Sculpting?

Notice in the title I added a ?  My father is an amazing sculptor, who specializes in western/wildlife art, he has won art competitions and has been in a number of galleries over his career as a bronze artist.  A few years ago I asked him if he would be willing to teach me some of his sculpting techniques and so began our yearly Father/Daughter sculpting week.

It has been a joy for me to spend time with him learning his stock in trade.  I am never going to be as proficient as he is, hence the ? mark in the title, but I do enjoy the process and enjoy the opportunity to learn a new media.  I will admit that I do not do a lot of sculpting the remainder of the year, which also indicates that I will never become as proficient as he is, but for that week that I sculpt with him I am all in and love it.

Our first two years were spent working on a sculpted head, working with an oil based clay and on an armature made out of wire.  When I say the first two years I mean it literally took me that long to develop a head which resembled a head.  The first year the head looked emaciated and gaunt, which was not my plan, the second year we spent the time fleshing out the face and building character.   I did spend a lot of time with my hands in clay, using his tools, so I guess if that is my definition I was "sculpting" and I use that term loosely.

I will say that I really liked my hat and the hair  but I never did get the eyes so I thought they looked the way they should.  For any of you who are familiar with my artwork, my style leans more toward an illustrated look rather than realism so this was a stretch for me.