Wolf, Not Done, but Mounted

In a short day today, got to mount the wolf carving permanently in the ground at Teaneck Creek (well permanently till some kid knocks it over). Though I neglected to take a picture there is a green oak 4x4 lag bolted into a notch in the back, and mounted in the ground, hopefully protecting the poplar a bit from  moisture. I'll note that I'm not a tooling person, but a post hole digger is one of those little miracles that makes an apparently impossible task easy.

A quick glance at another piece of the same tree, makes it clear why I have worries about the pieces longevity. But I put another coat of sealer on it, and we shall see.
 

 

The less than virgin forest aspect of the creek park was highlighted by the fact that digging this 4x4 hole I hit two plastic children's toys, and a piece of pottery. I suspect that is more recent fill contamination, rather than the 40's-50's household waste that underlies other parts of the park... On that front prowling the eroding bank as I tend to when the greenery is low, I finally succeeded in my long term efforts to find a blue medicine bottle, something I have a childish obsession about.  Bromo-Seltzer good for what ails you.

Processional cross: initial dry assembly

I debated if I should post a recent work in progress pic of this ongoing commission, thought it might give away the surprise. I decided there was no harm, on the basis that my phone takes such terrible pictures its almost like you're not seeing it at all.   The base needs some more shaping, but otherwise its final fitting, finishing and assembly. A relief to be sure its actually going to be done on time.

My First Mesh

Strictly speaking I've created hundreds of thousands of meshes for work, all data driven however, and unfortunately, mostly lots and lots of spheres. This is my first ever free form 3D sculpt. I can't imagine actually making sculpture like this; it seems very fiddly. However, I could see doing concept maquette work this way.  For free I don't know how much you can expect, but I was a little surprised  given this program is based on a professional tool, that it seems to have so much trouble keeping the mesh from penetrating itself and creating odd artifacts that you can't smooth out, like those visible around the eyes. Maybe I'm doing something you're not supposed to...