Cutting the bottom of marble block, the second stone of Predator and Prey, finish work on the American Lion and Nature photos

After splitting off a section of stone from the bottom of this piece, I cut the bottom flat with an angle grinder.  I use a hammer to tap off sections as I go.

Almost there, just a little bit at the corner.

The other stone for the Predator and Prey sculpture is moved in.  There will be a young deer leaping away, I'm working on the model for it. Nothing to see yet.

I use a diamond burr on the die grinder to cut in the small lower teeth of the American Lion.  The burr flares out at the end which is better for cutting in between teeth.  I can't get to close to the lips - it will cut a "v" into the lip.  I will use a diamond point where the teeth and lips meet.

The burr I used for the teeth I also use around the eye.

I need to soften the lips - lots of edges there that don't belong on a lion - also need to refine and finish the nose.

The canine teeth are too wide and need to come to more of a point....

I am making a way for rainwater to drain from the top of the piece but not run around the side to the front leg of the Lion.

I have sloped the top toward the center of the block and toward the back so rainwater won't run over the carved area of the sculpture.

Here is tiny snapping turtle that was out in the road, so I crossed it.

Ants on a potato chip.

Evening sun on trees.

more evening sun...

Blue eyed Mary wildflowers blooming in Yellowbank WMA.  Here is a video of them -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VCkHDKg3lk

"Tweaking" the Lions face, a finished Vet sculpture,more kid work, split marble and which side is real and which is the reflection?

There were symmetry problems with the lions eyes - the one on the right side (lions left) was too wide so I marked in crayon where it needed to come in, also the brow needed some stone removed as well.  I marked all these in black china marker.  A small arrow shows where the ridge running up the middle of the nose should be - the ridge line is what I measured off of and it was off center. Also, the area between the inside of the eye and brow of the problem eye is not as deep as the other eye.

I have worked on the eye and gotten it pretty close to where it needs to be.  I will go on to work on other areas before I finish the details of the eye.

I have carved out behind the canine (feline?) tooth with a die grinder.  I check my photo reference of tigers and lions snarling and I realize upper lip just over the teeth is too full and needs to be carved back.



I have also added some furriness just in front of the ears, this is more in keeping with a tiger than a lion.

After I was sure the eyes were just right I could then begin to establish exactly where the teeth are, while the eyes are easy to move around (you can always set them a bit further back) once you have cut around a tooth, that's it, there no way to change it.  I have crayoned the individual teeth but will be looking at reference and looking at the sculpture to be sure how to cut in those big teeth.

 A little refining of the front leg with a sander...

The face is better, probably a bit more off the lower part of the upper lip... At this stage of the sculpture I spend much more time looking than carving.

This is a portrait sculpture for a local veterinarian.  He is looking at a puppy while it's anxious but trusting mother watches.

This is kind of horrible looking, it is the hand of the Kid I have been working on (it is in Castilene and will be cast in bronze). The left forearm was too long so I cut it off and stuck the hand back on by warming some more Castilene.

The kids face was also too wide on this side - I have taken the ear off and will take off about 1/8" of clay - if you look closely there is a tiny little line..... also I use a 3m 180 sanding sponge to smooth the face on the right side of the photo nearest the light.  I used a heat gun to warm the clay and then warm the sponge.  I will post better photos later.

I drilled and split a piece of marble I will carve into a sculpture of a little girl.  I first drilled holes with a bulldog drill (3/8" bit) then I used the hammer drill with a 3/4" bit then a 1" bit for the large holes. The reason I stepped up so many times is that the hammer drill doesn't have a clutch and if it binds in the hole at all it can twist out of your hands and whack you in the arms.  By slowly enlarging the holes in steps it didn't bind much at all - no bruises!

The stone broke fairly clean, it ran out a bit it went the best direction away from the sculpture.  I lost a bit of stone from the section I removed but there is enough there for some small sculpture.

This is a photo of the flood waters around a farm house , but the photo is turned on its side - can you tell which is the reflection?

tweaking the lion, more conversation girl, the dancer and lots of rain

I have marked in crayon the areas that need additional definition.  The foot is too flat, I will use a pistol grip sander to take down the stone along the outside and inside, working the sander on edge this will give me a smooth, rounded depression on the outside and inside of the foot and the definition I want.

I have worked the shoulder and leg defining the area around the joint of the leg. I used a grinder to define the shoulder muscle then went back with a pistol grip sander to soften and smooth out the marks left by the grinder.

I have worked out the front foot of the lion and am cutting back some places on the rear leg of the lion I felt were too full.

I realized the lions left eye was just a bit too wide so..

I crayoned in the areas I felt needed work, but just to be sure, I put the photo in adobe photoshop to check changes I need to make, the eye is moved over a little bit, ear trimmed, muzzle thinned a bit, I just realized I didn't clone out the ruff, ah well....

I have been working on Conversation cutting down the hair and the arm...



There has been a lot of rain lately, this is what happens when you cut wet stone, the dust clumps all over it...

I check this water clay piece periodically to make sure he is drying okay.

There has been a lot of rain, which combined with the melting snow has meant flooding.  This is a view of the lower field in front of the house.

This is a house just down the road - that's the Ohio river behind the house.

A hawk

A tree at sunset.

More snow and cold but spring is not far off...

The snow and cold have kept me inside so I have kept busy with this water clay of dancer Sergei Polonin.  I have also been fascinated by dance and as there are lots of photos and videos online, I thought I'd try my hand at a portrait.  I am going to do a series of small bronze dancers and I will use this as reference for some of the work.
The head and chest were made hollow to begin with, a wood dowel runs the height of the piece to stabilize the head.  After I added hair I realized it was adding a lot of weight and could be an issue so I split open the head and removed the excess clay, filling the void with damp paper towels.  In this photo I have added arms which are supported by pieces of clay and wooden clay tools.

I rearrange the supports as I work using an upside down cup which offered more stability.  I have a second prop under the hand.  I scooped out the clay from the arms by using a wire tool to slice off the tops of the arms stuffed in damp paper towels then put the slices back with slurry and worked strips of clay where the cuts were made.

Now that the arms are lighter and the clay has begun to dry a little and stiffen up I can remove the supports.  The supports left deep marks under the arms which I filled with slurry and clay.

He is almost finished, just a couple of bit of finishing to go.

My  maquette for Earth Dreamer has been drying ...

Pretty soon I will be able to get back to the Lion.  There are a few areas I want to refine and his teeth need to be defined...



There was another snowfall followed by temperatures near zero.

The road was plowed but not much more than one lane.

A tree in the lower field casts its shadow on the snow.

Icicles on the house seem to cage the birds which come to eat the seed I put in the front yard.

A bit of mud trapped in ice.

Ice in the bark of a tree

Finally the snow is melting and temperatures are getting more spring-like.