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.

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!

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!

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.

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.

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.