A man (woman) needs a maid

I haven't posted the last few days. Exhaustion at the end of the day and having to catch up with life outside of sculpture in the mornings. I get so completely immersed in the stone when I am at this point that my life absolutely goes to hell outside of the work. Laundry piled high, mail and bills stacked, carpet unvacuumed, bathrooms in desperate need of cleaning...Neil Young's song, 'A man needs a maid' rolls through my mind continuously throughout the day.

Anyway, the piece is in its final polish. I have had an incredible painter friend of mine, Jerry (check out his website jerryfrost.com) help me to bring it upstairs so that I can look at it for a week or so to see what needs tweaking. I can't see her anymore though, I must step away or take her away from my work station to see her clearly again. I think she is beautiful but I'll tell you how i feel in a few weeks.

I am already chomping at the bit to get to the next piece. I, unfortunately already drilled a hole in her nose, thinking originally that she was going to be the torso of a woman...but i see now that she is another horse. I will have to take off at least 5 inches from what would have been the tip of her muzzle. I must believe though that this is how it was suppose to be. We'll see tomorrow

the one eyed girl

I am kind of getting used to the one eyed girl. It is so interesting with art. What really dosen't make sense logically, like a one eyed horse, truly does in art...or at least it does to me. You can decide for yourselves.

I love this stone. I had thought that it was going to be darker, but I am seeing that she has such a beautiful array of colors in her. The white that is showing up in her muzzle is going to be exquisite.

I had a scare today. I had to take her off of the pole that she is on and redo the hole. There was too much stone where the pole was placed. when I re drilled the hole it was at the wrong angle... scared the shit out of me. I get so upset with myself sometimes, because in my haste to get to the finish of the piece I don't think things like this through. So I took a breath and took some time and remeasured it and I think I brought her back.

The snow sculptor

Too tired to post tonight anything of significance. Long day, trying day. There must be another profession out there that doesn't leave me at the end of the day looking indistinguishable from the stone I am working on. Have I told you that at the end of a work day all of the bushes and ground around the piece look like a midwinter snowfall? and that I if I stand still I too look like the neighborhood snow sculptor? To give you an idea, today i took off about 70 lbs of stone. I was like a madwoman, sawing ,carving, grinding. I am at the point that i am so anxious, I see her , I feel her, I want her...the problem is, this is stone I am working with and every cut takes time and no matter what I believe or want, she will not be rushed.

She is still somewhat out of whack in her symmetry. But I'll bring her home, I'm sure of it

all I could possibly fathom was a bath

Have been working on her for a few days now. she is now at a place where I always come to in almost every piece that I create...I wonder what the hell I think I'm doing and why.

Let me explain... you see every cut is irreversible and the way i work is very quickly. I don't spend a great deal of time deliberating about what is my next move. I try to move quickly so that the conversation that i am having with the piece doesn't get drowned out by my fears of removing too much stone from the wrong place in the stone. There is a definite dialogue that goes on between us. The stone guides me and that is the intuitive part. It is a voice as loud as any in a quiet room where 2 people are speaking clearly to one another. I have had many years of learning and paying attention to composition both on a flat surface (as a painting) and in the 3dimensions of sculpture. It is those years of training that I count on to lead me though the process of listening to the stone and taking action to make her what she is asking for.

So, what do I mean by this moment in the piece that I wonder why I am doing this? Well, today I found out that my Kentucky girl has only one eye, its a pretty eye, but don't horses normally have 2? and there is too much weight at the bottom of her neck and the 2 sides of her face are not symmetrical and where are her ears and my back hurts and the days are too short to finish what I want to finish.

By the end of the 7 hr day all I could possibly fathom was a bath...forget this piece, get me in the tub... I am in lounging clothes now, getting ready to pour a cocktail and go out with my flashlight to see what the day has wrought. I am in the center of it now and no matter how daunting it might feel at the moment, all I want to do is go to go see her one last time tonight, go to bed and get up early and start again. Though early is only 11:00. I work in a home with a dear friend and in a neighborhood who allow me this grinding noise and I try to respect their morning quiet.

I love her

She has begun. I love her. If I could have held out longer with my body and with the length of the sun in the day, I would have gone further. I love her

I saw her amongst the stones

I finally have her on my work stand. She has been in the back of the truck and every time that I have looked at her I have had such a sense that not only I have been longing to begin the process with her but she too exudes a hunger to start our relationship together. When i saw her amongst the piles and piles of rough stone, she immediately called to me and I saw her. It is the strangest and most real phenomena to see in that rough piece of stone what she is or what she feels to me like she is asking me to bring her to. So today i will begin and as always before I begin a piece, I feel anxious, excited, nervous and completely out of my mind that I am once again going to attempt this process of bringing a stone to the place that it has called out to be. It does feel a bit like going out on the basketball court, or at least the hours before a game, when I know that we are going against a team that truly is a contender. It is anxiety provoking, but once I am on the court or more now in the present, when I put my first cut into the stone, I am home.

300 llbs of stone

I found a new stone today. She is sitting in the truck right now. Being that she weighs close to 300 llbs, she'll have to stay there until I get some guys to bring her to my work station. She is beautiful though, she of course is all rough and rock looking right now, but there is a Kentucky Derby winner inside there and I can hardly wait to bring her to the finish line.