Arie elf and her pet Lizard Eliza :)

another sculpt complete yippie!! This is beneath the clovers sculpt # 89 I've named the elf Arie and her pet lizard Eliza. They were alot of fun to create :) I have another big project I've started that may take me quite awhile to create, it will be a very detailed base....so I probably wont get that done for awhile. And in the mean time I am working on some Christmas ornaments for a swap I'm doing with my favorite polymer clay group bpcag. :) So I wont get to work on the elabrate sculpt until I'm finished with those :)

centaur and fairy sculpture #88

I'm just about finished with my centaur and fairy that have been taking most of my time. :) I have a few tiny minor touches to add but they are basically completed. So I am gonna go ahead and add them here :) they didn't turn out just as I had hoped, this is the first centaur or anything with horse like features I've ever attempted to sculpt...so in that case I feel that they were about as good as I could get them considering how many months I've been working on them lol.

for some reason that didn't work to well when uploading the photos of the santa elf and garden fairies lol so here they are...lets hope it works this time. :)

haha I said I wouldn't be so missing in action...but unfortunately I haven't had much time lately my hubby has been going to school for his cdl...so with just me here It's been pretty tough to keep up :) anyway I have a few new creations another santas elf " her name is pepper" and a set of sister garden fairies collecting ladybugs :) these were fun. I have a work in progress a centaur and a fairy...this has taken quite a while to finish...but they are almost near complete so these will be added shortly :)

A new creation

Hi everyone, I have not had any time for posting lately. we had a major family issue and I had no time for anything for awhile. I did finish one art doll over that long stretch of time, and I didn't have a chance to take photos of her in the process but here is her in the finished state. This is my #82 sculpt I call her "Cammie a fairy in Mourning" This was more of less a piece of art work I turned to to relieve some emotions as my Grandma just passed away. So no it's not truly intended to be a halloween piece, but she does look that way huh? She has tears streaming from her brown eyes down her rosy cheeks, she sits on a base she is removable from which is hand sculpted of puppen clays over a wooden plaque and then hand painted with genesis. Cammie's out fit is hand painted with genesis too and then she has a little sheer black fabric shawl around her shoulders. I have three art dolls now in the process so I will be taking some photos of them and posting them very soon. Things have calmed down here a bit and I am back to creating...so I'll hopefully have a bit more time to post and to sculpt :)
many hugs,
Jenn

a bit better lighting

I captured a few much better lighted photos of my fairy guide outside...so I decided to upload a few to give a better idea of the details and also the fabric used :) Enjoy :)

fairy is finished :)

Well, she's finally done, got her all sculpted and the genesis paints have been cured and set, and she's all clothed and has a base :) I had alot of fun with this one. She is my very first standing fairy!! and my 81st sculpture. I got a bit carried away with her fabric clothing!! but it was fun. she wears faux suede leather boots, a silk top and skirt adorned with a faux suede leather belt and shoulder fringe. she wears a little tiara of fabric flowers, has viscose long way hair, blue eyes, and fabric wire wings. She is removable from her little grassy base, she is standing on a trail path of clay rocks :) and carries a wooden staff adorned with fringe fabrics and an acorn top. her staff was painted and sealed with a mixture of gold pearl ex powder and 3d crystal lacquer to give it shine and a touch of lively color. base is wood plaque covered with a mixture of yellow, brown, copper, and three different green tones of clay. her one hand is extended to hold her staff in front of her, while the other is behind her back.

I've named her "Shiatika" which was the name of one of my favorite places in Sitka Alaska where I lived as a child, and still consider it my home. She is a cold climate forest fairy guide. So dressed like that she had to have a special name...and I chose one very dear to my heart :)

Yippie :) she's done...my show and tell fairy, now elf lol. She has a little red santa hat created by hand from velvet fabric with a little lace fabric on the end forming the white puff. her hair was created with viscose in auburn red color at shoulder length. eyes were painted green and her facial features as well were painted with genesis heat seat oil paints. Her little outfit is hand painted with green tones from genesis heat set paint oils and she wears a created by hand little red velvet vest to match her hat. She is holding a tiny stocking filled with goodies, she is planning to help santa pin it up on a deserving childs mantle for Christmas time :) She only measures approx. 3" in height from her seated pose and fits right in the palm of my hand. she's an itty bitty tiny sculpt :) I've finally found her name as well, as I said they generally give me their name once they are completed. This ones name is " half pint" because she is so small. She was such fun to create!
She is my 80th sculpture...I've been sculpting for awhile now, and I wanted my 80th one to be unique and different from the others I usually create...and she really fits the number 80 beneath the clovers sculpt slot!! being as I usually create more fairies than anything else...she became a special holiday elf instead...and boy am I glad she did. I just don't think she would have had the same appeal as a fairy. elfkin hood really fits her!
Well there she is...and I'll be spending some extra time on my new fairy work in progress which I posted this morning...She will be on a base so I have to get that going and finish her up. she is in the oven now!! genesis paints are curing...so it will be time to create her some clothing soon and I'll begin progressing on her base soon. :)

