A Sea of Frozen Basketballs

If April showers bring May flowers what does a January freight-train from the Arctic bring? Winter showed up for a second round last week and brought with it a lot of nights in the single digits. Some of those nights had some wind to go along with the package and the end result was our first real crop of ice dunes down on the beach. The lake is frozen for the first time out as far as you can see, though it may not last for long as tomorrow it is supposed to be 50 degrees.

 I can't explain why, but in this particular instance the ice has formed in spherical lumps. This happened a few years back as well, but it is still an impressive sight. The beach appears to be lined with frozen balls stacked up on each other in impressive mounds up to 8 feet high. Many of the balls are basketball size. Then after they were cast ashore they were then covered in a layer of snow about 8 inches thick. That layer will likely be melted away by the weekend and the basketballs will be revealed in their naked glory.

 But until then you will just have to admire them in their more modest dress. Because of conditions, I couldn't really do any work down there this weekend, I could only admire nature's handiwork, but hopefully this weekend will create some opportunities.

 So this is where I left off with the "Wave". It is likely to be a while before any new work can be done on it. I have, however, been painting up a storm. I probably put in about 20 hours over the last four days.

 This is the last painting I finished. It is about 4' x 2' with a projecting form off the front. My second experiment with painting with a three dimensional component. It is not entirely finished yet, but you get the point. Cheers.

The New Year is Dressed in Winter

 It finally came. The snow. It dusted Christmas and carpeted the next day. We've been wearing white since then. When it is like this there is limited work to be done on the beach. Both today and yesterday I went down to see if anything wanted to be made and the cobbles spoke up, asking to be stacked. I walked down a ways and the only thing of interest along the wateredge were the carcasses of at least five big fish. Troutish looking fellows about 2 feet long. I don't know what possessed them to give up the ghost, but there they lay as repast for some Greater Black Backed Gulls. Today when I went down the wateredge had become an ice-edge. The foundation is layed for this year's ice dunes. Below are some pictures of the Wall with some snow and ice.

 The following three pictures are some shots of the "Arbolisk". This is pretty much the finished version, but for some black trim along the base of the pillar. It works better with the leaves than just letting them go right up to the base. It is two feet tall and two feet wide. The first of some experiments with three dimensional images.

Gestures of Futility

 I went down to the Peninsula on Sunday. It was in the sixties, which in December in Erie is not a common occurrence, so I felt the need to take advantage of it, especially in light of our proximity to doomsday. It was a pleasant ride around on the bike, with a stop at Gull Point Trail for a hike out to the end and a return trip along the lakefront. The lake always has a surprise or two for the observant and this day was no exception. Saw a couple of Snow Buntings for starters and quite a few other unusual denizens of the littoral including this strange creature looking all forlorn and gesturing in despair towards Canada.

 In this close-up view one can almost feel Job-like resignation in the way the appendages supplicate towards the unforgiving expanse of water. I am brought to a near tearful state just looking at it now.

 

This carcass also gives one the same desolate feel of emptiness. It is as if Franz Kline designed a piece of driftwood to commemorate some tragedy to which we are not privy. All that great negative space trying to hold its own against the wooden leviathan.

 

And then you have this rather stark sentinel, head periscoping out of the sand like a reverse ostrich. Nothing seems to be passing here except time. 

 

This fellow seems to have a great deal more energy, he will stride and strut the beach whereas his counterpart merely stands. He directs the forces of surf and sand and wind to no avail, with a pent-up energy that contorts his frame like a spastic in a loose-fitting straight-jacket.

 

Now this has less to do with anything than nothing, but I thought it looked interesting. These two pictures show a fallen tree that had been covered with sand. At some point the sand was sucked out from under parts of it, leaving a layer of sand on top of the tree like layers of icing on a cake. So you gotta admit, that isn't something you see everyday.

 

In another unrelated observation, here is a birch tree lying on the surf-line with its bark stripped off of a section, revealing a burnt sienna-orange flesh. It was such a bright scar when the sun hit it, I thought it beautiful against the blues of water and sky.

 

Two last images of futility, one nature-made and one mine. Along a stretch of beach there were a number of these little pebble carpets trailing off towards the water. They perforated the sandy strip of beach in three foot intervals and tapered off into the water, like an arrow pointing out a preferred destination. Lasting only as long as the wind is down and then they will disappear like the hope of getting there. The second image is a stack of cobbles on my beach. I add twenty of thirty each time I go down, but in the end the lake will take it as well.

An Arbolisk in the Making



So I have been working on this painting pretty much all of November and now into December. The idea is to mount the painting on a sculptural form, in this case a truncated obelisk without a point. So I cut the paintings to be narrower at the top and then arranged them so that they would fit together side to side.  Each edge would connect up with the edge of the painting on either side. The end result would be a kind of a tree trunk, but squared off.

