Finishing touches, Yew Dell and the Wild Life

I am in the homestretch on the sculpture now. Finishing does seem to go on forever, always some little thing that needs to be tweaked.



I make buttons from little pieces of clay slightly rolling the edges. As the clay is fairly sticky I can try buttons in various postions to work out what is best.



I use a clay shaper with a soft rubber tip to clean clay marks from tight areas of the sculpture.



We loaded in sculptures to the Yew Dell show. We rented a flatbed truck from Penske, and the crane is from JBB inc. out of Hardinsburg. We later rented a box truck from Penske to take in the Elephant and Don Lanham's work.



Don rigs a stone trough in preparation to unloading.



Don installed 6 sculptures by Don Lanham. The cart was considered, but it was decided best to just use a dolley.
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Ely installed at Yew Dell, frolicing as usual.



It seems I've seen so much wildlife lately, all kinds of critters ( must be the time of year). These are two male Cowbirds fighting over a female. The conflict went on for quite a while- they must have been fairly evenly matched.



This is a luna moth on the side of a building.



When I find a turtle in the road, I cross it, so that it won't be inadvertantly smashed. Occasionally, I cross snapping turtles, like this one. This was a particulary unpleasant natured turtle and I had a hard time getting a hold on it. Its tail was tucked in and kept turning around and lunging at me with those big snapper jaws. I gave it a stick to bite onto and was able to pick it up and put it out of the road
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This is a young rabbit "freezing" by the side of the road, ready to dash off at any minute.

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.

Tweaking the sculpture

Right now, I am cleaning up various areas of the sculpture, adding details, smoothing rough areas, etc.

I am cleaning up the area around the little boys belt. Next, I will add buttons to the little boy's shirt.

I blocked out the hands off the sculpture, but I put the finishing touches while they are attached.

I am defining the area between the little boy's arm and the woman's arm.

I posted this picture in March, reposting it with a pic of where it is going.

This is the new Kosair children's hospital on Brownsboro Rd. The bear will go in the children's playground there.

My nephew Danny had his 18th birthday recently. This is the family outing at a Japanese restaurant - I forget the name. From left to right: Ed and Betty Stivers (Danny's grandparents), Danny, his girlfriend Olivia and Danny's father Steve.

This is a fuzzy variety of grass. Very interesting in the rain...

A little red spider sitting under it's web in the rain.

I couldn't resist taking a picture of this woodpecker on the sea lion.

I saw a little fuzz ball run across the road in front of me. I stopped the car and this was crouching by the side of the road.
It's a Wood Duck duckling. After resting a bit,It took off down the hill, I'm sure mom and siblings are not far off.

Smoothing the surface of the sculpture

I want a nice smooth surface for the skin and hair sections of the sculpture.


I use orange oil to get a smooth surface on the oil clay. First, I apply the oil with a brush, going over the whole surface, paying special attention to areas that are lumpy.

Then, I wipe the orange oil off with a paper towel. I also use the paper towel to further smooth problem areas.

I have applied orange oil to the little girl's hair.

I have smoothed the right side of her hair, but not the left, so you can see the difference.

We had a lot of rain, and as a result, the lower part of the property flooded. These are ant refugees. There were clusters of them all through the trees, waiting for things to dry out.

This is a gar cruising through the flooded field.

A tiny cluster of flowers. I don't know what variety they are.

Finishing the Sculpture

I am now finishing the Terre Haute sculpture, tightening everything up. Smoothing the surface is an important part of finishing. I will show a couple of tools to obtain a smooth surface.

I am using a clay shaper which has a flexible rubber tip to smooth out the faces.
For larger areas, I use a metal palette tool.
Here, I am using the tool to smooth the arm. I move the tool gently over the suface, removing small amounts of clay in each pass.
This is the sculpture at its present stage. I have spent a great deal of time getting the hands in the proper postition to support the globe. Almost there!

I saw this spider, backlit by the light in the kitchen. It's about an inch long.

A couple of Red Headed Woodpeckers have visited the feeding station. I think these are the prettiest of all the woodpeckers.