Finding the cubs, a show at Pyro

I am using a die-grinder to shape the cub's head. I am also using it to remove stone under the head.

I am opening the area around the ear and down the mother's leg. I am careful not to create a pocket that will hold water.

The cub is still blocky in feeling; I will refine it as I apply fur texture.

I am applying fur texture to the mother bear's leg. First, I made a pattern with a masonry wheel on a 4" grinder (right side of picture). Then, I come back with this little die grinder and make random, somewhat deep, cuts with this diamond wheel tool. I, then, use this same tool to make individual hairs, varying the pressure as I go to create dimension to the fur.

Here is the mother's leg with fur texture. I will move the sculpture outside before I am finished, to make sure everything looks the way I want it.

Al Nelson and Bob Lockhart have work included in a show at Pyro Gallery in Louisville, Ky. This is Don looking at a work in wood by Bob Lockhart.

This is a sculpture by Al Nelson. The center is stone and can be easily spun around because....

It has an hourglass inside! Really ingenious.

A woman admires another sculpture of Al's, as seen through Bob Lockharts sculpture.

A screech owl watched us, as we drove by.

Installing sculptures from Yew Dell show, Art in the Highlands show

The third Yew Dell show has come down and we are removing the sculptures. Some to return home with us, others will be delivered to their new homes. The Mechanical Hand has been at Yew Dell for three years and now it's time to move on.

Demeter will be loaded onto the crane truck as there is not a lot of room on the flat bed truck because of the Hand. Derrick Sheroan of JBB inc. of Hardinsburg operates the crane.

Nexus is going to a new home too. The hook of the crane is lowered into place.

Don steadies Nexus as it is loaded onto the truck. All the sculpture will be strapped down, then we can head out to deliver the work.

Demeter has the shortest path to travel and so she is delivered first.

A footer was prepared for her by Mark Foster. It is slightly raised as there will plantings around her base and I don't want her to be overwhelmed by the plants.

Demeter installed.
The Nexus installation was a bit tricky. It went into a cool old cemetary, but the site was under a tree which made it a little difficult. Derrick and Don looked at how to approach it - there was a gap in the limbs - and slowly and carefully the sculpture was lifted up and over and then down to the site.

This is Robert Maddox, he and his family bought the sculpture as a monument for their parents. He is pictured here on the left, a passerby is standing next to him, his daughters are on the right side of the photo, petting the dog.

Talk about a small world, he is one of the donors that contributed to the commission of the sculptures I did for Home of the Innocents in Cave Hill Cemetary.

Here is nexus with a bench in the foreground.

Nexus installed!

I stopped by Art in the Highlands to check out the work of Jenni Pollard. She is the daughter of the woman who is commissioning the Grizzly for Norton Children's Hospital. I believe that this is Jenni's first weekend Art and Craft show, but she sold $1,000.00 in work. Way to go Jenni!

I ran into BobLockhart at the show too. He's a great sculptor with a number of public commissions. His animal sculptures are wonderful. In this photo he is reading my shirt, it says "Louisville Leopards". They are a percussion group which performs a great deal around Louisville and beyond and has been on HBO. My niece was in the group - kids can be in the Leopards up to the 7th grade or so.

I found this spider under the wheelbarrow. I'm pretty sure it's a black widow - so I moved her to a safer spot for her and me.