Daphne and Lily get a new home - together


Daphne was sold at Yew Dell Gardens this spring. Here is a video of me working on her-
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCr64wR9y7U

Lily was also at Yew Dell and she sold as well - to the same collector.

Daphne is extremely fragile and had to be handled with care.  A spreader bar is used to keep the straps away from the branches and leaves.  The crane is from JBB of Hardinsburg.  The operator is Derrick Sherroan.

Most stone sculptures can be strapped to the truck, but not Daphne.  She has to have a crate because she is so delicate. 

Daphne arrives at the site and is freed from her crate....

It took a bit to get her positioned correctly on her base, but she is finally perfect.  JP Shadley has created a berm behind and there will be stones right in front of her to make her appear that she is standing on a rocky outcrop.

Derrick, Don and Mike wrestle Lily into her site.  Unfortunately she was turned away a little too much - I couldn't tell how she would look until all three stone sections were assembled, so the sections had to be taken down and the piece turned just a bit.  Sorry guys!

 A close up of Lily



Lily from a distance.  She has a beautiful view to gaze upon, it seems to be made just for her.




Daphne has a beautiful site as well - she has lot of space so that a viewer can walk around and see all sides of her.  Here is a video walk around of Daphne when she was at Yew Dell -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAzp3dMSQAk

I spent a great deal of time working on Daphne to ensure that the sun would shine through the leaves illuminating the shady side of the piece.  The site is perfect in terms of her position to the sun.  It was fun watching the sun move across it, watching piece change as the sun illuminated different areas.  I was also spending a final, quiet time with her as I do all my pieces when they're done and installed.  A way, I suppose, of saying goodbye.

I took this picture in the morning of the day Lily and Daphne went to their new home. In a way it should have been at the beginning of the post, but it was such a beautiful photo, I thought I'd save it for last.

Finishing and loading the Discovery Muse

I split my time between the different sections of the Muse.  Switching between the sections helps keep my eye "fresh". If you look closely at the head you can see the crayon marks on the forehead. There are marks (such as the hairline that needs to be dropped, numbers to indicate measurements at different points, etc.  The black mark on the end of the nose gives me a frame of reference when measuring all the other points on the head. I am beginning to establish the sections of hair and am determining areas that need to be removed.  The area at the back corner is a bit flat and needs to curve just a bit more...

To round the back of the head I used the large angle-grinder in the photo to cut across the corners of the original block that was the back of the head. As I continued cutting the corners it became less like a square and more rounded (look back at previous posts to see the more of this process)

As I round the head I begin to cut the shapes of the hair.  In looking at the head I realize I made a mistake in the model.  In the model, the hair comes all the way down to the bottom of the stone.  That would be fine if the woman were standing upright, but as she is lying down I realize I have to change the line of the hair - the bottom of the hair should go up towards the shoulder .

I have defined the hair and deepened the line of the hair.  I will remove the stone beneath the line to allow for the earth and sod.

Padgett crane was employed to move the various sections of the Muse out and load them on the waiting flatbed trucks.

George from Mercer Trucking watches as the head is lifted onto his truck.

The leg is lifted...

Onto the truck it goes, Don is there to make sure the lift goes smoothly...

One of the hands is strapped down and ready to go.....destination- Orlando, Florida!

 m

Continuing work on DIscovery

Here I am cutting the foot using an angle grinder.  This is a capture from a video.  You can watch the video here -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QI3qOJ-wFw



The shade structure was removed from over the leg so it can be turned onto its side. This will enable me to work on the heel and back of the leg.



Seeing the leg from the side helps me to see how heavy the leg is and where stone needs to be removed.  I have marked areas that need thinning with black crayon.

I also see that I have not removed enogh stone from the arch of the foot.  The model of the foot is on the stool on the right of the photo.  I compare the shadows of the model to the shadows of the sculpture to see what areas need to be removed.

This photo shows how heavy the calf is.  Lines show where I need to remove stone.  I will use a 9 inch grinder to cut off the excess stone.

