Starting a New Figure

Last weekend I started a new figure- three figures actually. They will eventually be called “A Day At The Fair” and will be my submission this year to the Eastern States Exposition which is held every September at Springfield, Massachusetts. Three years ago I submitted my Mermaid and she took first place; two years ago I submitted a fairy which took third place; and last year I didn’t get my act together in time so I missed the fair entirely! This year I’ve decided to start early so I should have my piece ready well in advance. Every year the fair has a theme, although it is not required that submissions represent the theme, I was inspired by this year’s theme which is “The Big E” (nickname for Eastern States Exposition). When I think of going to a fair my first thoughts are of the food! So my figures will be enjoying different foods found at the fair. The mother will be eating a creme puff which is a specialty of the Big E, the dad will be handing the daughter a cotton candy and maybe he will even have something in his other hand for himself...not sure yet. I also want them to look like they are having fun! That will be one of my challenges with this piece- creating three faces that seem to interact with each other. My first challenge, however, was drawing the patterns and stuffing the figures so that they are proportionally correct in relation to each other. I started with the adult female then worked off her proportions to create the child. This will be the first time I have made a child- so that should be interesting. Once I had those two figures stuffed I made the adult male. They are able to stand freely because each has a brass cylinder up one leg which slips over a rod that will be permanently attached to the final platform.