Abstractus
Working with this limestone stele, (a stele is a slab shape piece of stone), provided an opportunity to work with a series of connected abstract shapes. Mostly sculpted with hand tools, the shapes had to be lightly connected but still reveal a flow of image. Applying a light coating of furniture oil with a light buffing created the brown tone areas.
Swan Noir
For this stone sculpture automobile hood ornaments of the 1950’s inspired me. Sweeping shapes, long curves, deep shadows, all signature marks of the big automobile era. The same sweeping shapes, long curves and deep shadows are the lines of good sculptures. The name, Swan Noir, is almost as abstract as the shape. Though noir is French I expect everyone knows noir means black.
Breaching
A breaching humpback whale is a solitary event but elicits a group gasp as the spectacular leap rises and rises and then falls with a tremendous splash. This whale is mounted at that moment of maximum rise and anticipated splash.
Tree of Life
Maple
How better to celebrate Canada150 than a sculpture of overlapping maple leaves? I selected this green block only to find out it was one of the hardest stones I have ever worked. Like cracker jacks, there is a surprise in every stone. The backside looks like a cross between a maple leaf and pot. As I said every piece is a surprise.
Hearts
A woman looking through the gallery asked if I could design a piece that reflected her special relationship with her son; a relationship that involved a heart health crisis. Upon reflection I suggested overlapping hearts made from translucent white alabaster.
The result is two superimposed hearts but when placed in a window and backlit the smaller heart “ghosts” in the larger one. The warm light also shows fissures in the stone that appear like arteries. An unusual design but a perfect match for what the client desired.
Chess Set
Lighthouse
This stone is white alabaster with a warm rose hue. The rose hue suggests the warmth of an unseen sunrise. Placed on a rocky promontory of grey slate (the base) the lighthouse looks out providing both protection and warning. The small out buildings are unattached allowing the owner of the sculpture to be a sculptor and create a new sculpture by re-arranging the structures as they wish.
Various Miniatures
Stepping Out
Spirit Face
Walk in the Snow
White alabaster in a matte finish provides a perfect replication of snow. The piling of the snow in front of the boots, the lean of the body and her hand resting on her thigh suggest the struggle to make her way to her destination.
After sketching the figure on the four sides of the block I did the initial stone shaping with a grinder. The body contours and limb detail were defined using small files called rifflers. Finishing the stone with a mid-grade sandpaper provides the white matte finish.
Coupled
Peachy orange alabaster is not an easy colour of stone to incorporate in to a sculpture. Combine a colour challenge with a thin slab of material and you get a bas relief of an embracing couple. This piece actually sold as soon as it was finished. Uniqueness of design combined with every piece being one-of-a-kind is a winning combination.
Orange Bird
Simple, stylized, peachy orange colour, it cannot be mistaken as anything but a bird.
Heron
A recent spring trip to the Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge (Hilton Head) was inspiration for this wading bird sculpture. Combined with my first foray in to working with limestone it provided a perfect opportunity to create an “outdoor” sculpture to sit by our urban pond. Limestone can by placed outdoors. It requires no protection though applying a minute coating of wax every few years will avoid any staining from bird droppings. Even birds can be art critics.
Limestone can be worked with hammer and chisel or an electric grinder. I used both tools on this project, grinding away larger areas to create the relief and affecting the tree leaves with careful swipes of the grinding wheel. The detail such as the fine grasses and the beak, face and crown plume were created by hammer and chisel. The sculpture is 20” tall, 16” wide and 3” thick. The top is a natural break. The base is stacked marble slabs. The two pieces are assembled. Two steel pins in the limestone fit in to holes on the marble base.
Hummingbirds
Hummingbird mini
Humpback Whale
Leap of Faith
The humpback breaks the surface of the water creating a foamy white base. The whale is white alabaster polished to a glossy finish that reveals the translucent stone. When backlit the breaching whale glows with energy. Place it in a sunny window and watch the sculpture change as the sun moves across the sky.
Liftoff
Polar Bear
So Cute
Splash
Toad
Early Blooms
What to make from a stone that is a peach/orange colour. The raw stone was also shaped like an inverted pyramid. It took me six months to decide what would be the best use of this stone. Why not use the soft warm colours to shape a bouquet of flowers. Turned out deciding what to make was the easy step. All those many small shapes and detail took a tremendous effort to shape and to finish to a shine.
Giraffe
This miniature bas-relief is actually a fridge magnet. By shaving off stone around the giraffe I am able to polish the raised stone and reveal the tawny colour giraffe while leaving the environment dusty beige. The surrounding material is scored to symbolize long grass and chipped to affect the leaves and branches of the thorny acacia tree. The stone is presented on a diagonal to emphasize the long neck of the giraffe.
