Archive for the ‘Art Updates’ Category

She’s big, she’s bright, she’s creepy enough even to scare me! This creature Feature is all about the Earthly (though thoroughly bizarre) deep sea Gulper Eel.
Being a biology nut I’ve always had a healthy fascination with this incredible organism, but being a busy artist-type I’m going to have to take the backseat and let more witty persons do the science lesson bit that will surely illustrate why I had to recreate it. Gulpers are very strange indeed.

Here’s a detailed bio about the fish.

And a freaky video of the slippery oddity in action here.

Understanding now what we are dealing with here. . Behold. . . My version of it! ( in it’s final stages of production) I built her in two parts that will be super bonded at the center, just worked out well for me that way. She also has a glowing red light organ in her tail, is constructed of both heavy duty polymer and epoxy clay, and believe it or not she weighs in at a meaty 6lbs! Most definitely a keeper. ;)

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First, The finished and sold Were-Fox trophy mount… ;) He received some trimmed black bear fur to top and finish off his ears and had some final adjustments made to his neck. I think he came out great and of course I got a TON of pics before I shipped him out.

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Some various sculpts of all shape and medium are popping up all over the studio (it IS spring!) and things look really packed in here. There are several taxidermy pieces growing and lots of psychedelic and sci-fi inspired squid monsters in progress too.

Here’s pics of some recent sculptures in the making-All sculptures ARE for sale. They are being completed in quick succession so any unsold work can be hauled to Kansas City in May for the magnificent “Spectrum Fantastic Arts Live” event!!! (I will cover more details  about this event in my upcoming post) ;)   Below are progress pics of a living coral reef creature and a 3:1 scale deep sea Gulper/Pelican Eel fish sculpt (and yes, it glows!)

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I’ve got a fun opening this Saturday in Ypsilanti Mi @Ugly Mug Cafe~a solo exhibition of bizarre-themed, fully framed, original “activity book” illustrations, cafe-inspired sculpture, and compiled coloring books for the guests young and old.
This cafe is very sentimental to me~as a young non-profit organizer (Atomic Art 2007) this progressive+ hip cafe hosted our first “Explosive” event & has supported our members’ craft ever since.

Come join us, our wonderful musical guests (, and the city at large as we share in our mutual love for the local arts & culture!!! ~ emi Xo

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Whew!!!
It took 4 layers of careful trimming and textural blending to fade the fox, skunk, and bear furs together!
For the chin I added some curled black bear fur with individual skunk tail hairs blended in for the salt-n-pepper look. After the bondo sets I’ll be able to attach the ear fur (also blended fox/bear) and paint the lower lip. A few spot checks, some last minute mount adjustments, and probably a few deep sighs of relief and this amazing specimen will be complete!!!

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~Sculpted textures and unusual methods.~

Using some of my black bear fur to recreate a fox chin. Included some detail shots of the tearing/stretchy flesh effect on the sides of the mouth (I’m spending a lot of time on these areas).

It’s almost finished!!!

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Blending fox pelt with scrap skunk hide

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Next comes ears, lower jaw fur, and curling the whiskers!

Hard to believe this was just a lowly, tattered, discarded fox fur “scrap”; virtually EVERYTHING here has been sculpted to work around the damage and bring the face back-to-life. The nose, jaws, skull/head, eyes, tongue, and of course teeth were all sculpted with special polymer and epoxy clay then painted with acrylics …*whew*!

Here’s some humble beginning shots…

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Just listed these on my etsy page! I think that these little, more jovial (maybe that’s not the right word) kinds of projects are great for keeping my production high and my mind relaxed. I’ve got a tendency to do 500 things at once, so sometimes it’s good to sit down and decompress..you know, hacking up my little ponies ;)

“Space Lamb”

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And “My Little Night~Mare”

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The poppy-plant creature is not available for sale at this time (it is a submission for exhibit), but the little Valentine heart guy is!!! Check my etsy shop for him, new works, and great gift items

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In the sunlight it seriously GLOWS!!!

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I’m concentrating the majority of my attention on taxidermy really, but I had started this submission for one of my favorite west coast galleries and the deadline was just extended giving me just the perfect and realistic amount of time I needed to finish it. I’ve got to wait on a few things in the tanning wash, so the timing couldn’t be better!
The base is a found item, a painted poppy plant on walnut craft wood. I liked the painting a lot, but sadly the finish was in pretty bad shape. What I’ve done here is preserved and incorporated the original painted bloom into the new work and created a psychedelic poppy-plant-squid-creature to embrace it. It’s flashy, colorful, and no doubt a far out piece! Here’s some progress pics to give you an idea of what the finished piece will look like…

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