I have shaved off some of the stone using the back edge of the grinder and pulling it toward me until I reach the hub.  Then I use a hammer to break off the stone.

The hand has been defined first, a little on the heavy side. I have just started to define the forearm.

The hand has been thinned and refined and the forearm more fully defined.

The lower half of the forearm is too heavy and I begin shaving off the stone with an angle grinder.

The arm is too heavy and square, I make a cut on the right side- I will then remove this whole section, The left side is heavy as well and I will cut that down too.

I have refined the hand, cutting down the palm to help water drain.

I refine the thumb and fingers and begin working down the forearm.

I use my own hand to check angle of the fingers, thumb, creases, etc.  I use a timber crayon to mark areas that need to be cut.  If I decide against cutting an area I mark it with two slashes.

I changed this piece from the original model.  The forearm originally was higher than the hand.  I decided that wouldn't work in the composition so I cut that area down - about 6 inches lower.

Discovery progress



Progress continues on the Discovery Muse.  This is a view of the foot from the end of the toes.

When I am finished carving the instep and shin of the foot  a crane will lower it onto it's side for finishing.

I slim down the left arm with an angle grinder.

a view from above, I have made the cut on the right, a line in black crayon shows where I will make the next cut in order to slim the wrist.

In addition to carving the wrist and arm, I also am refining the hand and fingers to make them more feminine.

I have started to round the top line of the arm.

The left arm comes into shape.



When I work on a large sculpture I often use photoshop to check accuracy of form.  Each photo is cropped to the same size, put side by side and a grid overlaid.  The photo above shows a mistake.  I didn't get far enough back and so have a great deal of distortion in the face.  This can be horrifying when working, you think you're doing fine then you take a photo and - Yikes!
Below is a photo in which I am far enough back - zoom about halfway out, fill the frame.  She's close but there are a few corrections to make.



I have been finishing up the face and hair...

coming around the back of the head...

and working into the night (photo Don Lawler)



Dew on the seed head of a grass stem.  The sun has dried one side.



Refining the foot of the Discovery Muse and a Video of me carving

As I refine the foot, I mark areas that need to be shaped. It is very flat on this side so I mark the areas that need to be cut down - the arch, the top of the foot, around the joint, toe, etc.  The cuts on the top the foot will bevel back.  The section on the arch needs to be removed.

I use an angle grinder to make cuts to the arch then come back with the grinder to cut across at the base of these cuts.  You can see here how different my carving style is from Don's.  It looks haphazard though I am careful to measure and refer to the model through sight-sizing. 

The bottom of the foot - I am just beginning to remove stone from the arch though I am still off the form.

The arch lightened, the whole foot is still very heavy on the bottom.  I will refine the top of the foot and toes first.  Once I am happy with how they look I will bring in the bottom.  Leaving things heavy on the backside is a kind of insurance - you can always recarve and set what you are working on a little bit further back.  Stone carving is not as unforgiving as people believe, you can make serious mistakes and still correct them if you work properly.



The ankle and leg and really heavy but I want to get the foot right first.  Then it will be obvious where the leg is.  This will help me to carve confidently and get down to form quickly.   In this photo I am marking where the foot slopes from the big toe to the pinky toe. Also the area around the side of foot and ankle.



Showing the work I've done on this side..

Another view....

I begin to carve the toes.  I take measurements from the foot as well as looking at where the toes should be to each other.  The second toe from the pinky looks a little high.  In fact all the toes look too long and thus, make the big toe look too short.



From this side you can see how thick the bottom of the foot and toes are. 
I am doing all of the carving of this sculpture with angle grinders.  I have taken a video of myself using a large angle grinder with a 10" diamond wheel and loaded it on youtube -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QI3qOJ-wFw



Looking down the length of the leg. It looks a bit broad and flat across the top of the foot.

I am refining the toes from the pinky over to the big toe.  There is too much difference between the pinky toe and the one next to it so I will cut down that toe.

Poke berries..

A little Fence Lizard "hanging out".