another work in progress fairy

here is another fairy I started the other day, I've gotten ahead of myself here, I'm not done with the other one yet, but I do tend to do that, get a couple going at once, so I can paint them both when they are completed, this is something a little bit different for me, she is going to be standing on a base I am going to be creating for her...my first actual standing fairy. As you can see I've started the upper portion of her body, and I've mentioned before that I generally don't do the arms until last, But since she will be standing I want the upper portion just right and cured so I can position her legs correctly onto her base, her legs will be sculpted onto her wire armature, and there will be a rod in one of them to help her stand, as the other leg will be posed behind that one. I am in the process of creating her arms and hands right now, one arm has been cured to the elbow but the upper portion is being sculpted and not cured yet. :) her hands have wire armatures so they will look more realistic since she is a larger sculpt. with the larger sculpts I like to use wire armatures for the hands, this way they are stronger, especially in the case that their arm may be in a lifted pose such as this one. we don't want any broken fingers!! :)
I like her face and her legs should come together very easily once I've completed her upper body :)

she's getting done :)

here is the fairy I started to show and tell :) she has gradually as you can see, changed pose. And I've decided she is not a fairy at all ( this happens to me sometimes as I create and sculpt) she is an elf, a child elf, once I get her arms done and finish her leg she will be ready for sanding and painting :) and clothes and hair too of course.
She is still yet to have given me her name. But I'm sure it will come once she is completed.

My first show and tell fairy :)

Here is my very first show and tell fairy. She doesn't have a name yet, but she will when she's finished. She is on the miniature side of sculpting very small! as you can see her armature is posed ( I do this when I start them, but they do tend to change personality as I go, and the armature at times will become a completely different pose by the end :) So we'll just have to see where this one goes. Her head has been baked and cured in the oven, I've just placed a small amount of unbaked clay on her body area to get me started in mapping her out. Generally I begin with the head ( in my opinion the head is what brings shape to all the other body parts...keeps me in line with proportions and gives her the start to her personality and what pose she may have later).
once I finish the head, I start on the body as you see I'm slowly doing here, the legs will come next, once the legs are completed, I will add extra clay to the already baked parts where there might need to be more muscle tone, and such. I always sculpt my arms and hands last. I've found if I sculpt the arms first the sculpt will fall over constantly while I'm working, and the legs give me more of an idea of how her pose will be.
She is being sculpted from prosculpt polymer clay and she has an 18g wire armature skeleton which I am building her upon :)
This is her so far...I'll be working a bit more on her this evening...so there should be some new photos in the morning :)

BTC one of a kind fairy art dolls and more

Welcome to my blog. A place where I will begin to share in depth the creations of my one of a kind art dolls.
I started my art doll line "Beneath the clovers" a little over three years ago. I have come a long way from that first scary sculpt. :) Yet as an artist one can never stop improving or learning.
All of my art dolls are hand sculpted, I have never used a mold to create them, I feel it is just an easy way past the hard work of truly releasing an artists personal talents and gifts. So I am truly against molds. Many artists will say that molds are a great way to start in the art world of polymer clay, in order to get a feel for it, I on the other hand do not agree...I feel if you use a mold, you'll never want to venture past to find your own creative side, to create something unique and of your own imagination. I truly feel that even as a beginner, you should sculpt by hand: to do, is to learn. :)

Beneath the clovers is the name I choose for my artwork, the memory that brought this name forth: as a child I loved searching in my grandma's yard through her clover patches for "the little people" fairies, elves, what ever form they may have been in my mind at the time :) I believed that is where they lived, beneath the clovers, and that they would only reveal themselves to the kind hearted or the young at heart. Oh they never would show themselves to a parent...for fear the parent might misunderstand them, and cause them harm.

This was such a blessing of imagination as a child, that I use it even now for creating a form for these so called little people that I believed lived beneath the clovers.

polymer clay is the material I use to sculpt these little creatures into being. Each one has a number, and a name. unique unto his/her own. Each one is signed by myself Jenn GrosJacques the artist, numbered, and dated on the sculpt itself, and I create a handmade certificate of authenticity with photo for each individual sculpt. Occasionally I prepare a story to go along with my sculpt...this is only now and then, it seems when I feel some uniqueness in a sculpt it prompts me to be the story girl that I've always longed to be as well :)

Many of my creations have been adopted, either online through ebay and other auction sites, or locally through consignment in gift shops. I have chosen to strictly sell on the internet from this point forward as it really has become quite a task when consigning...I just don't have the time needed for that, and much rather want to devote my time to my love of sculpting.

Each art doll is unique, have a personality all there own. As you will notice, none of them look identical to the other, their faces are entirely their own. In fact I generally decide their names once they are completed and not before, as it seems they know their own name and almost whisper it to me when they are completed.

I will be taking you through the process of my creations on this blog, where you can see these wonderful little creatures come to life from beginning to end. :) This will be a great process for myself as I will be able to look back at these photos from first step to last as well, and see my sculpts in a new point of view, which will encourage me to keep creating and improving :) As well as will give you the chance to see how they are created.
Thank you for visiting my Blog site. :)
I hope you will enjoy it and visit many times :)