Greeting cards from my sculpture feels like I'm printing my own currency.

Not many folks have wall space for eight foot long carvings, but they do appreciate my art. Printing these cards using details of the carvings feels like a win/win situation: people have something and the art can begin to find its audience.

Seeing on hundred cards all lined up is so satisfying. It feels like printing my own currency.

 

Sculpture and To Grandmother's House

It's good to let your art (and yourself) rest.
Grandmother had been wrapped up for a week of bad weather, I unwrapped and stood her up.
Walked twenty feet away to study her and decided that she needed more focus.

"It's either gonna make it or RUIN it."

If you're not an artist, that "OR RUIN IT!!!" can stop you dead from pushing any further.
If you are, it's usually the goad you need to do just that.

I painted her eyes.

 with iris and pupils above, without below.    .... your preference?

It's a tad scary up close, but the standard viewing distance is much further - from a path 20 feet away.

The benefits outweigh the RUIN it factor. 

WHEW.

Sculpture and To Grandmother's House

"Done."
I've learned that this carving isn't over until they take it away.

More wood working was necessary to fit the sculpture into the corner angle of the metal housing.
Think how a corner cabinet isn't 90 degrees but an acute angle.....
That cutting showed us a weak knife edge that needed an alternative treatment. So more cutting and then finding another chunk of wood, aligning the grain pattern to be similar, and planing and fitting the wood so it looks on purpose. And then re-staining the new areas to match the existing finish.

Will they take it away soon? Please?

Sculpture and a fine Finish

Wondering this would ever be finished, the carving section of project ended quickly and quietly.

I spent one day caring my signature, wrapped it up for several rainy days, and stained it today.

 I used a deck stain Penofil that has UV protection and a mildewicide.

To quiet the wood grain, I mixed in 1/4 tsp of raw sienna oil paint to a cup of the oil based stain.

For a bit of variance, I also mixed up a 1/4 tsp of raw umber for the darker brown.

Sculpture and a Visit to the Site

TriMet invited the artists out to the job site, I finally got to see where my sculpture will be installed.

......right in the middle of this puddle.

Anticlimactic? Yes, but it helps to keep a sense of humor. They took a chance on each artist being able to deliver on a sketch.  What is now a gravel mess of a parking lot will be a small green park.

Maybe this plan view will help you visualize...... That tiny red dot in the lower center is the site.



There's still a lot of work for them to do before they're ready to site my art.
Time for me to get back to finishing the carving!

Sculpture and Drawing

You never know what inspiration you'll find when you look at every single image in a magazine.

This tiny image of a 19th Century weather vane caught my eye in Architectural Digest.

It's exquisite, and sold for $370, 000.

Impressed? I was. Also inspired...

What if it were made by an 18th Century Korean faux'k artist?

What would THAT look like?

So I started drawing.....

You can see the progression of the idea across the page.....

It's a phoenix/pheasant/rooster from the late Faux Dynasty.

 I'll use  the sketch to cut out the wood blank and start carving!

That is AFTER I finish this current big project. 

It helps to have new work (quicker and much smaller) to look forward to making.

Sculpture and To Grandmother's House

The end of this carving is in sight!
I'm down to cleaning up rough cuts and a few last minute refinements.

The focus now shifts to the metal housing. Bids have come back at 2 to 3 times the original estimates. That's a big set back that's forcing a re-design of the metal housing.

So while I figure this out, let's enjoy how far this project has come....... From this

to this.....

Sculpture and Bruno Walpoth

"In our valley there is a 400-year-old tradition of wood-sculpting culture. Both my grandfather and my uncle were wood sculptors, and so I grew up with this medium." Bruno Walpoth

It shows. His work is amazing.

Walpoth's figures are very realistic, but also true to their media: wood and their process: direct carving. Look at the pants on the figure below. The direct chisel marks tell you about the wood and suggest denim fabric. The file and rasp marks, the built up layers of the white stain that's been sanded through tell you some of each sculpture's history.

There's beauty in his finishes. The white washed tones down the wood grain and unifies the sculpture. Allowing the grain to still be seen suggest an inner life, both of the figure and of its former life as a tree.

To see more of his sculpture and drawings, visit Bruno Walpoth's website 

Sculpture and Procrastination/Obsession

When and How does procrastination turn into its opposite: Obsession?
After slogging through so many tedious hours on this carving wanting to do ANYthing else,
now I don't want to do ANYthing else but carve.

The work is coming alive, it has a presence. That's the best payback for all those working hours.
It's magic.

I was able to stay late at the studio and see it for the first time at night.....

Sculpture and Visitors and White Gloves

This week brought visitors to the studio, invited and also unexpected.

You think you know how an elbow looks until you have to carve one. It's impossible to use your own because you can't see them! So Wendy volunteered hers for the cause.

 One of the best things about this long project has been working outdoors throughout the seasons.
This lovely green katydid stopped by to smell the cedar.

 It gets really confusing when the wood is many different colors, graphite from my drawn corrections and darkened from the oils off my hands. Time for white cotton gloves!
It's a nice touch of formality in the heat.

Sculpture and TriMet

The end is in sight, but I'm feeling like a marathoner with miles to go!

I've avoided working any more on her face to focus on her other end.

The legs and feet are hard to carve as the grain and the angle of attack changes with each inch.
Also reverted to power tools to shape her dress. The grinder is nasty but actually gives me better forms faster than chisels. Once the shapes are correct, I'll use the chisels for texture.

Sculpture and To Grandmother's House

Right now, there are all sorts of houses being made for the Grandmother.

A shade house to protect her and me from the sun. If you look closely at the background structure you can see that a trampoline cover doubles as shade cloth with about 85% screening.

A crate to protect her while we shape the back and sides so that they are square to each other and fit snugly into the metal house...

David Bales takes the lead on squaring up the log so that the sides are parallel and square to the back.

Sculpture and To Grandmother's House

Heat, cluster migraines and a final installation date are all factors in the lack of recent posts on the big carving.
Did I mention fatigue?

She has two eyes now. If I'm working, the changes are big every day. That's encouraging.
Here's what she looks like this week.

Sculpture and Viewing

This 76 year old (I counted her rings!) has a hard time getting up and down.
Correction,  I have a hard time getting her up and down.

The log no longer weighs several tons, it's probably around 500 pounds.

Carving = Down
Looking = UP
More Carving = Down Again
More Looking = Up Again
Repeat several times daily?.....

I'm running out of strong friends, but the more I carve, the lighter she gets....

Once she's upright, I go as far away as possible to study her 

and make notes on what needs to happen next.

Occasionally flipping her from side to side helps to get to hard to reach places.

You can see below the table, I have pallets and large blocks of wood I can stack 

to get different working heights.

Sculpture and Models

"The map is not the territory."
But with a big carving, a good map model can save your sanity and your project.

Above is the full scale 6 foot tall carving next to the 15 inch model.

I work on the model for a while, then go work on the big version. I keep thinking the model is complete, 

but each time I come back and see where more material can be removed.

That encourages me to be bolder with the full scale sculpture.

 Trying out a leaves and fruit background that breaks up the surface behind the figure into patterns of light and dark. Posted the two images side by side on FaceBook and asked which background people preferred. 5 to 1 preferred the simpler background.

I'm wondering how to combine the two solutions.....

Factors to be considered are that the full scale is not as defined as the model, people might have been choosing the more finished example... but simplicity is usually best (and easier!)