June 1-4

1. Add finishing touches to keynote presentation. (Information about biology animal, culture, art, inspirational pictures, and in-progress photos).
   
2. Continue working on Eagle sculpture. Refined the wings, feet, and body. Added detail of the feathers to the wings. Still stuck on the Eagle head, it is difficult to make look realistic.
   
3. Practiced presenting to Mrs. Miranda. Suggestions made for the presentation.
   

In Progress Photos of Eagle (trial 2)

Here the back of the Eagle can be seen. Not detail has been added, just simply the general shape.

Front view of general shape of eagle. Head as of right now is only a placeholder.

Side view.

May 24-28

1. Fired completed Cobra and biskwear Jaguar.
   
2. Began the Eagle, only general shape of body and wings (again - but this is the final attempt).
   
3. Reviewed corrections made by Mrs. Miranda on research paper.
4. Finished research paper and submitted it to "turnitin.com" (submitted it on Tuesday).
5. Continued working on presentation (adding information about animals, worship, and art).
6. Decided that when the presentation is almost complete - I can present it to Mrs. Miranda and friend for review and suggestions (will do that early next week).
   
7. Carved out the feathers on the wings and feet of the Eagle. Added detail such as eyes to the head.
   
8. Printed out 5 copies of the research paper and delivered it to Mrs. Koehler's mailbox Friday morning.
   

Wrting Center Suggestions

Visiting the writing center was helpful. The teacher skimmed my paper and made suggestions for the body and writing. Below is a list of the suggestions:

1. Put whole paper in past tense. (did take advise)
   
2. Make more distinct connections between the physical description of and characteristics of animal and why it was worshiped. (did take advise)
3. Add that the Eagle was also chosen as our nations bird. (did not take advise because paper focuses more on ancient cultures rather than today - could be a good connection to make of past to present in presentation though).
4. Edit thesis - include a statement saying that the cultures valued the traits of the animals (did take advise).
5. Talk about other animals and their traits (did not take advise - I was worried that I would get too far off on a tangent and lose track of the paper).

May 17-21

1. Continued adding detail to the jaguar sculpture. Added ears, face, paws, and refined the body.
   
2. Began painting the fired cobra sculpture. Chose a variety of shades of brown. Lighter on the belly and darker on the back.
   
3. Finished Jaguar sculpture, allowed it to dry and harden. To be fired in the kiln.
4. Went to writing center. Edited research paper based on teacher's suggestions.
   
5. Finished research paper to date. Submitted it to Mrs. Miranda on Thursday. (included finished works cited)
6. Finished painting underglaze of Cobra and gloss glaze. To be fired a final time in the kiln.
   
7. Continued taking photos of works in progress - uploaded them to the blog.
   
8. Added more information to the presentation keynote.
9. Discussed with Mrs Miranda the "gutting" process. Decided that the Jaguar did not need to be split in half and gutted but instead I poked holes in the thicker areas of the sculpture using a needle tool.
   

Animal Native Areas

The Egyptian Cobra Native area of the world. Picture from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_cobra

Bald Eagle native area of the world. Picture from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bald_eagle

Golden Eagle native area of the world. Picture from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_eagle

Jaguar native area of the world. Picture from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaguar

In Progress Photos - Jaguar

Close up of the face and front paws.

This next set of photos has more detail added to the sculpture. Here you can see the refined head, ears, tail, body, and paws.

This photos shows the general shape of the jaguar face. As you can see the only detail that has been added is the outline of the eye sockets.



Similar to the above photo, this photo shows the jaguars shape in the first few days. No detail has been added and more clay must still be taken off to achieve the desired jaguar's body and feet shape. At this point, the sculpture is only a "rough sketch".

Jaguar - Inspirational Pictures

Picture from: http://api.ning.com/files/2PskwNTTCHAstJyXShydqg3lL3DoL2q3rRgjiwQQu0CAJsmuosK4PL*oorCtHKYC*WpD5wWhtyEvB4F8tidYIYh4FqIjf-IU/amazonanimalsjaguar1.jpg


This picture of a jaguar sculpture was used to create my jaguar sculpture. I decided to model my sculpture after another artist's sculpture rather than a photo of the animal because in my opinion the jaguar was the most complex and difficult animal to portray. This way I can use the similar ways the other artist used to sculpt the animal's features. Picture from:
http://www.vitasstone.com/graniteenglish/products.asp?ClassID=51



However, the ancient Mexican art that I am focusing on in the research paper resembles more of a cartoon-looking jaguar. This jaguar is often portrays in a human-like crouch. As seen in the below picture as an example. Picture from:
http://www.myloc.gov/_assets/Exhibitions/EarlyAmericas/PreContactWorld/RitualCeremoniesandCelebrations/Assets/object19_t_725.Jpeg

May 10-14

1. After deliberating with Mrs. Miranda, we decided to scrap what we had of an Eagle to start over and do a better job.
2. Created Works Cited Page using Noodle Tools and added Parenthetical Citations to research paper.
   
3. Decided to take a break from the Eagle and began the jaguar sculpture (Wed May 12).
4. Created a nice block of clay to begin reductive sculpting of jaguar.
5. Sent research paper draft 1 to Mrs. Miranda to be read, edited, and suggestions made.
6. Sculpted general shape of jaguar body, legs, and head.
   
