Monday, December 24, 2012

Ready for sanding

This piece, Mandala 2, is almost ready for final sanding. I've got a few more details to refine and a crevice to fill and then it can go into the sink. It will be mounted on a trapezoidal piece of concrete, just like its predecessor, but that concrete will probably be gray because this alabaster has some color. I used a wet paper towel on the stone in order to simulate its final coloration after oiling.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

2nd side gets some attention

Finally, I've gotten around to seeing what the stone wants to show on the other side! It's also manifesting some machine-like forms. This one is going to be a challenge to bring to the proper level of finish, and it looks like that phase will begin pretty soon.

Monday, November 26, 2012

Large forms near completion



Over the past few days, I've made significant progress toward getting this stone to the tipping point  -that is, it's now about to the spot where I can see how the finished piece will look, and it's just a matter of refinement of existing forms. This refinement process is a bit of a grind because of all the details that a piece like this has - surfaces, edges, corners, curves - but is IS a bit less mentally taxing. There's just one crude area left.
As far as what this piece is about, I'm seeing some very strong ties to a machine or part(s) of a machine that has some arcane purpose. In my mind, I can see it rotating at a moderate speed, spring-loaded parts moving up and down as needed, cam-like surfaces pushing against unseen forces. These images, for me at least, cast a piece like this one firmly in the machine age, with the "information age" seeming a distant castle in the air.

Friday, November 23, 2012

Rough top is getting resolved

I worked on several different parts of this piece today, but the most noticeable is the top (it is sitting in what will be its final orientation) that was completely unworked as of yesterday. It began to bother me because it was making the whole piece look awkward. This is probably not its finished shape on top, but is is better!

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Back to the stone . . .

I know, it's been a while since my last post. All I can say is, I've been busy with other things, leaf clean-up for one, a weekend trip to our gallery in Iowa for another. Anyway, the photo shows the current state of the piece I'm calling "Mandala 2" for now. This stone has more color than "Mandala 1", and I'm anxious to spend some time on it this Thanksgiving weekend.

Monday, October 22, 2012

Acquiring final profile


The piece is now nearly resolved in terms of its overall shape. Some significant details remain to be worked out, but its profile is clear. Like the last piece of stone, this one has some flaws. I filled in the flaws in that one, but I'm thinking of letting this one show its natural character. If I think the problem areas are getting too much attention when its done, I can still fill them in at that time. Most of the fissures are at or near what will be the bottom of the mounted piece. The photo above shows it in that orientation.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

More work . . .

Above is a photo of the newest stone after a few more days work. A theme is beginning to show itself and I'm enhancing it whenever a decision comes up. What do you think so far?

Saturday, October 6, 2012

The unexpected . . .



While I was working on the stone today, a fairly significant piece of it broke off without warning. There's never any warning. Anyway, my intuitive way of working allowed me to immediately imagine a new final look to the piece - one of the benefits of having a fluid interpretation of its ultimate appearance. I'm getting close to having it all roughed out and will enter the slower-paced intermediate stage.  In the initial work, I'm open to most anything the stone presents, and tend to work quickly and try to make judgements on form without over thinking it. Strangely, this method produces the most cohesive pieces. In essence, the stone has a big say in the outcome.The photos above show both sides as of today, and also the piece that made its sudden exit.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

New mandala piece


Here are a couple of photos of a new stone I started yesterday. My intention is to continue in the vein of my last piece which I've decided to name Mandala: Ring of Truth. The new one has no name yet - I'll have to wait for it to acquire a personality. As you can see, I've decided to start with the centrally located piercing and build everything around that. I plan to work more on it in the coming days if the weather holds.

Monday, August 27, 2012

Finished at last

"Mandala 1" is finally finished and mounted. This piece has taken longer to finish (by quite a lot) than I

ever anticipated, and the only reason that seems plausible is that curving lines and surfaces take longer to get right than straight lines and corners do. I wanted to try a rougher stone base for this piece, thinking the contrast with the fine curves would be nice, so I prepared a concrete landscaping stone to pin it to. A felt bottom protects the furniture.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Ready for finishing

After a much longer period than I anticipated, this piece is ready for finishing. In a week or so, I expect to have it sanded, oiled and mounted.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Finally, the second side is getting resolved

The two views of the newest stone shown above were taken in my indoor studio. I've had to move the work inside due to this summer's high temperatures - it was 103˚ yesterday, and my outdoor studio is
on the South side of the property. So, the second side, but for a few minor decisions, is in it's final form and will be ready for the finishing process soon. 






Thursday, July 5, 2012

How the other side is going to look

My postings have been sporadic lately due to my struggling with some health issues. I'm planning to be a bit more consistent, but we've had quite a streak of near and plus 100 degree days, so I'm having to work around that as well. Earlier this week, I took some time to address the other side of this piece, which I'm calling "Mandala 1". As you can see, it's similar to side one, with some notable exceptions, one of which is a radial instead of a concentric motif.

Sunday, June 10, 2012

More refined

This side of the piece is nearing completion, but for final refinements and finishing. The other side, which has not been worked at all, will somewhat echo the first side but with less relief since it is much more flat.

