Here's a look at my favorites projects I worked on this past year.

One year ago, I decided to take a break from taking commissions. I had spent a whole 3 years working for others only and as much as I am grateful for every opportunity I had for sculpting so many different characters and creatures, I burnt out from it. I learned a lot from each sculptures but I also had personal projects and ideas I wanted to make that got pushed aside for way too long. All that combined with having a full time job was really draining me.

For 2023, I worked on animal sculptures only and it felt so good! I feel like I really went back to why I started making art in the first place. I like to say that wildlife is the fuel that feeds the fire for my creative journey and it really took this break to remind me of it.

I started 2023 finishing my last commissioned project. In January, I was finishing sculpting the griffin piece and got it painted and done in early February. It was a lot of work and I learned a new way of making feathers and wings! Although it was time consuming, I think it ended up looking great! It was very satisfying adding the finished wings on the body of the griffin and see the whole thing come together!

Bellow you will see the progress of the sculpture and the final results at the end:

Right after that, I asked one of my online friends if she wanted to do an art trade! (she is @Spiritusfabellas on instagram, go see her beautiful drawings!) She's a wonderful artist I've known for years now and we have so much things in common. We're both artists and Tomb Raider fans so I asked if she wanted to trade a drawing of Lara Croft for a sculpture of whatever she wanted. She chose her personal OC character Star. I was excited to sculpt a horse again! It had been a while. You can see the results of her drawing and my sculpture on the second image! ❤︎

Next I really wanted to focus on updating my Etsy store. I felt like making a bunch of animals with semi precious stones, it's one of my favorite series of mine! I've been collecting stones since I was about 9 years old. I still do! I like combining them with animals in sculpture form. I take a stone I like and pair it with an animal I think compliments its colour.

I made so many over the years, here's my favorite ones I made in 2023!:

Another series I like working on are the faux bronze sculptures. I made two of these this year and I'm proud of them! It was my first time sculpting a hyena and I'm happy with how it turned out. It was a project that I hated for the longest time and I almost gave up on it. I'm glad I persisted!

The lioness I wanted to make for a while and I finally got around to do it. I wanted her to look fierce and like she'd been in a fight a couple of times. These pieces appear very loose and rough. You can still see imperfection and tool marks and I love how the metallic paints bring everything together for a striking and unique look. I try to focus on body language, form and expression a lot with these particular sculptures. They're not about being detailed and super realistic. It feels like sketching in clay actually!

Have a look at the hyena and lioness:

After working so hard from spring to fall on updating my Etsy store, I decided to have a little fun with a halloween themed sculpture! The cats are not my usual style but more 'cartoony' looking. Which make their expressions more clear and comical!

Finally, I ended the year working on galaxy animals. I guess it's becoming a tradition now for me making a whole bunch of them near the end of the year. I LOVE working on these!

They're a more abstract kind of sculpture to me, the painting is at least. I'm very proud of the painting I do on these guys! I feel like I managed to make a galaxy effect that is quite unique. They feel magical and otherworldly, something special that I can never quite capture in photos. The following are some of my favorites: