Category Archives: Sculpture
Everyone Starts Somewhere
BrightenUp yard art project
The purpose of Yard Art, for me, is primarily to divert & amuse. If it goes a little deeper, to make you think a bit, or has some beauty at the right angle… that is a bonus, perhaps. Here I want to add a touch of color in a very dull spot, and to entertain passers by, without spending money or using much in the way of new material: just a little paint!
I painted squares of scrap wood leftover from building, along with a few other shapes … At right is the “Doors Project” destined for the same location, made up of extra door hardware along with a few keys.
I have a definite location in mind, but that is a surprise.
Working 3-D
I have been working on my technique and learning more than producing. However I have made these two small plaster faces/masks, heavily influenced by the work of Terry Turrell, whose recent exhibit in Seattle has been played on my screen & larger TV, along with the narrated video “Terry Turrell, In Layers” on Vimeo. Wonderful stuff!
I am trying out some techniques with cement mortar & fabric, hoping eventually to get artistic with this material. For now, just pots, a small fountain, and perhaps an outdoor chair.
More with Lighting: another variant
This is another variant of a digital drawing collage. The two adult figures are my maternal grandparents: a drawing derived from a very lovely photograph of them together.
The child is a transfer of a poor likeness of a a portrait of my granddaughter (by marriage). The whole is 11″ x 14″, in an acrylic box frame backed by LED lights.
Sounds simple enough, but it took a LOT of work & rework to get this right. There is just enough color and light diffusion so the piece looks good lit and unlit, I think.
The plug in LED lights are very bright, and come in long strings. I have not experimented with shortening them for a bit less light, but I do want that option, especially for smaller pieces.
Playing with Light (again)
Update: I have a title for this piece now. It is “Hallelujah Spirit Box“.
This is a finely woven “silk” box given me by a friend for creative use. I have found a place for some resin pieces made several years ago & never incorporated into a finished work. I like having multiple surfaces: layers! I can attach things inside on two surfaces, and outside on both surfaces: there is no front & back (but there are sides…). And actually I can put this together in two ways: lid on, or lid behind.
It is all about playing with lights, translucency, weight/weightlessness. 
Don’t forget to click on the first photo to page through the larger lightbox view (much more impressive 🙂
Not sure what this piece is about. The kneeling figure was cast in resing from a figure I carved in soap, while spending a winter in Mexico, surrounded by Catholic churches. It is about reverence, and perhaps there is some allusion to death/ascendence? And flight, and a “lightness of being” or perhaps “not being” (death).The lenses may be about trying to see more/further.
Further Evidence …
Just in case anyone needs this, I seem to have further evidence that I am very competitive at times. I had not really planned to submit anything to the upcoming art show at Northwind Arts Center. It has the theme: Fins, Feather, Fur. This did not inspire me, or fit any of my more recent work.
But the theme did inspire someone else: Maureen! My art teacher/guru/facilitator rarely enters shows, but she was fired up to enter this one, and working hard. 
Next thing I know, I am desperately working too, on new clay, wax & driftwood sculptures. Good grief!
I have one piece, Wanting to be Needed (see previous post), completed, and another called Looking for a Place, well in hand! My power tools & construction skills are proving useful, and I am having fun.
After many more crazy fun hours of work, I have a plan for, and much of the work complete for the interior of this found box. The hardest part may be the display: I want the box open, but the lid up in the air, not just sitting next to it. I have three sticks of wood, representing tree trunks, that I should be able to mount the lid on more permanently.
