The Good, The Bad ... and The Ugly

 The Good...It's official!  My sculpture "Crucible" will become part of the permanent collection of the University of Indianapolis!

 The Bad...I leave tomorrow on a 1,200 mile round trip to retrieve my "Riverboat Bench" from Dubuque, Iowa.  It was (at one point) to become the first public art acquisition for the City of Dubuque in the 21st Century.  It had a donor and had been approved by both the Art Advisory Committee and the City Council.

 The Ugly...the General Manager of the City of Dubuque put a stop to the whole affair.  According to an article written in the Dubuque newspaper, "The Telegraph Herald", the G.M. managed to get a contract drafted and approved in a meeting (closed to the public) where he (and he alone) had the sole power to remove the bench as soon as ownership was transferred to the City.  His intentions were clear from a letter to the council wherein he demanded that they not accept the donation.  

 Meanwhile...work proceeds slowly on the large granite hand.

 It's basically finished, but I continue to refine it.  I keep finding things to improve - just making for a better sculpture.

 ...and speaking of large stone hands...I'm slowly making improvements on this 30,000 lb. stone sculpture that is outdoors.  The weather occasionally has some great days for climbing up on the scaffolding and having a go at it.

Cat as the Hat.

First Day of Spring

It's Spring - the snow is gone and the grass is turning green.

 The last post on this granite hand said, "about one more hard day to finish the carving...".Well, I've put in about 3 more days so far.   I need a bit more fussy tweaking before I'm going to call it finished.  It's good to get away from a piece for a while and come back to it with fresh eyes.

 With reasonable weather, I jumped back on this 30,000 lb. sculpture that's been waiting patiently outside for me to come back to it.  The intense work on the granite hand made it easier for me to get focused on what needs to be done to carve these big limestone hands. 

 This is what it looks like today.  I've spent a few days up in the palms thinning and refining the shapes. (Hard to tell what I've done).

 This was the view on the back side, which was completely unconsidered.

 Here's what it looks like today.  I've opened it up around the thumbs and beginning to define the large block shapes.  (Lots of work to go)

The Magical Mystery Great White...Turkey.

 (The dust from the thundering herds obscured the sun).