Daphne continues, an art show and a friend and neighbor turns 50

This picture is showing how I will handle interior leaves. Just under the swirl of leaves in the top half of the picture you can see a pattern in the stone beneath them. This is how I plan to handle all the interior sections. I will give an indication of leaves using a round diamond burr. This will help keep the movement I'm looking for in the piece without doing all those individual leaves.

On Daphnes right hand I use a diamond wheel on a die grinder to cut between the fingers. This is how I make deep shadows between the fingers.

You notice I don't cut between the knuckles. I used a pistol grip sander to smooth out the form of the hand then came back with a round burr on a die grinder to form the knuckles and bones of the hand. The areas that have been formed by the burr have a lighter appearance. Once I have refined it further I will sand the whole area. Though I won't use a sander, I will hand sand it with 80 grit paper.

These are some of the burrs I use. The ones on the left are for more suble carving, the ones on the right are for hard edges and deep crevices.

Al Gorman (in the grey jacket between the rabbit and the man sculpture) and Scott Scarboro have a show at Bellarmine University's McGrath Gallery. Al makes people and creatures from styrofoam and driftwood he finds at the Falls of the Ohio. He posts his explorations at the falls and his sculptures on his blog, http://artistatexit0.wordpress.com/ . Scott Scarboro had a lot of fun work (the large paintings on the wall are his) as well as some kinetic sculptures that are really cool. On the right side of the photo is an old friend of mine, Geoff Carr. He used to photograph my paper sculptures long, long ago...

A heron by Al Gorman, the inspiration for this piece is a common sight at the falls.

Saturday we were invited to our friend and neighbor's 50th birthday party. His name is Steve and he has been on earlier blogs doing molds on the Home of the Innocents sculptures and the Light of Hope and Healing. He's also had us to his house for his 4th of July and Halloween parties which are lots of fun...

The party was held at the Bourbon Bistro. The food was great, a fun time was had by all...

The weather has been very nice lately and we left the door open. Unfortunately a hummingbird flew in and then found it couldn't get back out. It was between the blinds and the window which made release really easy. Just open the window, and away he flew....

Don readies Hand for Purdue Installation, a new project begins

Temperatures have been in the 90's, and since cooler days have been forecast, I have put Daphne on the back burner until those cooler days arrive.

Don's piece "Man and Technology" is to be installed at Purdue University this next week.

The sculpture is pressure washed and then, a breathable sealer will be applied. Next, it will be loaded onto a truck for the trip to Purdue.

As Don's sculpture will require a big crane; it just makes sense to utilize it for any other lifting needs. This is a rough maquette for a stone that I have, though it needs a crane to set it upright.

This is the stone, which measures 12 feet long. If you look closely, I have cut the profile of the maquette into the surface.

Don has made the bottom of the stone flat for me. When the crane comes, it can be set upright and I can get started on it.

I have been putting together packages for public art projects - called 'request for qualifications' (RFQ) or 'request for proposals' (RFP). The images have to be burned onto cds. When I opened this pack of cds, I thought "this would make a good photo....I'll call it Infinity..."

This is a froglet on my finger. I took this pic back in June, saw it today and thought I would include it. Such a tiny guy, he still has his tail.

Daphne continues

It was nice to get back to Daphne. It has been a long time since I've worked on her and it was obvious which areas needed work.... The branches were far too rough, so I smoothed them using a pistol grip sander with 120 grit sandpaper. The branch on the top right has been sanded and is smooth. The next branch over has not been sanded and shows the marks from the die grinder which I used to carve them...

In order for the sculpture to be so airy, I had to use a large hammerdrill with an 18" bit. There are some areas where the drill holes are still apparent, as in this photo. Where I can, I will work these out.

The same area, after using a large die grinder. I may not take out all of the drill marks, but will blend what is there into the sculpture.

This is the back of the sculpture. I have been working out areas of roughness and chisel marks. Overall I am happy with the appearance, as it has the swirling aspect I was going for. I will probably do some deep carving around the bottom of the leaves to darken the shadows.

I crayon the area beneath the leaves where I feel extra depth is needed.

This is an area that I felt was too heavy and needed to be split into two branches. I marked the area with black crayon, stood back to check how it would look and then opened the area with a die grinder.

I am doing the same thing on the other side of the sculpture. The area that I am opening is just below the hand. Look closely for the black crayon marks.

I have sanded over Daphne's body and face. I still need to finish out details - eyes, lips, etc.

I have cut more shadows beneath the lowest leaves. I may add some deep shadows in the leafy section in the lower part of the sculpture. There is an area in the center that lacks definition .

This is probably my favorite view - I like the way she is twisting -though it's hard to read her form against the building in this photo.

I was going to the truck, leaving for the day, and there was this fawn just standing there. It stood still for a while, not sure what to do, so I was able to get this pic. It wasn't long before it turned and ran away.