Realistic Designs
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.