Sarah Regan Snavely :: Artist Sculptor Greyhound Enthusiast - Sculpture, Greyhounds and Art Making in the North Dakota.

38 minutes in and I don't want to watch any more District 9.

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February8th

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Neighborhood watch

Posted in: Life in North Dakota

The yard is enclosed by a 6.5 foot fence – I would say it’s about that tall. Usually. If one was measuring from the ground to the highest point of the fence.

Now it’s a little shorter in places. Places where the snow has drifted in behind it. Does Winchester care? Not much. Does Sage care? A little. Does Annie? You bet!

She’s worked the snowbank into a rock hard perch where she can survey the neighborhood.

“Humm… what are the neighbors doing over there? I see the chiropractor is out with his snow blower again. So nice of him to blow out the driveway.”

She’s become a regular neighborhood watch. Finally a Greyhound Watch Dog.

Sage occasionally joins her. He doesn’t stay long.

Just long enough for me to get a shot of his tongue… Sigh.

I sure hope it starts to melt soon.
February5th

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Good day.

Posted in: Life in North Dakota

One of the advantages of living in the middle nowhere is there are few distractions. No galleries to visit and no hip coffee shops to sip cappuccino with way cool friends. What there is here is lots of weather. Snow. Ice. Cold. That all works okay when the studio is stocked with clay and my head is stocked with ideas.

Today was a good day on the box production front. I’m edging in on my goal. Another day or two of box construction, then two -three days to make figures…..

The boxes look good and, knock on wood, nothings cracking or warping.

Puppies played most of the day. Good day.
February4th

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A day of boxes

Posted in: Living with Greyhounds

Today was a studio day. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen a full day in the studio. About 1:30 I realized that I was smiling. Oh it feels good.

I worked on memory boxes. The kiln is nearly full – just waiting for a few hold outs to fully dry. Now working on the next load. The goal is three loads of boxes and tiles before I go back to sculptures. Anticipate lots of photos of boxes in the coming weeks.

With every memory box I make I think a bit about Sterling, my first Greyhound. His big, liquid, doe-eyes. How he was soft as rabbit fur. How he was skeptical when I lifted him on the bed for the first time, then figured it out…. slowly. So shy but he chose to trust me. His wicked sense of humor – often demonstrated by running huge circles at top speed then whipping past me and biting my butt. So then Waves of Sadness. But then Happiness too, because if he was anything other than the strange, challenging, but loving creature than he was – this Greyhound trip wouldn’t be what it is now. He was a very good dog.
February1st

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You know it’s getting bad…

Posted in: Life in North Dakota, Living with Greyhounds

You know it’s getting bad when I can no longer remember the password for my blog. Really, where did January go? Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to see it go. The pug mill was the high point. Then it got bad. Death bad. My Significant Other’s mother died. Sadness. Then wake and funeral and relatives.

I’m so proud of the “pups.” They really aren’t puppies anymore (sob!) but more on that later.

My SO’s relatives who stayed with us included four adults, a crawling baby and a two year old toddler. Annie and Sage were absolutely fabulous with the kids. The kids were accustomed to dogs, but Annie and Sage have never been around little kids that young. Sage figured out immediately that the children were food dispensers – he tasted his first sippy cup licking it when offered by the toddler (she stuck it right back in her mouth). So proud of my hounds.

Winchester stayed with my parents. While we’ve never had any problems with him and children, Winnie can be possessive of his bed and toys. Easier and less stressful for him to spend a night away.

A normal January in North Dakota can be a challenge. Being stuck in the house and the oppressive cold outside sucks. But adding to it a death in the family. Ugh. I was happy to flip the calendar and see February this morning.

The first of February is Annie and Sage’s birthday. Two years old. Two! How can they be two already?

I tried to get a photo of both Annie and Sage wearing their hats with the cake. Not to be. Sage took Annie’s hat off immediately much to Annie’s pleasure. She will have nothing on her head. Sage and Winchester are easier – as long as the cake was plentiful.

