A new sculpture and the first signs of spring

I started a new sculpture of Ophelia. I have marked with crayon where the face will be, and the general pattern of the hair.

I have established the face and made general movements of the hair with a grinder and die-grinders.

I have further refined the face and am starting to make deeper cuts, to add shadows in the hair.

We have a pile of stone that have been cut off from various jobs by the chainsaw. I think there is potential in these 3 stones. But what, well, you'll have to wait for the next post.

Tristan Hutchison, a neighbor, directs his father, Mike, who is loading one of two stones for Chris Mozier and Mike McCarthy.

A deer is visiting our bird feeder.

A couple of weeks ago, we had temperatures below zero and the result were these frost crystals on a vine near the creek.

It has warmed up a lot since then, and I was out looking for signs of new life. These Springtail looked like pepper sprinkled on the water; they are so tiny.

This is a sure sign of spring, Daffodils pushing up through the earth.

And what's this? It's peach soda in a blue glass - see the unusual in the everyday.

Detailing a cub, Thanksgiving and Freezing Fog

I am finishing the cub on the belly first. I use a pointed bit to work around the edge of the eye.

I have used a flat end bit to accentuate the fur on the cub's cheeks while making the hair on the muzzle more flat.

Another view of the "Belly cub".

A side view of the cub on its mother's belly.

To define the pads of the foot, I use an air tool called a Roloc with a 120 grit sanding disk.

Thanksgiving was at my twin Sister's in-laws. Her husband, Steve, cooked the turkey.

This morning, there was a freezing fog....

which left lots of ice crystals to be found in the shadows.

Daphne refinement and photos of ice

I am finishing up Daphne, refining areas all over the piece; the body, limbs and leaves. I am experimenting with different textures for the trunk of the tree.
It is slow work finishing up the leaves, I want to have as much movement as possible.

I have spent a lot of time working out areas inside the piece, smoothing out chisel textures, etc.

I will refine the leaves further, but I have to be careful not to get the sculpture too fragile as it will have to be loaded onto a truck when goes to its new home.

Last spring I took a lot of macro photos of flowers. Now that it is winter, the flowers are all gone, but there is still beauty to be found, you just have to look close...

This is a photo of frost - the temperature was about 5 degrees, and I saw pockets of large crystals in the grass.

This is a closeup of a leaf in a frozen pond.

A tiny forest of ice crystals

An oak leaf in a frozen pond.