing the ceramics shell.
The pieces have part of the ceramics shell. They are at an exhibition in the same place we were working in.
I still have to remove the ceramics shell and the casting tree, brush the piece, sweat the body and the wings, coating it and assembling it with my typical rectangles which symbolize the small room we leave for nature.

Finally, I´d like to thank Carmen and Itahisa for persuading Dr. Albaladejo to teach us. I am also grateful to José A. Aguilar and Enrique Caetano for the organization, we all know the upheaval of a casting in a mutipurpose classroom. Thanks to my friends Andrés and Lolita, you are part of my family.
To Cordero, Tannia, Bea, Marta and Luis G. Cruz (my teacher), Jorge, Gil, Manu, Lolo, Mónica and everybody else, thank you for being there.