Paper Mache Cow Sculpture Continues

Its been a project I've been doing along side my painting and so has taken some time. I've really been enjoying learning to work with the materials and solve problems as they crop up (and boy, did they crop up).

He is a cow starting to stand up and get on his feet and I feel just like that as I move through the project, a little more and more confident and seeing this sculpture emerge.

It is 48" wide by 30" tall.

In this photo, I completed the paper mache process over the crumpled newspaper form. I had to do it in stages, starting with the cow upside down and doing the bottom, letting it dry, flipping him over and then doing the top.

In this photo, I complete the whole paper clay process which was the most challenging part. I learned getting the recipe right really makes all the difference. And patience. I couldn't do too much of a section at a time so it would "adhere" properly. I did also run into a mold problem on the bottom and had to scrap out a big hole after it was pretty dry and remove the mold and I washed it all with clorox and put a fan on it to dry more properly. That seem to fix it. I also went too fast with the head and didn't let the paper mache part dry enough before doing the clay and the whole underside of the face fell apart and had to be rebuilt - paper mache first, let it dry completely and then back to the paper clay. Fortunately, that worked and you can't even tell. The ears are really solidly on there now. The tail was hard to get the clay to stick and get it in the crevices just right.

I don't want any features to be too detailed but I did fashion some basic eyes and eyelids with the paper clay. A little hard to see in this photo but they are there.

Now I'm giving him an overall light sanding. I don't want him to be smooth but I do want to have the surface lightly sanded so it feels nice to run your hand over it. After the sanding is done, then comes the paint job. I'll keep you updated!