More pictures of the celebration here.
January24th

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Pugmill

Posted in: Art making

The last time we saw the pug mill it looked like this – fresh off the Magnum Truck and safely delivered in it’s crate.

The reason for the pug mill was this – clay. Specifically clay scooped from the center of the sculptures.

And here’s the pug mill happily installed on it’s table in the studio. The clay scrap goes in the top part and comes out the end that is currently capped by that big black cap.

With some effort, the clay goes from looking something like this -

clay scrap goodness -

To this. Nicely pugged, de-aired, usable clay. Ready for sculptures or boxes or whatnot. Except for that bottom pug, which I threw back.

Now back to pugging!
January18th

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Suffocating.

Posted in: Art making

Spent the day in the studio today, making room for the pug mill (Turns out one cannot really “make room” – stuff is still takes up space if you move it around… But I digress…) So… feeling rather suffocated.

Not like I was surrounded by Greyhound Sculptures wrapped in plastic… Like Frank here – who is drying nicely.

Or the new piece which is still very early (and hopefully NOT drying).

The Three Dog Night piece is also wrapped and under a slightly damp towel to slow the drying process.

The runner dog is wrapped in plastic too.

Feels like a lot of forms covering in plastic in the studio at this moment.

Of course, these forms are bored by the entire process. “Why aren’t we doing something interesting? Cleaning sucks.”

Ahh, pups, but it will feel so good when these pieces are finished and the studio is clean. I know it’s no match for the dog park or walkies or running full out.
January14th

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New character in the studio

Posted in: Art making

Good morning! It’s a glorious morning in North Dakota.

Shush. Some of the residents are still asleep…

But Sage is ready for work. And by “work” I mean, watching me hollow out a sculpture while I try to keep Sage from eating the clay.

Speaking of clay. Buckets of clay. Buckets of clay to be reclaimed.

A week ago these were buckets of dried out, spent clay. A bit of water – hauled from the house since the studio has no plumbing – and we’re in business. Normally this would mean scooping off the remaining water, spreading the sloppy wet clay over plaster then kneading, wedging, and essentially slapping this clay into workable clay again.

But now I have a pug mill! Yippee! Quite an extravagance for a small studio like mine. Both in $$ and space. But I went for it mostly due to the amount of scrap clay I pull out of the sculpture when hollowing.

Sculptures like “Frank” and “The Runner.” Both were sculpted solid, then cut apart, hollowed and reassembled.

“Save me! Save me!”

Now totally hollowed and reassembled. Still needing work, but getting there…

But this is the clay that was inside the Runner piece. The “Frank” sitting greyhound piece generated 3x this much clay. The pug mill will help deal with this excess. I’ll talk more about the pug mill in another blog post.

So good stuff happening in the studio. I feel pleased with the results so far.
January11th

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More running.

Posted in: Art making

Working on the runner dog – wow do I need help with titles… Anyway… thought I’d show a side by side of the clay blocked in vs. the piece at the half way point. Now I’m getting to the point of hollowing, adding detail. If the plane aren’t correct by now, they aren’t going to be. I’m happy with this piece.

Here are a few of the photos I’m working from. I will write more about the inspiration for the work in a later post. Just keep in mind that I’m not going for super realism – trying to replicate what I see in the photos, more of conveying a feeling and getting most of the anatomy correct to a point.

This was the original idea photo. What is it like when a Greyhound is running straight at you? How does it feel? That’s where I’m going with this piece.

As the piece sits in the studio right now. Hollowing legs…

Here’s the entire series of process shots on Flickr.
January9th

2 Comments

Running – day two

Posted in: Art making

Working more on the runner today. Still far from finish sculpting, but one his way…

Thanks for the words of encouragement. I never know if the ideas are cool or crappy, just that I have a need to do them. Your support helps so much!
January8th

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Running.

Posted in: Miscellaneous

Beginning a new sculpture today. Wanted to do a wall piece. This will be a head on view of a running greyhound.

Trying for scale and gesture at this point.

Feels good to have a new piece started.