As of now, I'm planning to start with the high parts to the outside and go down toward the center.

Friday, June 8, 2012

Starting to shape up

After a couple more short sessions, the piece is starting to acquire some character. There is a weak horizon that runs through this stone near the surface that will cause some problems down the line. I'll have to decide at some point whether to carve out those weak areas, try to minimize them with filler or just let the nature of this piece of alabaster be what it is. I'm inclined to follow the last option.

Saturday, June 2, 2012

New piece


Well, it's been many weeks since my last post. I went through a few weeks of yard and home preparation for an event at our studios, and then 3 weeks of an attack of shingles. I'm just now getting back to normal and I found that my enthusiasm for the stone I was previously working has waned. In the interim, I also had an idea for a new piece (series?) that I wanted to test. So, I worked two hours yesterday on the new one and it is shown above. One of the photos shows the stone after 20 minutes of work, the other after two hours. I'll get back to the older stone when the time is right.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Reorientation


I've been considering mounting this piece vertically instead of horizontally as previously stated, and today it became official. I like the upward thrust of the design and it seems there is a lot more implied movement with the piece mounted this way. The very bottom of it now has a flat area of about 8 square inches in size that should be suitable for drilling. This was the 9th day on this stone and represents approximately 16 hrs. of work.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Today's progress



More refinement happening here. I am in the part of this work that I like the most - making up the forms and their various interactions on the fly. It is just plain exciting to see the shapes emerge from solid stone in a matter of minutes, made possible by my pneumatic hammer. I thought initially that this tool would speed up the work so much that I'd lose control of the process and make mistakes. Happily, this has not happened, and I'm able to continue with my normal methods. It's just faster. As can be seen in the photo of the other side, I've not done much with that yet. I'm still working out how to manage the fact that the main features of that side are oriented in the same direction as is the stratification of the stone - a happy accident. My task will be to exploit that while creating a piece that has unity and coherence from side to side. A challenge!

Monday, March 26, 2012

Problem fixed . . .


I think I've got the "chicken" problem solved, at least partially. The changes I've got planned for the next session should ban birds from the stone once and for all. A side benefit of an opening is that it makes the stone significantly lighter - a very good thing!

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Next step


The photo above shows the piece in what I think will be its final orientation. The piercing at this point is small and looks like an eye, which in turn makes the piece look something like a bird head. Since I try to avoid visual associations that are that blatant, I'll be working today to diminish that effect - first by enlarging the pierced area, then by other means if necessary.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Ongoing . . .


On day 4, I decided to go ahead with my plan to saw off part of this stone, though the piece sawed off was not as big as I thought it would have to be. However, it was enough to change the awkward, chicken-like shape of the original stone. Now I can turn my attention to figuring out the basic character of the remainder. The photos above show the start of this work.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Acadian Arc - finished


Also this week, I put a very dilute coat of ivory black and iridescent copper acrylic on the Acadian Arc, and it is now finished. Again, it's size is 34" long.

Next alabaster piece, March, 2012




Freakishly warm weather here in Illinois for March! It's been in the 70s and 80s most of the month and that made me decide to open up my outdoor studio about 1-1/2 to 2 months early. The photos above are a record of the first three days of work on a stone of about 100 lbs. It has, overall, a kind of awkward shape and I'm planning to cut a good bit of it off to defeat that ungainly quality - perhaps I'll get two pieces out of this stone.

Monday, March 5, 2012

New piece in February


As soon as I finished preparing for my exhibition, I got going on an idea that had been bugging me for a couple of weeks. It's in a new medium for me and I was anxious to find out if it would work. The piece (shown above) is called "Acadian Arc" and has a foam core covered with a couple of types of wood and then some texturizing acrylic gel by Golden. It is painted with pigmented acrylics and the color scheme you see above is preliminary - I hope to be able to subtly add color to make it somewhat more complex.
The piece is very light - much less than a pound - and could hang on a wall, but most likely will sit on a surface as in the photo.
It's about 34" long.

Feb. 17th Exhibition Opening







My exhibition with printmaker Josh Bindewald of Peoria, IL opened the evening of February 17th in Monmouth, Illinois at the Buchanan Center for the Arts. Director Susan Twomey did a superb job of hanging/arranging the show, and the event was well attended. One of the most frequent comments of the evening was regarding how well Josh's and my work went together. We both have angular aspects to our work and as a consequence, we called the show "Intersections". Again, putting us together was Susan's idea! Above are some photos of the opening as well as a few taken the day before.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Temporal Transect (Clash)


It's regrettable, but I've not posted here since December. The holidays were busy of course, but in January, an injury put a stop to my sculptural progress, despite my upcoming exhibition. Well, the effects of the injury are behind me now and the show opens in two days. I managed to finish this piece but my quest for yet another finished stone for the show was blunted. As for the title of this piece, I did finally include the word "Clash", even though that aspect of the process gave way eventually to a harmonious cooperation. It has an unbalanced aspect, pinned and mounted on granite, which I think lends a certain dynamism to the work.