R. Ruggles

I sculpt and paint whimsical and delightful creatures. Follow along as I bring them to life. Subscribe to my newsletter to purchase original artwork and keep in touch.

  • The Umbrella

    The HiROo use the umbrella to travel from the sleeping world to the waking world. This particular one wanted a yellow rain coat.

  • The HIROO

    The story of the HiROo came to me over a series of day dreams and while I am a sculptor and painter, I feel compelled…

  • Dry Panda Sculpture

    It is so satisfying to see the Panda reach this stage. I love how the clay looks like stone—WOrking on the eyes and a bird…

  • Wet Panda Sculpture

    Here is a photo after a five-hour sculpting session adding concrete paper clay to my Pana armature. Now we wait for it to dry. I…

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  • Clay Mix Upgrade

    I had to use about 12 batches of concrete paper clay to cover the giant panda sculpture. That’s too much for the electric hand mixer…

  • Panda Nose

    I added EVA foam to form ridges where I wanted to sculpt the nose and mouth of the Panda. This provides a nice ledge to…

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  • Fixing Panda’s Ear

    Back in March, I started this giant Panda head, but after adding some epoxy clay, it fell off the wall, and the ears popped off.…

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  • Panda Eyes

    For the panda eyes, I taped a round acrylic ornament in half. This created a fantastic, concave eye socket. I used the same technique on…

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  • What Big Eyes You Have

    The giant alien, with whom I used an exercise ball for the armature, is looking ready for the next step – troweling clay over his…

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  • Panda 2.0

    Panda is on the wall, and I’m adding a fresh batch of clay. Happy with the new approach on the eyes, and the cleat system…

  • Cleats & Bolts

    Bolts with a large washer sandwich were added to the panda wall sculpture. A layer of concrete paper clay to strengthen and anchor the back…

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  • Panda Surgery

    I started this Panda back in February and got as far as adding a paper mache skin over a cardboard armature. Then it came crashing…

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  • Mr. Tibbons

    Today at art group, I began the underpainting on a character I sculpted a while ago. He’s a tooth fairy called Mr. Tibbons, and his…

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  • Thoughts on Forks

    Perspective matters. What do they think of all our discarded items?

  • Art Resin #2

    Two layers of art resin, poured 3 hours apart. Worked much better than sanding between coats.

  • Painting the Green Alien

    Painting the alien green with purple eyes. These bright colors took about 7 coats to fully cover. Gluing in the pupils (painted separately) with epoxy.

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