Magic Carpet Bench installed at Leander, Texas Public Library

On August 15, I found out that I was one of 6 semi-finalists for an opportunity for placing an art bench at the Leander Public Library.  Leander is a satellite city of Austin, Texas.  On September 12, I was informed that I was 1 of 3 winners.  Here's a link to their local paper that goes into more depth:

http://hillcountrynews.com/stories/grab-a-seat-read-a-while-leander-public-library-gets-three-new-art-benches,81045

 On Saturday, October 19, Dereck Sheroan from JBB, Inc. brought their 23 ton crane out to load me up.

 I had much more truck than I needed, but I was lucky to find this in my region.  Flat bed trucks are hard to rent.  This one had cruise control and a USB for my MP3 player, so I was fine with it.

 On Tuesday afternoon October 22, I arrived at the site and took a look at where the piece was to be placed.

 This art bench by Elizabeth Akamatsu was already installed in the library courtyard.

 So was this stainless steel bench by Rollin Karg.

 Here's a close-up of the large glass element in the top of the functional sculpture.

 My eye always goes to stone, and I was fascinated by this large piece of petrified wood.  The picture doesn't do it justice as there are polished areas that really show off a pretty blue color in the stone.

 The courtyard also had this metal sculpture....

 ... this bronze of a dog...

 ... and this whimsical bronze with a frog on mushrooms.

 Early the next morning, I arrived at the site to find the crane already set up.  I had time to visit with the crane operator while we waited for other people to show up.  His name is Irving Carrillo and he does acrylic paintings of landscapes and portraits and this is his facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/irvingcarrilloart.carrillo?__tn__=%2CdC-R-R&eid=ARCjWsUpltLkz9q4HXpJGlXxc62aurhdzPQK8jw-FGedipvzzJQyuGbjUAnvGKmzqhBgKbwJjBrAg7Z6&hc_ref=ARS-1ITx5AhnsBQmBe-bPsxg2xhJXtBA8-BfGMJL_Wma17ax5t_fa9RMTHWbaDJG_dM&fref=nf
Irving has only been doing paintings for 3 years - that's a strong start!  Stay with it, Irving!

 I had lots of help from the Parks Department folks during the installation.  Everything is so much smoother and safer when you've got competent people helping to make it happen.

The person to my right is Tyler Bybee who was my contact person for the project. So... here's my functional sculpture safely set in its new Texas home.  Nothing left but to make the 1,000 mile trip home....

What's in a Load of Stone?

In February 2017, I made a trip to Victor Quarry (now owned by IN Limestone Co.) to buy a stone for a commission that I had for Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, KY.

 Brent Blackwell, who is in charge of block sales there, had this 32,000 lb. block scoped out for me to fit the dimensions that I'd e-mailed to him before the trip.

 That left about 10,000 lbs. to make a full load, so we found the block that is on the bottom here.  I remember that it was starting to snow about this time and the wind chill was getting close to zero, so I snapped this picture and got back into the warm truck without a whole lot of fussing about.

 There was a serious variegation on one side of the Buffalo block. Brent was nice enough to have that cut off before it left the quarry.  So, that made the original Buffalo block 22,000 lbs. when Padgett Crane unloaded it at the studio.

 That stone became this 9,000 lb. Buffalo a few months later.

 Most of the scrap was small pieces that went over a bank to make more flat land or into pot holes in my 1/2 mile driveway.  There were at least 4 large corners that are becoming a fountain series based on the 4 elements of Fire, Water, Earth and Air.  Here are 2 of them - which is what I've been working on lately.

 The 10,000 lb. piece that came off the side of the buffalo had been laid aside...

 ... but, after delivering the finished commission, I split that piece in two and made "Hope" from one of the 5,000 lb. pieces.

 The other 5,000 lb. piece got cut in two...

 ... to make "Fruition"...

 ... and "Lemon Slice Sunrise".

 Remember that extra 10,000 lb. piece that I bought to fill out the load?  It was stood up on the rail cart...

... to become "River Music Bench"...

 ... and "Enthusiasm".

 The bottom right corner of that 10,000 lb. extra stone was split off to become this small sculpture "A little bit of Soul"...

 ... and "Flutter".

The bottom left corner became "Fireball sprout".  There were, of course, other small corners and pieces of scrap in that load that either became more small sculptures or are sitting out in the weeds waiting their turn - but, that accounts for most of that load.  It's easy to see that I try to make the most of stone when I have my hard earned money invested in the stuff.

So… I'm getting ready to go get another load.  What's it going to become?  I don't even know... and that's the exciting part.