7. Began refining the jaguar face and legs.
   
8. Cobra snake was baked in the kiln and retrieved. Discussed with Mrs. Miranda possibly mounting the finished sculptures on finished wood planks.
   
9. Mrs. Miranda also suggested painting a nice "title" of each sculpture on the wood plank.
   
10. Will look for possible ways to mount the sculpture and possible nice pieces of wood over the weekend.
    
11. Talked to Mrs. Koehler about the research paper. My main question was, "am I allowed to use I in the paper due to the fact that I am suppose to include my original analysis in addition to outside sources?"
    

Eagle Start Over

After discussing with Mrs. Miranda, we have decided to scrap the current Eagle in the previous pictures. The Eagle was just too big and the clay had hardened too much. As of now I will be starting over using only the reductive sculpting method. Below is a photo of what the clay block looks like before starting any carving.

Original Eagle

In this photo, you can see how the head was carved out (gutted) because the clay can only be about the width of a thumb. This process is done otherwise air bubbles can cause the sculpture to explode while cooking in the kiln.

This was the intended Eagle head. It is not done in this photo because not much detail besides the eyes and beak are present.

This was the slab of clay that we were planning to use as the Eagle torso. The torso in this picture is facing upright, in the sculpture it was going to be set up facing horizontal.

Problem Occurred - May 7th

After creating the clay slabs and shaping them into the Eagle torso we came across a problem. The torso and head were just a little too monumental, making the sculpture difficult. As of right now, we shorten the torso a little bit (even though the head remains the same size) and resculpted the bird's legs using reductive sculpting. We are not sure how the bird will look when finally assembled and final alterations may be made.

Inspirational Photos - Eagle

The inspirational picture above was used to mold the sculpted Eagle's head, eyes, and beak. This beak is turning out to be exceptionally difficult to sculpt. After referring to the photo, I had to go back and continually edit the beak. I am attempting to capture the thin and sleek size of the beak as well as the sheer power behind it. Picture from:
www.graceriske.com/stonefox/eagle.html

This inspirational photo was used to mold the body of the Eagle as well as to view the size proportions of the body to the head. The hardest part of the body is to sculpt the powerful wings and the detailed feathers. Picture from:
...

This last picture was used more to view the whole Eagle body from another position and view. The legs and feet are the main use of the picture. Picture from:
http://www.firstpeople.us/pictures/eagles/1024x768/Bald-Eagle-Wingspan-1024x768.html

In The Process Photos - Cobra

Tail and head already attached together. Detail added to tail.

Head detail not yet added. As you can see the ball of clay under the neck and the stick is used to help support the soft clay until it dries and hardens in that form.

Full body of snake hardened and ball of clay and stick can be removed. Some detail added to head.

Back of snake detail (scales) finished.

Snake head finished and the snake can be allowed to completely dry and harden to then be put in the kiln.

Inspirational Pictures - Cobra

This image was an inspiration for my sculpted Cobra. It shows in detail the pattern of the scales on both the top and bottom of the snake. Picture from:
http://www.ssplprints.com/image.php?id=115187&idx=1&keywords=&filterCategoryId=1360&fromsearch=true

This image was used for a close up of what the head and face of the cobra looks like. Photograph from:
http://stonewaresnake.blogspot.com/2009/03/egyptian-cobra.html

This last image was used as inspiration to create the whole snake. I realized after creating the sculpture that a real cobra's body is much longer than the sculpture. I was upset by that fact but it was too late in the process to change it. Photograph from:
http://vijayasa.wordpress.com/2008/11/02/egyptian-cobra/

May 3-7

1. Sculpted gernal shape of Ealge head (added some detail - eyes and beak) (used reductive sculpting method).
2. Meeting with Mrs. Miranda to discuss what more to add to the research paper and the timeline of the project.
3. Discussed with Mrs. Miranda how to sculpt the Eagle's body - decided on slab construction rather than reductive sculpting.
4. Began sculpting and shaping Eagle body
5. Continued research and added more information to the paper (discussed general information about animals in art and famous sculptures).
6. Continued taking pictures of work in progress.
7. Decided to create a blog for the journal - took all journal entries previously on word document and posted them onto blog.
8. Began creating a keynote presentation of project, researched information, inspirational pictures, and work in progress photos.
   

April 26-30

1. Continued researching information for paper
2. Began Draft 1 of the research paper
3. Discussed with Mrs. Miranda if and when to take pictures of sculpture (before and after photos or in the process photos) (took photos)
   
4. Began first sculpture (Cobra)
5. April 26-27: Sculpted general shape of body and head of Cobra
6. April 28-30: Added detail to Cobra (scales, eyes, mouth/nose)
7. Added to research paper information about the process of sculpting the Cobra and challenges that arrived.
   

April 19-23

1. Met with Mrs. Miranda to discuss project. Topics discussed were visiting an art museum, sculpting methods, type of clay to use, size of sculptures, and timeline.
2. Researched animals worshiped throughout history in different cultures.
3. Researched sculpting methods (specifically reductive sculpting)
4. Chose the three animals that I will portray in sculptures (Cobra, Eagle, and Jaguar)
5. Began researching and taking notes on specific animals