Detailing the heron, more mystery sculpture, jailhouse pizza and a dancing Timberdoodle video

I turn the piece to get different shadows to check surface - the back is too uneven, I have to add clay to fill in some of the depressions.

I go over the surface with a wood carving knife which leaves these crumbs which are easily brushed off. I'll go over the surface a couple of times turning it in the light until I'm satisfied.

I have redone the feet, slimming the toes and making the claws more refined. The feet need just a bit more tweaking.

I carved the pupil of the eye with a loop tool.

Here the the heron, almost finished. I am checking and rechecking various profiles before I go on to add the long thin feathers on their heads, back and chest. I am going to try different variations to see what I like. I tried melting the clay onto waxed paper and cutting it into strips but I didn't like the sharp edges when on the body or neck. Didn't look too bad on the head though.

These are bits of clay rolled out. These aren't bad for the body but I'm not crazy about it for the head....

And now on to the mystery sculpture. This is the model for the piece. It will be an earthwork/stone combination, a little girl from the waist up, plants across her mid-section and stone legs on the other side of the earthwork. The holes on her face are from marking the axis of her head. I am using the model (it is roughly 15:1) to establish her right cheek on the stone. I hold the model so that it lines up with various points on the stone (it's hard to get it to line up properly with the camera) . Then I hold a china marker on the area I want to mark, then....

I remove the model and then walk over to the stone and mark the area I want to carve. If you look closely you can see I have already marked the area I need to remove to define her cheek. It's best to check a couple of times and just to be really certain, take measurements from the model. I always cut way wide of the form, trying to avoid "Oops" moments.

My twin sister Liz (left) came for a visit with her little boy Joe (center) and her daughter Beth (right). We ate lunch at Jailhouse Pizza in Brandenburg, KY. We toured the old jail cells while waiting for our food. There is even a gallows which is kind of creepy. They have tables and chairs in the cells if you want to eat in there, though no one ever seems to, it's just a bit claustrophobic....

And I have posted my first video on Youtube - It's this Timberdoodle seeming to dance across the road to Silly Love Sond by Paul McCartney. Timberdoodles bob up and down, nobody is really sure why. Here is the address http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txW9Jj5yISo