Daphne continues, a watcher and a snake

I have been working on several proposals for public art opportunities this past week. That has taken some time away from Daphne, but here is some of the progress I have made... When I am carving an area, I mark on it with black china marker or crayon. On the hand I draw the high point of the fingers -it needs to slope off on either side and this helps me to better see the form. I also draw around the knuckles, shading areas that need deeper carving.

On Daphne's right hand I had the center too high, this made the hand look too narrow. Lots of times when carving stone if one area is too large the eye doesn't necessarily read it as too large, it will read adjacent areas as too small. Once I realized what was wrong and lowered that area the hand looked much better.

I have defined the area between Daphne's arm and the tree limb with a die grinder as well as getting a better shape around the hand and thumb. I still need to better define the ends of the fingers.

I define the edge between Daphne's belly and the bark of the tree using a die grinder, then an air sander followed by sanding by hand with 80 grit paper.

I am working Daphne's hair on her right side. I have been getting better movement and deepening shadows with angle grinders and die grinders.

I was working on the sculpture the other day when I could just tell someone was watching me.

I looked up and saw that I was right, I was being watched!

This praying mantis was on the sculpture, watching me so I moved it away so it wouldn't get hurt....

I nearly ran over this snake crossing the drive. I think it is a black rat snake. The day was fairly cool so the snake was pretty sluggish, it didn't give any trouble when I picked it up and set it over in the grass.

Two pieces for a show and some pics around the studio

This is a piece that I am finishing up for a show in Louisville, Ky. She is an Angel, and I am defining her fingers with a wood tool. I have yet to do her ear...

This is another piece, entitled "Flight", which will also be in the show.

Here are some pics around the studio. A fence lizard...

A tiny jumping spider on my arm taken with a micro lens...

...and this is some type of insect. I couldn't find it in my guide book.

Continuing work on the marble sculpture, and an angel sculpture for a Louisville show.

Work continues on the Marble sculpture, with continued refinement of hand face and leg. I am just beginning to work out where her left arm is. It will be lifting fabric away, the title of the piece is Lifting the Veil and deals with seeing beyond the "reality" of this world.
The crayon marks show where I think the arm will be. The very dark marks are for the view looking from her left side, showing where the profile of the underside of the arm might be. I will cut wide of any mark, the closer I get in to the form, the easier it will be to see where the arm really is.

This is her right foot. I am just beginning to cut the toes and work out the creases in the sole.

I have marked the areas that need to be removed, on the thumb and around the knuckles of the fingers.

This is an angel sculpture that I am doing for a show in Louisville.

Another creature with wings; I found this wasp in the window at death's door. So, I fed it a bit of soda with a bit of towel paper.

Before long, it was feeling better, cleaned itself and away it flew.

While I was feeding the wasp, I looked up and there stood a deer eating snacks....

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.

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.

Refining Sculpture continues and a Gallynipper in my hand

This is a great little tool called a glyptic. It is a loop tool with one side that is serrated (like a rake). What's nice is that you can change out different shape loops from the handle using an included allen wrench (shown). I got this at Sculpture Depot in Loveland Colorado.

I am using a rake tool on the man's shirt to futher refine the surface.

I use a small loop tool for the hair. This is the little boy.

This is the progress on the man's face -I have given him a slight smile.

This is the woman's face.

To make bows for the little girl's hair, I flatten a strip of clay and loop either end over, and join in the middle. Then, I pinch the middle slightly.

After I apply the bows to the hair, I add a bit of clay for the knot of the bow.

This is the sculpture with a black backdrop. The backdrop helps me to see the sillouette of the sculpture more easily. I choose black over a light material because a lighter material makes highlights more difficult to read.

A swallowtail butterfly on locust blooms.

Toads eggs in a puddle.

Got this guy out of the sink. You know what they say, a Gallynipper in the hand...

Continued refinement and a woodpecker

I use a rake tool to had interest and folds to the woman's dress

This is the man's face. He looks a little too serious, I think I will lighten his expression.

I fill in the areas where the little girls hand and the womans arm meet.

I am using a wood tool to make the little girls fingernails

I've been working on shoes - I'm even doing them in my sleep. The leg is still on the lumpy side. Oil clay is difficult to get a smooth surface. I need to go over the surface several times with a rake tool to get the form right.

This strange looking thing is a wild grape leaf just emerging.

This is a Trillium backlit by the sun

This is a Red Bellied Woodpecker on the feeder at the house. He doesn't look very comfortable, but then those are free sunflower seeds!

Work on the little boy, and the return of the Sun

To make an ear, I use coils of clay to form the basic shapes. I add small bits of clay that will fill in the form.

I use a wood tool to press in the small pieces of clay. It is better to use too little clay for the area - it's easy to add more clay. But, if you add too much, and clay needs to be scaped back off, it's a lot more trouble.

I have roughed in the little boy's shirt. I use a loop tool to define the folds.

Here is the little boy from the front. I need to do more refining to the folds of cloth.

Here is the model for the little boy. His name is Gavin.

Here is the view showing the children in profile.

My favorite view is 3/4. I feel it has a lot more energy.

The morning sun through the fog.

As the sun returns with the spring, everything begins to bloom. This bloom is on a small tree - I don't know the type.

This is a tiny flowering plant (I don't know its name). Each bloom is only 1/16th of an inch across.

A closeup of Hepatica.