Bonnie's Dog Sculptures- Update Pebble the Golden Retriever!

OMG, what I missed here ...
This is the most beautiful Husky model ever !
So Bonnie, you also have a veeeery tallented sister, wow.
With her very good sculpting skills and your wonderful painting, together you`ve made this really wonderful model.
I am really impressed !
Well done

Thank you so much Kosta! And it's so nice to see you back again!

Time to update this topic now I'm back! Finally, finally I have finished my exams- 5 weeks of 27 exams, totalling 36.5 hours or in other words 2190 minutes! And the result of 2 years revising and 16 years working up to this point ! But I'm glad to have finished and to now have more time here and for sculpting ! I hope that there is nothing dog related I have missed- I've been trying to follow along where I can but I may have missed something! And also I am really aware that I have a few trades at the moment which I need to sort out now that exams are over, I am so sorry for such a delay but I'll going to really try and get sorted with it all now! I'll send everyone a message in due course to work out what needs to be organised with each trade!
Anyway, here is my latest sculpture, one of Pebble herself and you can find out more about her on my website. It's the first time I've sculpted her since losing her and it was awfully sad looking back at all the old photos, but this is a little tribute to her and the wonderful dog she was. The only photos I could work on were quite blurry/ different angles to what I needed but I had to work with what I had and it was a fun challenge to try and capture the slightly wavy/ curly coat she had for a golden retriever! First time I have done a jumping pose too ! I haven't yet painted it as I put it forward for my art exam and so won't actually get the model back until September but thought I would show photos here of it now!
It's so nice to be back on STS too!
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Such an energetic, life-like pose, it's fantastic! The details in the hair are incredible and very realistic. One exam you'll get a very high mark for, I can't imagine that it could be done better!

Wow that is excellent!!

Oh Bonnie! She is stunning! And I am SO glad to see you back! I cannot imagine all that time and hard work for your exams...

@Bonnie, it is a big joy to see you again in full power on forum.
You've been busy with your studies and it is impressive the amount of work a student is submited.
Fantastic your tribute to Pebble. That's a very challenging pose and you mastered it! :cheerrs:

your sculpture of Pebble looks amazing! I really like the flowing motion of your dog, so full of life and energy!
I wish you the best for your exam results! (that's a lot of exams by the way!)

That IS an awful lot of exams I did 9 subjects and most of them were a single exam, I think the only ones which had multiples were French (one spoken, one written) and Science (split into one for each discipline; Chemistry Biology and Physics).
I'm sure you'll do brilliantly, though, you're obviously a very dedicated student who's taken the whole thing very very seriously, and put in more work than I've ever heard anyone do before!

Exam year was a strange one for me, I had a nearly fatal crash with a horse in the January so didn't do a single moment of revising, cos I was too busy recovering and getting walking again.
Then we were told that they'd post the results to us at home if we didn't go in and collect them on the day, but they never sent mine and of course the school was shut for the summer holidays, so I had to wait til it reopened in September to go in and ask if they'd still got them

Glad to see your return to being active on the forum, and what a fantastic piece to come back with - the pose is so much fun (I'm imagining her leaping out over water to follow a ball!) and the flow of the hair swept back in the wind is perfect!

Thank you so much everyone! It's so nice to be back and to see familiar faces again! I'll thank you all individually as you're all just so kind!
@rogerpgvg Thank you so much! I really hope so, the art teachers here didn't seem very positive about anyone but we believe that was a tactic by them to make us work harder- I'm hoping the examiners don't think in the same way!
@thebritfarmer Thank you !
@Saarlooswolfhound Thank you so much, so nice to see you again too and I'll really try and get sorted with our trade now! It was an awful lot, dragged on so long too this year because of covid
@Roger Ahh Roger, thank you!! Nice to see you again too! I agree, exams at this age seem to require just as much work as the later, more important ones these days! And I'm glad you like the pose!
@sunny Thank you for the lovely comment and the luck! I'm hoping there aren't any nasty surprises with the results!
@George That's very interesting! I agree with you in that it does seem an awful lot these days, GCSEs seem to be growing slightly out of proportion when really the most work should be for A levels and beyond! And there are now 4 exams for French (Speaking, reading, writing and listening), 6 for science (2 for biology, chemistry and physics) and multiple exams for every other subject! It does seem slightly excessive and with a new grading system too even harder to do well but I probably did make it harder for myself doing 12 and do slightly regret that now as 9 is the recommended amount usually! I guess only the results will tell when they arrive- and wow what an eventful year you had with exams! That crash sounds awful, thank goodness you were ok, recovery would certainly have been more important than revising! Thank you so much too, and I agree, it really does look as though she is leaping after a ball!
@lucky luke Thank you, Luke!

