Washington Square Outdoor Art Exhibit, Spring 2012

A quick note of self promotion. I'll be in the Washington Square Outdoor Art Exhibit this weekend and next, May 26, 27, 28 and June 2 and 3 noon-6pm. I'll be between 9th and 10th on the west side of University Place, NYC. Stop by if you're downtown.Check out their website for more info http://wsoae.org

It's a Start

 After one day rained out, and another with my seldom used gas saw nonfunctional, its carburetor having mysteriously wandered from the factory default, I finally got down to Teaneck Creek to trim and bark this log. It will ultimately be a turtle (sitting on the top of a post), one of three animal totems I'm carving for the labyrinth. It is going to be almost a month before I'm going to get another free day to get down there, so I'm glad I've got this (and the other two logs) trimmed and up on spacers, in the hope they'll stay bug and mold free(ish) at least till I get to carve them...  

Note the cottonwood fuzz which is so heavy on the ground you'd think it had snowed.

Writing...

 

This is carving related only in that an old self portrait of mine is in the icon, but it is book related. Somewhat implausible as it might seem I just posted my first blog on carmelites.net. Currently the plan is I'm reading works by famous Carmelites and seeing where that leads. I've been reading works by and about Edith Stein, an author whose writings I always meant to read, but never got to before this. Both the reading and moonlighting as a writer (proof that anyone can get published on the internet) has been fun, but judge the results for yourself:

http://www.carmelites.net/blog/on-earththe-challenge-of-edith-stein/

No more bees

 
In the interesting to me but nobody else department the swarming bees outside my apartment are now departed, hopefully to a comfortable hollow tree, but having been there for several days left behind this tiny cute honey comb, which I keep eying thinking I may grab it to finish a carving with...

More Pictures of Mary Completed

A couple more closeup pictures of the completed carving and shelter.

Done (ish)

 

All together it is probably about 100 hours that have gone into the project. It took on a bit of a life of its own and grew from the initial carving to include the shelter made with storm downed branches and hand split shingles. I will never try and split something that knotty again. As far as my works goes it is finally done.  This weekend I finished the last touches, mounted the cross and leveled out the statue a little. I’d been toying with the idea of arranging the cutoffs in a star pattern around the base, and I’m pretty happy with the result. It’s not quite finished however. The figure is starting to weather to a slightly more even gray, but it has got a while to go till it is totally evened out. I also planted some morning glory seeds around the shelter. Hopefully, they’ll sprout; I’m looking forward to seeing the effect.