Have you ever done an American Staffordshire Terrier? asked me Wendy from New Zealand— NO! But I can try…—was my immediate answer. I knew Wendy trusted my hands as she already has one of my pieces. So I started my research about the breed. I am quite familiar with the Staffies, but the Amstaffs are a different story, however I wanted to start looking at the breed from some more lookalike standpoint, better than having in mind a Schnauzer while sculpting it would be.

Studying the American Staffordshire Terrier.

So I started to read and look at pictures. I wanted to not to interfere my visual with the idea I had. Even though they area strong well muscled breed to me they have very sweet features too. Specially their eyes, while they are sharp and focused they express some tenderness. My first thing was a charcoal quick sketch and with that I decided on the pose and general character of the sculpture to be.
Since it was my first one I decided that my created subject will be a young dog, so we would both be in a developing stage.
This project was one of the very first ones that I started in my new location. It was just weeks since I had settled in my new home in Turin, Italy, and I was also trying a new local clay, a red Terracotta. Since Wendy’s earlier piece from me was also made in Terracotta and had a raw finishing we agreed this would be perfect to match, even though the Amstaff is not for her but a gift she should make.

The Amstaff Sculpture started to take shape

After a several of weeks of learning, modeling the clay, waiting for it to dry, and firing a couple of months went by until the final piece was ready and shipped to New Zealand.

I’m always open for challenge, do you have a breed you would like me to sculpt? Get in touch, maybe I want to try! applerainartr@gmail.com
Also Check out other breed sculpture I’ve done.
Barbara.