Jessica Dalva

1. Who were your teachers or influences?

I have been very lucky to have a number of amazing teachers as well as friends who continue to help and influence my work, such as Nathan Ota, Bob Dob, David Simon, Glen Eisner, Brian Booth-Craig and many others. I was incredibly fortunate to go to school with a number of super talented people, which was very inspiring. Also my mom, Marcia Dalva, is a sculptor and has always been a big influence in my work, both with technical processes and helping me flesh out ideas.
I usually fall back on listing major influences like Degas, Mucha, Schiele, Klimt, Bernini, etc, but I find that I'm often inspired by a wide variety of subjects. Fashion design is very influential, whether it's an antique piece of flowy silky simplicity by Madeleine Vionnet or the dramatic mantles of Paul Poiret, or the more modern work of houses like Balmain, Valentino, McQueen, and there's this one couture collection, Fall 2009 I think, by Galliano that has been in regular use as makeup inspiration for my figures. This list is getting long, but also I can't forget more contemporary artists like Elizabeth McGrath (who's work was one of the reasons I started sculpting in the first place), Virginie Ropars, Andrew Hem, Allison Sommers, and countless others who I'm constantly blown away by. Also just old things, animals moving certain ways, movies, quiet woods and peeling paint. Those are important too. 

2. What techniques or tricks did you find most useful when learning to paint?

Well, I'll plug my little tutorial here! 
http://www.instructables.com/id/Finishing-and-Detailing-a-Sculpey-Polymer-Clay-Scu/ 
I think gestural drawing is incredibly important, and just studying and practicing creating the anatomy of your subject. I try to do as much drawing from life as possible, I took my first life painting class in high school and will forever know I'm just scratching the surface of the subject. Drawing lightly at first. Not being too precious with your work. Knowing when to stop. Knowing when to just throw something out and start over rather than endlessly fiddling with it. Also the vital and basic practice of working out your work as a small, rough thumbnail image first before diving in. This helps avoid major issues later on, and sometimes brings you to a different and better conclusion than your original intention. And, as my mother always says, "Tools are your friends." So, finding the right tool for what you need to accomplish.

3. What are 3 key principles of making good art, in your opinion?

1. Time.
2. Dedication/passion/that unscratchable itch
3. Practice and patience

Are those all the same thing? Kind of, right? 

4. What are the most common mistakes that you see other artists make?
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Sometimes people don't seem to do their homework. This is something I did when I first started out, I used what I thought was a super unique reference image (from the internet, first mistake!) and then later found out it was a photo of a famous actress from silent films, which is still embarrassing years later. Now, if I'm using a photo for direct reference I make sure either I took it myself, or, if im in need of something I can't reasonably photograph myself (I don't have a lot of access to snarling tigers but sometimes you just need that photo) I make sure to alter it or mix together a few images so it's not just regurgitating someone else's work. I think this is a common issue for many artists, since it's so easy to access images.
*this is not to discredit the huge benefits one can get from doing master copies, though. 
Also I think a lot of people want shortcuts, and give up on their work when it's not immediately as amazing as they think it should be. I think the practice and obsession required to be good at any kind of art is usually simplified. You have to power through making a lot of bad drawings, ugly paintings and stupid sculptures. It's constantly walking that fine line of knowing that you're pretty good at something so you should keep doing it, but knowing also that you're kind of terrible and need to work a lot harder, all the time. ​

5. Can you break your painting process down into 10 steps, or less, for us?
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​(This is a general idea of the process for a sculpted figure in a shadow box, but sometimes I'll use a glass dome or have a figure freestanding)

1. Lists- I keep running lists of title ideas or imagery I want to include, colors, types of animals, etc, then when I need to make something or a series, I'll whittle these ideas down to a more concise plan
2. Scribbled thumbnails or rough concepts sketched out
3. More specific drawings of the pose of the main subject, this is when I'll take photos if I can get someone to model for me, or use a mirror or awkward photos of myself using Photobooth. And cobble together any other reference images I'll need. If it's an animal I'll try to get a wide variety of images to work from. 
4. Make the armature (usually aluminum wire and machine screws to attach the figure to the wooden shadow box) , fiddle around with the pose of the armature. Drill holes into the shadow box to attach the screws to with nuts and washers.
5. Build up the figure using aluminum foil 
6. Sculpt on top of foil, I usually use regular Super Sculpey polymer clay, which gets baked in the oven. Most of the time I'll bake the figure a few times, sculpting the head/torso/legs first, baking, then sculpting the arms, then the hands. This gives more structure to sculpt the finer details onto. 
7. Sometimes I need to sand the piece in spots before painting. Then I paint the figure, using first a clear gesso (Liquitex) , then acrylic paint and topping with a layer of UV blocking varnish (Golden polymer varnish with UVLs) the eyes and lips usually get a coat of gloss. (Sculpey Glaze)
8. Glue on hair, eyelashes, etc. I use mostly mohair (from goats) and alpaca hair, which I buy online from a few different farm sources. 
9. (7-9 all kind of happen concurrently, usually) paint and build any elements inside the shadow box. I'll use fabric, wood, dried plants, paper, wire, metal sheets, lights, beading and many other materials to complete a piece. Make the costume if there is one, or decorations on the figure.
10. Assemble all the elements, style the hair (using regular hair products, a benefit of using real hair) and, if there's fabric in the piece I usually pin it in place and starch it to the desired shape and let dry.

6. What colors are currently on your palette?
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Usually I put out these colors but don't necessarily use them on every piece, they're all Liquitex brand heavy body acrylic:
Unbleached titanium
Titanium white 
Parchment 
Ivory black
Raw umber
Burnt sienna
Alizarin crimson
Turner's yellow
Prussian blue
Perylene maroon (this one is new- Windsor & Newton)
Red oxide
Yellow oxide
Cad red medium

7. Do you have a paint color or medium or other art-related implement that is indispensable? If so, what is so useful about it? 
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Xacto knife. Super useful while sculpting, to scrape things, carve cured Sculpey, scratch details into clay, and, you know, sharpen pencils. 

About the Artist: Jessica Dalva dabbles in painting, sculpting, sewing tiny and regular sized costumes, set design, puppetry, and welcomes new tasks daily.  A northern California transplant, Dalva lives and works in Los Angeles, and hopes someday to know how to make everything and/or anything.