Partridge Family
Bunny Run
What a silly name for a sculpture! Well not if you look at it closely. This white alabaster stone is polished to a high finished and appears translucent. When backlit it glows warm. I was inspired to create this piece after watching my granddaughter play with her “stuffys”.
Bear
Whale and Calf
This stunning whale in black alabaster twinkles with the hi-lites of ambient light. The close positioning of the whale and calf demonstrate the dependency of mother and daughter in a challenging environment. The sculpture, mounted on brushed aluminum posts floats over the white ocean base..
Iggy Wanna
I think I had more fun thinking up a name for this iguana sculpture than making it. This creamy soapstone finishes to a high shine easily, compared to other stone. The high shine contrasts well against the rough matte finish stone. The iguana is hugging the rock as iguanas do. His legs and tail wrapped in the crevices.
Growler
Two facts about this stone sculpture. The original block was so heavy I couldn’t lift it. Secondly the grey natural colour is polished to an extremely lustrous black. A black so bottomless you cannot see where the surface begins.
The bear and base are one continuous piece of stone. The visual separation is the bear is sanded and polished to reveal the black colour and base has a rough worked face.
What can be more imposing (threatening) than a larger muscular mass turning its face towards you? Searching you out. Silently holding you in its gaze. That is how you feel when this large shiny black bear paces in front of you. How can a stone feel threatening? It is a matter of shaping the stone so that you can see the muscle mass tense, exuding energy. The intensity of the piece is released, even transferred to you the observer, through its stare. Enjoy the shivers.
Watch Over Me
My inspiration for this work was watching my daughter and husband care for their newborn daughter. The abstract form is as simple as possible. Two adjacent curves leaning forward. The stone parents are standing shoulder-to-shoulder craning their heads to look in to a cradle. Your eye follows the parents’ line of sight in to the curved cradle. The curve of the cradle suggests a rocking motion.
Space
Ready for Flight
Patterns
Ocean Sounds
Having recently returned from my first ocean cruise I wondered what it would look like if I had a porthole window below the waterline. This is what I envisioned swimming dolphins and whales would look like if viewed from under the sea.
Future of Flight
Riffing off of the “round peg in a square hole” idiom I designed the intersection of a round hole (actually elliptical) and a square hole. And of course to make it more challenging I balanced the piece on the edge of the circle. The material is translucent white alabaster that when backlit has a warm white glow.
Delicate Balance
This sculpture is two interlocking pieces. Not glued, just interlocked. Neither piece will stand by itself. But assembled they balance. Now for the surprise. The two pieces can be assembled in multiple orientations providing five distinct sculptures. Each a delicate balance.
It required some of my engineering background to determine the centre of mass of the individual pieces and of the assembled shape.
Black Swan
As this piece evolved from the grey block it reminded me of the old-fashioned chrome hood ornaments on those big cars of yesteryear. The sculpture has the sleek body of a bird, with subtle folded wings, leading the vehicle in to the future.
Ice Flow
We hear so much about the imminent demise of polar bears due to the impact of global warming on their environment that I wanted to sculpt a polar bear that reflected their condition. Consequently Ice Flow shows a white alabaster bear confined to a tiny ice flow. The ragged edges symbolize their shrinking world. The bear, always vigilant, is on the hunt for food.
Artifact
The raw stone had a very irregular shape. What to make from such an unusual shape? I chose to make what could be described as a fractured artifact uncovered in an archeological dig. Hence the name. This white alabaster looks pure white. Ironically, stone this white looks soft, like a marshmallow.
Persona
Loon and Chick
You can’t see from the photograph but this sculpture is from a unique material, black pearl soapstone. Close examination reveals many small “pearls” on the surface. This commission was for a woman who wanted a sculpture that reflected her husband’s Muskoka roots. What better than a loon?
Hummingbird stelae
You may heave heard the word stelae in the context of Mayan plinths. Well this stelae is circa 2016 and is a bas-relief of hummingbirds feeding. By hammer and chisel I removed the background and revealed the birds and flowers. Followed by a light sanding to remove tool marks. It can be placed outdoors or enjoyed indoors year round.
Elephant Walk
Experimentation with material is what keeps sculpting interesting. This stone sculpture is thin, only ¼ inch thick. The perimeter is “nibbled” tool-work to create a naturalized edge. The elephants are very small, only ¼ to ¾ inch tall. The background material is shaved away to leave slightly raised elephants and mountains. The stone is all one colour but by polishing the raised portions through different grades of sand paper I am able to distinguish the elephants and mountains from the dusty savannah.
Whale – Mini
Lighthouse
This stone is white alabaster with a warm rose hue. The rose hue suggests the warmth of an unseen sunrise. Placed on a rocky promontory of grey slate (the base) the lighthouse looks out providing both protection and warning. The small out buildings are unattached allowing the owner of the sculpture to be a sculptor and create a new sculpture by re-arranging the structures as they wish.