THe Work Begins

This weekend we finally got some weather that could pass for spring-like. I was able to escape my duties for a few hours to go to the beach. Big storms the previous week had taken out a short section of one of my walls and subverted a section of another, and deposited a fifty foot tree right in front of the big wall. This may have protected things from the surf possibly, as the water reached above the platform to the base of the sculpture. The down side of this is whatever species of tree it is, it stinks. While working on the clean-up, I thought there was some fresh dog leavings, and I was cursing dog-owners to myself and at some point I sat on the tree and realized it was actually the tree itself that stunk. It was completely stripped of bark so I can't tell what it is, but I am certainly surprised to learn that there is a type of tree out there that smells like dog-shit when it is stripped of its bark and submerged in the lake for an unknown period of time...Will wonders never cease. After cleaning up a couple bags of garbage I did my initial stick sculpture of the year, as there was no shortage of material lining the beach. A small circle with three concentric bands to see how it would catch the light of the setting sun. I like the way each concentric ring changes "color" . I didn't have time to do anything big, but this weekend I will try something larger scale and if there is a clear day, I'll see if I can get the sun to cooperate and do something interesting.

I saw a Goldsworthy piece shot in time lapse photography and it looked pretty cool as the light changed, so this was my dry run for something a little more ambitious. I have also begun the dismantling of last year's sculpture in preparation for the 2011 version of the Stonewave. Some ideas are rattling around in there, but nothing is for sure.