The monster class I signed up for finally arrived. It was exciting, fun, relaxing, and satisfying. Before I took this class I looked at a lot of examples of the monsters that the teacher, James DeRosso made. You can look at them here on his website. I sketched a few ideas and there was something missing. I’m not sure what was missing but I put these thoughts off and decided to just have fun. My sketch was just not monstery.
During the class a lot of my anxieties returned. The amount of information was almost overwhelming but I knew that if I stuck to my original idea I would be able to change anything that didn’t seem right and I could use some techniques to change blah to AHHHHHH.
Our class was at Georgie’s Clay and Ceramics in Portland. It was a two-hour class but most of us were finished before the two hours were up due to great instructions. Yay, teach.
James taught us a little about how to work the clay, then some basic monster ideas. He was smart. We hadn’t been given any clay, yet, so we had to listen. He encouraged us to not think and just do. Randomness makes the better monster he told us. Nature and monsters don’t love symmetry.
He continued to teach during the first part of the class and once in a while we would put everything down and listen and watch as he showed a variety of techniques.
While teaching he was able to make two monsters. The one featured below took him only about ten minutes.
The teacher’s Monster
Near the end, he showed us how to add texture so our monsters will have depth in their coloring. The shop will put a glaze on that pools up in the textures.
There were about 20 of us in the class and we came up with a variety of types of monsters. The one below reminded me of the snakeoids from the movie Tremors.
Watch out for the snakeoids!
If you live in the PNW, you can visit his website and book your own monster party. This was a great way to enjoy the middle of summer. More than half of my vacation is left.
What fun thing have you done lately?
Just Saying.
The featured image is the beginning of my steam punk dog that will have an Amelia Earhart type aviator hat and goggles.
The post The Monster Class appeared first on Sheila's Place.