I admit I did glance across to check your age when I was reading about the exams, wondering if I was misremembering and you were talking of A-levels rather than GCSEs! We only had the option of 9 with no extras, but it wasn't a very good school so I'm not surprised they didn't allow for anyone wanting to achieve more!
And the funny thing is, I've never ever used the results since. I was already accepted for the college course I wanted based on my estimated grades, and I've had four jobs, none of them where anybody even asked what exam results I'd got. I can't even remember them all myself, and I've long lost the bits of paper they came with I suppose the moral here is that while education is a good thing, it doesn't have to affect your life badly if other things get in the way!

It must feel so nice to be done with all your exams! I graduated from my college last month and now I’m transferring to a different one. All the exams and paperwork is truly a nightmare sometimes…

So glad to see you back, Pebble looks truly stunning!!

First of all, congrats on finishing that overwhelming amount of work! I can imagine how exhausting that must have been. Well done and I hope you're enjoying some well earned relaxation time.

And secondly, you and your sister are both such incredible artists. These sculptures and the paint work are phenomenal! I hope you pursue this passion for many years, you will be really have mastered this skill. Pebble is gorgeous. The coat in particular captures the attention, the way you have created the ripple of movement. And such a delightful expression. Incredible work!! And welcome back!!

Congratulations on getting the exams behind you- sounds like they really put you through the grinder!
Pebbles is wonderful- like everyone else, I'm really impressed with how you did the fur along her back. You're very talented, whatever the teachers say.

@George That's the interesting thing and I think lots of people have thought the same thing for GCSEs! There has been a lot of debate about whether to cancel them altogether, I believe quite a few countries in Europe don't even have public exams at this age. But that's reassuring to know that you haven't found it to affect your life too much!
@Joliezac Thank you so much! It really is a nightmare, I can completely relate there, but definitely a relief now it's done and I'm sure you feel that too!
@Jill Thank you so much, I'll pass that on to my sister! It's nice to have such kind comments like that when all I see is faults when I look at these two sculptures! It was an awful lot but I'm absolutely enjoying just not doing anything for once- and thank you, it's nice to see you again too!
@pipsxlch Ahh thank you Kelly, you're too kind! They do like to overwork us here with GCSEs And I'll message you shortly about our trade, I'm so sorry for such a great delay!

Thank you Andreas!

That's an awesome sculpture! So much details! I can imagine that it is sad to look back at old pictures of Pebbles, I feel the same way when I come across pictures of my previous bunnies. But you made such an awesome tribute

And it's nice to see you back Exams are very stressful indeed, but that makes the time after it feel extra good. It's a good thing they end in early summer so you can stress out a bit in the sunny weather.

I'm looking forward to seeing more of you on the STS forum :)

Thank you so much A-J, it's so wonderful to have such kind compliments coming from such talented sculptors like you! I'm so sorry about your bunnies, it really is hard and photos bring back those memories that I would give anything to live just once more .
Yes, completely agree, it would be even worse if exams were throughout the long cold winter! And it's a huge relief to have finished them! And thank you, it's so nice to see you again too!

This is a really wonderful sculpture ! Bravo Bonnie !
You made Pebble so nicelly and it is a perfect tribute .
Really well done !
And congratulations for finnishing your exams

Thank you so much Kosta! I thought a lot about some of the tips you gave me whilst sculpting it so thank you for all your amazing artistic advice! :)
So nice to see you back again too!

Stunning Siberian Husky!!!!

Thank you so much Taylor!!

[quote="Bonnie"]

Bonnie wrote:

With Schleich German Shepherd:
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this is an excellent model Bonnie!
this is my favourite photo because of it's cuteness factor
Storm looks so cute here, kind of like a selfie pose - big head and small feet
you and your sister are both very talented! keep it up!