Turtle, Day II

Back last weekend I finally got to return to the first of my three planned carvings at Teaneck Creek Conservancy. It is a turtle, about 12x12x10 inches in a large poplar log. As you can see I made a fair amount of progress, refining the shape of the shell and limbs, and bringing quite a bit of detail into the face. It is supposed to have a somewhat stylized look. I’m happy with it, but the expression isn’t quite what I want it to be yet.  My hope is that one more day will finish it…

Thorns in Progress

Slow (hopefully steady) progress being made on carving for Frenzy into Folly, this fall's exhibit at St Paul the Apostle in NYC. I realize I haven't posted a work in progress pic since the initial roughed out blank. So above is a look at an earlier stage in the process, below is about where it is at now. The face is 80 percent finished, but there is still a lot of work to be done on the clothes and hands. Not to mention the lush steel tendrils that are supposed to be enveloping it... I'm sure that will work out somehow.

Turtle, Day I Carving

After almost a months delay I was finally back this Sunday working on the first of three animal carvings for the recently re-landscaped Labyrinth at Teaneck Creek Conservancy. An afternoon's effort got me this far on the first carving. This turtle is going to be a little more compact than the (now stolen) previous one I did for the conservancy, The shell is a bit exaggeratedly domed and the head and arms more pulled in to try and make a stronger structure for a relatively weak wood (poplar) in a pretty high traffic location. I'm experimenting with coating the piece with light coat of latex based deck sealer after each day's work to try and slow drying and ultimately leave a  protective coat on the final surface, see how it goes...

Blobs

In the interesting but probably uninformative visualization category, we have this factory second from something I'm working on at work, work. Those who know what I do might guess it's a section of a C. elegans lineage, the meaning of the dots is currently shrouded in mystery, but I enjoy the fact that they remind me of fruit...

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/