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.
