Marble Dove

This week, I carved a marble dove for the Tree of Life commission.

About 10 days ago, the block of pure white Colorado Yule Marble arrived at Cave Hill Cemetery. I was quite impressed with the quality of the stone - it was flawless. Also, they took great care in the crate and packing for the stone block.

The first task was to carve the outline of the dove, using the clay model as the pattern.

Then, I marked the forms of the sculpture onto the preform with a wax china marker.

I blocked in the forms onto both sides of the marble piece.

For all intents and purposes, the marble dove is finished. I will refine the head and other forms as I spend more time with the piece.

I have completed all of the clay work for the Tree. I put the 23 leaf clusters up on pedestals of wood, to make it easier to put a 2 part mold onto them.

Introducing Part A and Part B...the mold material has arrived (you're looking at $560.00 worth of rubber!). I am ready to begin putting the molds onto the Tree of Life.

Tree Pruned and 3 sculptures installed

This is what the Tree of Life commission looked like, the last time that I posted updates on this blog.

Now...prepare yourself for a shock...

This is what it looks like now. It will not become whole again until it is recreated in the bronze foundry. Like a Phoenix, it will rise from the fiery glow of the foundry furnace and the blinding arcs of the welders.

I used a sawz-all to cut all the leaf clusters off the branches. Meg caught them as I cut them. I then numbered and pinned them to numbered squares of plywood.

I am still refining the leaf clusters and branches, and will continue to do that until the marble for the Dove arrives. I want to confirm the fit of the finished marble Dove to the clay leaves, before covering the clay sculpture parts with mold material.

Last week, 3 of my stone sculptures were installed at a private residence. It was a long day - beginning before first light and ending well after dark. JBB Inc. of Hardinsburg sent out their 23 ton truck-mounted crane for the delivery and installation. I asked for Derrick Sheroan as operator - wouldn't have it any other way.

Two of the sculptures were center pieces for fountains. Fountains mean water, and at some point I was going to have to get my feet wet.

This is the view of the sculpture "Embrace" from the house. The fountain is not completely finished. I hope to get pictures when it all comes together.

This is the other view - what I consider as the front of the piece.

Then, we moved around to the back of the house to set "Reach".

It was also intended as a fountain piece.

The third piece that we installed is called "Promise". It is functional as seating.

A friend from high school days, Jeff Linkous came for a visit. He pointed out that we hadn't seen each other face-to-face for 14 years! Hopefully, we're going to break that pattern.
All photos by Meg White