Sunshine Daydream!

This spring has been spectacular! The weather this week was perfect and the Locust blossoms filled the air with a wonderful fragrance. There are only 3 types of weather in Kentucky: too hot to work, too cold to work or too nice to work.

Nevertheless, work proceeds on the Washington commission at a brisk pace. Last week, the general outline around the sides was formed. This week will focus on blocking out the general shape from front to back.
This is the view of the north face as I began the week's work.
I've preformed the protective seed shell on the south face of the sculpture.
The procedure was repeated on the opposite side.
What is now the front side of the sculpture, was cut flat in the quarry as part of the mining process. I use the flat side to lay out the curves and forms of the design. By using a square, I get an accurate placement of the curves of the median line for the 3 shell pieces. I'm making the radius of the top piece correct at this point.
I begin to carve weight off the top.
This is the view of the south face as I continue to remove stone.
This is the view from the other direction. I have preformed some of the shapes on the front face, as well.
This is what the sculpture looked like at the end of work, late Saturday. The sculpture has its general preform. It probably weighs about 7,000 lbs, down from the original weight of 13,000 lbs. Next week, I will focus on forming the interior plant shapes.
The highlight of the week for me was the trip to the Victor Oolitic stone quarry on Wednesday. This is where the stone for the Washington commission originally came from.

The main purpose of the trip was to get the 3 bottom blocks of select grade cut stone that will be the bases for Meg's LSU fountain group. Of course, like a kid in a candy store, I had to get something for myself. The square block that I have my hand on, will be part of a base for the next project titled "Nexus". I rounded out the load with 8,000 lbs of variegated slabs (not shown here).

Meg has what she calls a "Daydream". She found and photographed a small flowering plant that has 2 state biologist stumped. She has the hope that she has discovered a new species. She will post pictures of it on her blog http://rockpaperscissorsnclay.blogspot.com/ later this week. Be sure to check it out. I hope her dream comes true!