Building an Egret

I met my friend Betty Conlin in 2003. I took a class on painting on Silk. Until then I won't of believed I had any ability to paint anything other then a stick man. Eight years later she became my mother-in-law!

This is the materials used in building the Egret.. heavy wire that we split. Tinfoil. Two styrofoam balls. White T-shirt and Paverpol clay..

Betty already had the leaf platforms to screw the rods into for his legs.  

The we connected the two balls to form his body.

We used a thin copper pipe to form his neck and shape of his head.

We then slide a smaller styrofoam ball on for his head.

We took the wire and connected it around the balls and started stuffing crumpled up tin foil around the balls to get the body shape we wanted.

Heres the Egret with his basic tin covered body... just waiting for his

Tshirt draping.

And here he is....

Betty is a soft medium artist. Here we are building an Egret together in August. An extremely fun day. One of many I hope to share with Betty in the future. The Egret is waiting to get his beak painted and then he will "cure" for 3 weeks before he can be covered in a protective coating that I am told will make him completely weather proof!  Boy did this ever get the creative juices flowing... I have so many other ideas I now want to create.