A trip to Colorado to get a sculpture

Don and I took a box truck to Colorado to get the sculpture "Light of Hope and Healing" from Art Castings of Colorado.

First, I needed to look at the sculpture and make sure it didn't need any more chasing. Chasing means that the pattern on the bronze matches the pattern on the original clay, particularly where parts were welded together. Don and I went over the whole piece; we couldn't find anything that needed to be cleaned up. The foundry has an overhead bridge crane, which makes it easy to lift a piece onto a table for work. There is a hole through the table so that work can be safely set on it (with threaded rod fit into nuts welded inside the sculpture).

This is Charlotte; she did the chasing on the sculpture. The work she did couldn't be better.

The light fixture had already been attached before we got there, but it needed a little tweaking. The main issue was fitting the globe to the hand so that there wouldn't be any light bleed. Dan welded the hand to make a better fit to the globe, and Ken attached the light assembly and worked the bronze so that the globe would fit down flat and eliminate light from showing between the hand and globe.

This is Dan, who did the welding on the hand.

This is Ken. He really did an excellent job working out the light with help from John Shimp of Lamp Shades Etc. in Louisville Ky. Ken was the main force for bringing the sculpture together while we were there - great guy to work with.

Chad highlights the sculpture. Because I want a very light patina, he is burnishing the sculpture, so that it will stay a lighter color when the patina is applied.

Nate and Chad apply flame to the sculpture as Nate (in the foreground) applies patina.

Nate applies a clear sealant to the sculpture, which will protect the patina.

Nate and Chad, the patineurs. Fantastic job guys, the piece looks beautiful!

This is Jeanne, she is one I go to for quotes and if I have any questions. She is always quick with a response.

Tony wasn't around when I was getting photos of everybody, so this will have to suffice. He is the manager of Art Castings, making sure the foundry runs smoothly.
We did a dry run at the foundry to make sure every works....
The base was created by Bellcomb Technologies and is a granite laminate over honey-combed panel, with a steel frame inside which supports the sculpture.
...another view of the complete sculpture...


....and a view of how it will look from the stairs at the site.

As we left for home, we saw this view in the mirror.

Refining the figure, Otter in the basin and a river walk

Work continued on my Sylacauga Marble figure. The stone that I am carving does not have a lot of depth, so I have to be careful to fit the figure into it. Everything was fairly flat, requiring that I cut back areas that needed to be deeper. Also, I decided to cut back the front face of the stone to add dimension to the piece.

I had the foot too high and used a black crayon to visually remove the stone. I will now cut it off with an angle grinder.

Almost all the carving has been with grinders - 9" for larger areas, 4" for smaller areas and shaping. I also use a large die grinder with a mounted stone for interior and very small spaces. I have been steadily refining the sculpture; a little bit here, a little bit there. I want her arm to be lifting up fabric in front of her. I haven't determined exactly where the arm will be. I used a sander on the arm and face with 40 grit sandpaper. This is the first time that I've carved Alabama Marble - and I was curious about what it would do. I have carved Georgia Marble and some Colorado Yule. This is a very tight stone, with tiny crystals. It's great to carve and has a transluscent, fleshy quality.

I switched back and forth between the marble piece and the Otter fountain. I have hollowed out the basin enough to hold the bronze otter. I have roughed in the leaves and flowers of the lilies.

Another view...

The weather was so nice the other day, Don and I went for a walk by the Ohio River.

The path to the river goes by a field where corn was grown last year. This time of year lots of fields are covered with this purple flowering plants (some sort of cover crop) which makes for striking displays.

It was very windy, and these are bees were blown from the blooms of a plum tree where they were gathering nectar.

Light of Hope sculpture finishes, a new sculpture begins...

The sculpture is finished and I have sent photos for approval to the committee. Below are some views of the sculpture.


This the front.


This is 3/4 left of the front.


This is the back.


This is 3/4 left of the back.


The next job is a limestone mother Grizzly with 3 cubs. She is lying on her back cleaning one of her cubs. Her head is on the left side of the stone. I originally designed this piece as polar bear playing with it's foot, but then I got interested in grizzly bears and decided to change the sculpture to a mother bear with cubs.


Most people can't see the bear in this piece. I try to explain, she's on her back, cleaning a cub and there are a couple other
cubs somewhere on her belly, and the response is "yeah, I see it" but I'm not sure they do. But a woman who had purchased
a pink marble snow monkey from me could see what I was doing with the piece and asked me to do a maquette of what the bear would look like finished. So I did - it's posted in an earlier blog - and she liked what she saw, so now I'm carving this Grizzly family for Kosair Healthcare Center on Brownsboro Rd. in Louisville,KY. The second bear cub will be gripping his mothers back leg, playing with his littermate who is lying on his mothers belly.


This is the rear end view of the mother bear, the third cub will be lying on it's back playing with it's brother. You can see it, right?


I waded out in the creek the other day to visit the island. This is a view upstream.


This is the view downstream, I like the cathedral feel of the trees.


This is a guy that went past who was taking photos with his camera,just like me.

More finishing, Yew Dell opening

I go over various areas smoothing some, detailing others.


I use a rake tool to finish off the bottom of the womans shoe.


Making a nice edge on the mans sleeve.


I use a brush and orange oil to smooth areas of the mans hand.


A view of the almost completed sculpture.


And from another angle.


Another angle



Yet another angle. I like to make a sculpture interesting from all sides.



This Friday the garden sculpture show opened at Yew Dell Gardens in Crestwood. We had a nice crowd and good sales. By the end of the weekend there were over $20,000.00 in sales and the show will be up until August 1st.


The show has a wide range of styles and mediums. This metal sculpture is by Tom Butsch.



"Don's Limestone sculpture entitled "Nexus"






Glass and steel cattails entitled "Glasstails" by Brian Holden and Paul Nelson.


This is a limestone and bronze sculpture by Wyatt Gragg entitled "Garden Doves".


This is one of my sculptures in the show. She is Demeter from Greek myth, parting the night searching for her daughter Persephone. This piece sold at the opening. Other people whose work has sold are - Caren Cunningham (who sold all her work), David Caudill, Wyatt Gragg, Al Nelson, John McCarthy, Paul Nelson and Bryan Holden, Brian Newton and Karen Terhune.
But as the show will be up for another 2 months I'm sure there will be lots more sales.


Here is something a little different, a black fly with white eyes.


One of my favorite native wildflowers, Indian Pink.

Yew Dell Sculpture Show

Here is a sampling of work from the Third Annual Sculpture in the Dell show at Yew Dell Gardens. My camera has been giving me fits (sometimes it just won't work) so I wasn't able to get photos of all the work there. But here are some details - the selection of the work for the show was overseen by the Executive Director of the Speed Museum, Charles Veneble, Marlene Grissom, Director of Special Projects, Waterfront Development Corporation and Reverend Al Shands who is affliated with the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft.

A partial list of participating artists (I don't have a full list myself, yet)is - Al Nelson, Karen Terhune, Brad White, Tom Busch, Caren Cunningham, Don Lanham, Bill Duffy, Brian Newton, Don and me and many more- 20 total over 60 works in all, I will post all the artists when I get a list. There is stone sculpture, bronze, metal and glass and fiber. A really interesting mix. I'm really excited by the work that had been installed and there was more to come. Promises to be even better than last year. The opening is the 28th from 5-8 but you will have to get on the list by the 22nd. Call (502)241-4788 if you want to attend the opening.