Tree of Life and a Halloween party

The work continues on the Tree of Life commission.

I spent the first couple days of the week figuring out how to attach the Dove to the Tree. This is a full scale clay model of the Dove, which will be carved from Colorado Yule Marble. There is a cluster of leaves that was custom fitted to the back of the Dove, and 2 branches that make a cross brace to hold the Dove securely.

I have begun the process of cutting leaf clusters from the branches with a sawz-all. I number the clusters on a photo of the Tree (in red ink in the lower right hand corner), and number the clusters as well, so that it will come back together correctly at the foundry.

I also use a register mark, to make sure that the cluster is properly oriented, when it is welded back together.

The rest of the week was spent cleaning up the clay work on the leaf clusters. This will continue all through next week, as well.

Saturday night, we were invited to a Halloween party at the home of Steve McMillen and Alice Kimble.

Peewee Herman was our host.

Dorothy and Scarecrow from the merry ol' land of Oz.

If you think your head hurts now...wait till the morning.

Lizard Boy and zombie dog have a tussle.

Two leather-clad rockers and a pumpkin.

A zombie and a Viking.

The trick is to know when to quit.

Cat girl...and in the background Peewee and something that's been dead for a while.

Gandalf brought fireworks to the party.

Whoosh! Lift off from the end of a wizard's staff.

A fiery Angel. (photos by Meg White)

Dove for Tree of Life and a fountain

Work continues on the Tree of Life commission.

This is how the Tree of Life looked on Sunday, the 25th (the last posting).

This is how the Tree looked today. I worked on the outline, so that it would match the original rendition more closely. Then, I improved the branches and leaves (for about 3 days straight - and there is still lots of work to go).

This was the original design for the Dove. I had received feedback from various sources that it needed improving.

I came up with this design last Monday.

Today, I began to make a full scale clay of the Dove. I started by making a 10" x 12" image in photoshop. Then, I trimmed it into 3 images that would fit onto regular 8-1/2" x 11" paper. I cut and taped them together, and that gave me a full scale drawing.

I cut the outline of the paper Dove and traced it onto a stiff piece of poster board. I used an exacto knife to cut the poster board just a little bit smaller than the outline.

I started packing clay over this poster board armature.

This is how the dove looked at the end of the day. It is beginning to shape up like I want, although it will take me another day or so to refine the forms. It's starting to shape up nicely.

On June 28, I started to set up a fountain. I laid a bed of sand, leveled a section of cement board and put down a butyl rubber liner before starting to install the stone elements. I got side-tracked with other commissions and had to leave it unfinished for a long time.

There was some architectural salvage along the front of the studio building. They were causing rain water to back into the building, and they had to be moved. Over the 20 years that I've had these antique stone pieces, I've moved them 6 to 8 times. I thought that maybe this should be about the last time to move them. I decided to use them as the border for the forgotten fountain.

This is how the fountain looks, at this point. There are still some improvements that I want to make, but it will have to wait.

However, it is working, and it is right outside the break room window. The sound of falling water is great!