"Fruition" functional stone sculpture

I finally finished "Fruition", which has been over a year in-the-making...

 It started last summer during the "dog days" when I stayed in the A.C.-cooled clay studio to beat the heat.  I made clay scale models to fit various stones that I had - including a 5,000 lb. scrap from the Buffalo for Buffalo Trace Distillery.  The concept behind the piece is that "you reap what you sow", in other words, hard work produces its own reward.

 I took side views and added a scale grid to help transfer the design onto the stone.

 I did the same thing for the other side.

 It's hard to see... but the grid is in red china marker.  The main design is in thick black timber crayon.

 I actually started some of the carving before cutting out the main piece of scrap with the hydraulic chainsaw.

 The piece of scrap (from a piece of scrap) became Lemon Slice Sunrise as seen in the post below.

 This February when we had the crane out for various lifts, I moved the preform onto a concrete slab on the west side of the studio.

 I worked mornings on this functional sculpture for weeks.  By 1 p.m., the sun hits the piece and I would go find other work to do inside the studio (with a fan on me...)

 Here's the finished piece waiting for better photographs before I post it on my website.  It measures 50" high x 66" wide x 18" deep and weighs (I'm guessing) about 3,000 lbs.  It will sell for $8,000.00.

… and ending with the usual wildlife picture.... This 4th of July, we had a tiny visitor... This 3 or 4 day old fawn (legs still wobbly) came bleating across the lawn all upset.  Here's Meg's video of some of that:
https://youtu.be/cEBsYs9zGG4
We thought it was abandoned to be wandering around by itself bleating so loudly.  So, we tried it on warmed goat milk (a close approximation to actual deer milk, we've been told... not that I've tried either...).
It wouldn't take any, so we knew to leave it alone under the crane truck where it'd settled down.  That evening, I saw a doe leading it down the gravel road.  I'm happy that we resisted the urge to take it to the local wildlife rehabilitator.

Lemon Slice Sunrise

Early mornings are spent finishing up a large functional sculpture called "Fruition", which is in the shade outside the west wall of the studio.  In the heat of the afternoons, I work inside the studio (with a fan on me) on a sculpture called "Lemon Slice Sunrise".

 This picture was taken last fall after I cut a large piece of scrap from "Fruition" using the diamond chain saw.  In the background is the raw quarry block that later became "Resonate Journey" (makes me tired to think of all the work that I went through on that piece!)

 Meg used her crane truck to move that 1,000 lb. piece of scrap into the studio.

 I came up with this design to fit that stone.  It is a metaphor for making the best of a bad situation; when life gives you lemons, make lemonade - that kind of thing...

 I opted to go with the shapes found inside a lemon slice rather than the background sunrays in the drawing.  The sections of the lemon slice have a bush texture that contrasts with the fork chisel texture on the sunrays and the polish of the sun and rind of the lemon.

 As you walk around the piece...

 ...and the other side.  This piece measures 30"H x 37" x 15" and will sell for $2,800.00

Then, ending this post with a wildlife picture.  Some of the fawns are now coming up to the studio with their moms.  This little girl just got done checking her look in the chrome bumper of Meg's truck.  She's walking over to go nose-to-nose with a button buck (undoubtedly her first meeting with a boy) - who promptly kicked her in the head with his front hoof.

Wyandotte Cave

June 15 was my 58th birthday and Meg treated me to a tour of Wyandotte Cave which is a little west of Corydon, Indiana.

 We joined a group for the 2 hour tour.  This is the natural entrance.

This cave had been closed for a long while because of the White Nose disease that decimated the bat population.

 Even though this cave is close to where I grew up, I'd never been here before.

 This is one of the remaining barrels from a scheme by some guys to corner the onion market back in the 1800's.  The cave has a long (and colorful) history of use: first by native Americans, a group of counterfeiters, a secret society called Oddfellows (who had meetings with costumes and musical instruments) etc.

 This room had strange acoustics that made it sound as if the floor was hollow.

 I loved these dry-laid stone cairns that were at various locations throughout the cave.  Long ago, people would stay in the cave for days - exploring and making their own "monument" to show they were here.

 I liked these long Epsom salt crystals growing on the path.  Lots of geology in the cave: calcite, gypsum, dolomite, flint etc.

 There was a passage that had helictites - which are erratic growths of stalactites that seem to defy gravity.

 Meg caught this close-up shot of a twisty bunch.

You can see the seated silhouette of our guide (second generation following in his Father's footsteps).  He did a great job - let us take our time and enjoy the experience.
So… I'll have to go back another day and take the short tour of a different cave on the same property.
It was a pleasant way to spend my birthday.