It's Official!! My First Public Monument!!

Last night (January 17th) the city of Arcadi City Council, gave it's official thumbs up for the completion of the Lucky Baldwin Monument. I was commissioned by the Great, Great, Grandaughter of the Western Icon, to create a 9' monument to him, that would be donated to the City of Arcadia (of which Lucky was it's first mayor). I started by creating a 1:4 scale maquette (seen in progress in this photo). There weren't that many useable photos of him from this period in his life, so the process of capturing his likeness was difficult. In the end, I think I created a good representation of the western entrepeneur.

Now that the city has given the approval to move onto the large scale figure, it's time to start putting together the materials and resources I'll need to create the nine foot figure. First, I'll be pricing out the process of digital scanning and foam enlargement. It's a way to get the piece mostly bulked out in very little time. It's an expensive process, but the time saved can make up that difference. I also have to use someone else's facility to sculpt the large piece, as my studio is limited to an eight foot ceiling height. Luckily, I've been allowed a place where I can work (rent free) to complete the sculpt.

I'll probably need to bring in some assistants at some point to help cover the foam in clay and do some of the smoothing. I'll also need help durring the molding phase. Luckily, I have some very talented and skilled friends who are ready to help.

This whole project should be completed and installed by this summer. So I'm really looking forward to getting started, and seeing this figure standing on his pedestal.

I'll update this site from time to time with progress news and photos of the process. I hope you come back and see the latest news as it's posted.

Cheers!!

Alfred

Wow!! Has it really been a year?

Time has really gone by fast. Last year when I posted the news about the Ellen show, life was moving along as normal. But shortly after that, my wife and I got the news that we would be having a baby. Well time went by super quick and now that baby girl is three months old today. There's been a lot of stuff going on with my commercial sculpture work. A few crazy projects at the beginning of the year that saw me sculpting for E3, doing a portrait of Alice Cooper for a die hard fan in Germany, some bronze portrait work, and lots more. I recently completed a very crazy project for a celebrity client. I can't get into details because of the confidentiality aggreements in place, but it was a very crazy project with a very short deadline. I managed to complete the project and turn it in on time, so I'm really proud of that.

Now there's some really exciting news brewing. There's a serious potential for a big public monument. Plus, it'll be only one town over from my home town, so my family will get to see my work for a long, long time. The deal isn't done yet, so I won't give away any of the details, but it's looking really good and people are getting excited to have me work on this project. I'll be sharring the big news as soon as I hear more.

Until then, it's time to keep creating in the studio. If any of you would like portraits or full figures sculpted, please let me know and I'll be happy to give you a quote.

Cheers!!

Alfred

Ellen Show Pumpkins

This year I was asked, once again, to sculpt pumpkin portraits for the Ellen Show. It's always a challenging experience because of the short deadlines and well known celebrity faces. This year I did four pumpkins. The show taped on Wednesday the 27th and it will air on Friday the 29th. Here are the shots of the pumpkins once I had finished them.

 Brandy

Maksim

Science Guy Steven Spangler

Vanessa Williams

Third Place!!

I was awarded 3rd place for Sculpture at the Beverly Hills Affaire in the Gardens Show this past weekend. It was a fun time and the sculpting I did on site definitely pulled in quite a number of people (the photo to the left is the sculpt I did over the course of the two days at the show). I also brought some of the commercial stuff I do on Sunday. it was a big hit and I ended up selling 4 of my little resin kits. Two of which are apparently going to be gifts to none other than Jack Nicholson. I guess that's one of the perks of showing in Beverly Hills (a lot of celebrities and friends of celebrities). Now that the show is over, it's time to get back to work, making more sculptures.

Cheers!!

Earlier this year.

In May of this year, I was part of the National Sculpture Societies, Young Sculptor of the Year, competition. It's a very prestigious competition where sculptors work for 28 hours, over a five day period, to complete a 1/2 scale full figure sculpture based on a live model. I've been trying to get into this competition for years, and this year I finally made it.

After all was said and done, I was awarded 2nd place and the Roger T. Williams prize. It was a great experience and one which I'll remember for a long time. You can read the Coastal Observer article here.

I've included some pictures of my finished sculpture below.