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.

More finishing, Yew Dell opening

I go over various areas smoothing some, detailing others.


I use a rake tool to finish off the bottom of the womans shoe.


Making a nice edge on the mans sleeve.


I use a brush and orange oil to smooth areas of the mans hand.


A view of the almost completed sculpture.


And from another angle.


Another angle



Yet another angle. I like to make a sculpture interesting from all sides.



This Friday the garden sculpture show opened at Yew Dell Gardens in Crestwood. We had a nice crowd and good sales. By the end of the weekend there were over $20,000.00 in sales and the show will be up until August 1st.


The show has a wide range of styles and mediums. This metal sculpture is by Tom Butsch.



"Don's Limestone sculpture entitled "Nexus"






Glass and steel cattails entitled "Glasstails" by Brian Holden and Paul Nelson.


This is a limestone and bronze sculpture by Wyatt Gragg entitled "Garden Doves".


This is one of my sculptures in the show. She is Demeter from Greek myth, parting the night searching for her daughter Persephone. This piece sold at the opening. Other people whose work has sold are - Caren Cunningham (who sold all her work), David Caudill, Wyatt Gragg, Al Nelson, John McCarthy, Paul Nelson and Bryan Holden, Brian Newton and Karen Terhune.
But as the show will be up for another 2 months I'm sure there will be lots more sales.


Here is something a little different, a black fly with white eyes.


One of my favorite native wildflowers, Indian Pink.

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.

Article in Kentucky Homes and Gardens Magazine

My sculpture is featured in this months issue of Kentucky Homes and Gardens Magazine. The article was written by Albertus Gorman, an artist and writer who lives in Louisville Kentucky. The Cover of the magazine.

The first two pages show me working on the "Opportunity Portal" in the top picture and

the "Waking Muse" underneath.

On the third page is the sculpture "Connections", which was just installed at LSU Baton Rouge. On the left column of the right page is a bronze casting of "Ely".

Here is the female hippo from the group I did for the North Carolina Zoo and below is an Otter water feature.

You can get the magazine at bookstores in Louisville, Lexington and the Cincinnati area. You can also get them free at various art gallery locations in those cities. Check it out!