Sculpting The Relief Mural

Once the sketch for the concrete jungle was finalized, I had to build an easel to support the clay. I think melamine boards are great for this job because they are completely flat and their surface doesn't absorb moisture. 

I would normally use oil-based clay for a project of this size, but I didn't have enough in stock and wanted to get started right away. What you see here is water-based clay with no grog. It works great, but I have to make sure to keep it moist all the time, especially because gravity tends to bring all the moisture down. You can also see in the picture that I've nailed some metal lathe pieces on the melamine to give the clay more support.

 Here I am working on the upper left section...

Now on the upper right...

At this point I'm really just "sketching with clay." 

I'm only concerned with establishing the layers, 

to determine what's in front of what.

This creates the illusion of depth, dimension and perspective, even though 

the actual thickness of the whole mural is less than two inches. 

Below is a close up of the iguana and bird.

I haven't started building the plant on the right yet, but you can see the outline...

Here's the same plant with sculpted dimension (and different lighting) ...

The illusion of depth is starting to show...

This little frog was a lot of fun to make...

These cute creatures below are actually called "Coati" and they live in Costa Rica.

They are friendly little critters and love to take over the roads and stop the traffic.

They also love to have tourists give them treats.

I haven't defined their anatomy yet, but I've started to block the shapes.

Note: I ran out of the clay I was using, so had to resort to a different colored clay from another stash. 

The plant on the right is a different color, however, I'm not concerned about it because 

I'm making a rubber mold of the entire mural, not firing it.

Below is an overview shot of where I'm at with the project now.

There's still lots to do, but I have a very good sense of where I'm going with it. 

I've taken a few videos of the whole process that I'll posting in future blogs.

Stay tuned!



"Concrete Jungle" Relief Mural

The idea for this project has been swirling in my head for months… to sculpt a relief mural of a tropical jungle scene and then cast it in concrete, literally creating a "concrete jungle." I love the play on words and I also love the idea of bringing a piece of the wild jungle into a "civilized" setting.

I’ve been very curious about the new vertical concrete mixes that are now available, and I thought this would be a great way to experiment with them. Vertical concrete is a lightweight concrete mix that bonds with most surfaces. It can be sculpted, carved or textured. 

Once the idea took form in my mind, I did a little research to see which jungle creatures I wanted to portray in this scene. I came up with a few favorites and from there made a couple of rough compositional sketches. I then took my favorite composition to the drawing board and drew a life-sized sketch. I'll probably change a few things once I start sculpting and the relief begins to evolve, but this sketch will serve as the point of departure I need right now.

The wall is approximately 7.5’ by 8’ and the relief itself is around 5’ x 4’. The frame area around the relief will be texturized to look like tree bark or stone, I'm not sure which just yet..

I plan to cover every step of my process in future blogs, so check in often and let the fun begin!  

Here are a few pictures of the sketch...