 

These are the four sides seen separately. I have not attached them to the form yet and I have to finish the platform, but possibly by the weekend, this piece will be complete for all intents and purposes. I am currently liking my first venture into this type of work, but I want to try a couple of other forms I have in mind. I think it will complement the altarpieces and I have had a couple of nibbles on the proposal, so there should be at least a couple of pieces done before they get a public airing.

 

December has already given us a couple of 50 degree days, so we are easing into winter or the end of the world whichever comes first. I have done some beachwork and have some new stone laid up for this weekend as the weather is supposed to be conducive. Until then...

 

 

 

 

Surviving Superstorms

 So this big storm sweeps in off of the Atlantic wreaking havoc at the points of ingress and we in the interior are warned that its devastation could reach us here on the shores of Lake Erie. The coast took the brunt of it, but the fabled destruction it was to level on us failed to materialize. Fifteen foot waves and gusting winds turned out to be a slight exaggeration, with a mild fall storm being the actual reality. The picture below is hurricane day and you can see that the surf is not much to fear. My original thought was that I would walk down to the beach and see my summer work completely undone. Instead I found the beach to be in a state of repose.

 

These are some post-hurricane pictures of sections of the sculpture wearing some leaves stripped from the trees by the recent winds. Things continue to progress with a couple of courses of stone being added as it washes in.

This is one of the "staircases" that has become a waterfall every time it rains really hard. If you look closely you can see the water coming out near the bottom center between the lower courses of stone.

 This is the west end with some of the niches and windows visible. It is currently about nine feet high from beach level to top.

 This is another view with the little cobble mound in front. Every time I go down I add some cobbles to the pile trying to grow it up without the base getting any larger. We'll see how long it lasts. It is my canary in the coal mine.

 This is what the whole complex looks like from the east end. If you look closely you can see the checkdam in the background.

I couldn't figure out how to delete these images I accidentally added so just ignore them. This weekend it reached 70 degrees and two days later it was in the 30's. Such is November.

That Rare October Day

 

So, I went down to the beach on Sunday, which was as beautiful a day as Saturday was wretched, (unless you are a jellyfish, or a slime mold or a native of Venus, in which case our opinions would likely be reversed). The sky was mostly clear. There was a fresh northwest breeze steadily pushing the rollers in, so that there was a constant sussuration that was only occasionally pierced by some sea gulls objecting to something that wasn't evident to me from my vantage point. And in this little acre of space-time, I was able to gather about 100 stones cast up on shore by the lake's fluid labors.

I didn't have time to set any of them, as there is a time for every purpose under heaven and this was gathering time, not stacking time.

After I was finished lugging these stones to the storage area, I paused to take a few pictures. Unfortunately, the wall remains entirely in the shade of the bluff at this time of the year in the afternoon, so the pictures lack a bit, where the drama of high contrast, raking light is concerned. The first picture shows an opening in the western end of the wall through which you can see the checkdam wall behind it and the bluff rising up beyond that. Very pretty in the afternoon light, with some Lothlorienesque yellows and greens. Hopefully the picture captures a little of that.

 

 The second picture is of a triangular niche to the right of the opening in the previous picture. This niche I have been filling with white cobbles whenever I get the chance. Because of the rain, some of the cobbles are a bit off color, but when they are dry it is a pretty uniform white.

 

This is a pile of cobbles that sits in front of the wall, just where it starts to rise up and connect with the checkdam. Every time I go down I try to stack some cobbles on the pile to make it taller, without letting it get any wider. I'm wondering how high I can get it before the waves come to reclaim the stone.

 

 

Here is the opening from the first photo taken from the inside looking out to the lake. I had hoped to get a bit of surf in the picture, but I think the sun shining on the beach overexposed the background. it looked pretty nice in real life.

 

This is the checkdam. Now it is near full of sediment washing off of the hillside. From an aesthetic point of view there is not much happening in this image, but one of these days when the foliage is down and the light is just right I'll get a shot that is nod-worthy.

 

I'll post another five images next week if I get a little cooperation from the elements. It is starting to approach my idea of what it should be. Until then...

A Busted Equinox, but Still Here

 So, the equinox passed and although the observation of the event took place, it was by a reduced body of celebrants because of the weather. I really thought that it couldn't possibly rain all day as the cloud cover was pretty thin and how much water could actually be up there? I was wrong on that count, so we got down to the lake for about 45 minutes when the sky blue up. Then a new wall of cloud rolled in and that was that for the remainder of the day. So it goes.

I have been plugging along on the beachwork and it is getting monstrous. Shi Huang Di would be jealous. I am waiting for a sunny day to photograph its current manifestation, but that is an endangered species in Erie in the month of October. In the mean-time I finished another big altarpiece. The photo below is what it looks like when it is closed. When it is open it looks like the second image. It is 24" x 48" and it is currently in a show in Warren, Ohio. Turned out OK I guess. So, although I have neglected the blog for a while, I have been working like an electrified squirrel.
I'm still here.