Well, over the weekend I finally was able to get back to work on my outdoor studio renovation. The trap rock (crushed gray granite of, in this case, 1" or less) proved to be a minor nightmare to move, so I blasted a lot of it out of the way with a power washer, and moved the remainder with a rake, shovel and wheelbarrow. I've now got an area of about 150 sq. ft. where I'll build the wood deck. Then the shed can be dismantled, moved and reassembled. Groan. I'm a long way from being able to actually carve some stone. I hope it can happen well before the snow arrives in the fall.

I found out this week that a couple of my metal pieces (pictured: Metopia #2 and Geo-Dermal #2 - Rhombohedron Rhumba) have been accepted into 64 Arts, the first national juried exhibition held at the Buchanan Center for the Arts in Monmouth, IL. These are my two most recent works and feature riveted sheet steel and aluminum. 70 works were selected from over 400 entries from 28 states. The exhibition will run from August 22 to September 19. – A brief addendum: Metopia #2 is about 2' X 3' and Rhombohedron Rhumba is just over 7' tall.

Sculpture back home

Tuesday, Lori and I went to Peoria to pick up my work since the exhibit at the Preston Jackson Gallery ended on July 4th. Sad to report no sales, but my work is fairly pricey and we all know what the Masters of the Universe have done to the economy. Hoping for better days. . .
Anyway, it's all back home safely with only minor damage to one piece. It's nice to have a number of stones sitting around the house again, especially the piece pictured in our dining area whose full title is "Solid Geometry #2 - Watch For Falling Rock". This just in: This piece won the sculpture prize at this year's Members and Friends Exhibition at the Galesburg Civic Art Center.

Work continues on the Stoneworks, but not today - too rainy - so I'll take this time to file an update. Everything has been moved out of the way for the deck to be built, which has to precede moving a truncated version of our old shed, currently in the back yard. Don't yet know what magic I'll have to perform to get it into place, but I'm also posting a Photoshop visualization of the placement. Having the shed in that position will allow me to house the rock saw (visible at the right) outside of the garage - to make room for a large air compressor of course!

The area to the right of the shed will be taken up by a new carving bench. The fence will be finished off by ending at the corner of the shed. This is the plan for the near future. Then, it'll be carving time.