Sculpture

I do not often stray from having good plans, drawings and designs in front of me before beginning a project. Almost all of this paperwork comes from architects and designers who know their business much better than I. However, there have been a very few times where I have gone off that path and this page will serve to document the results.

In 1976 I had a doctor who was blessed with great, big "Marty Feldman" type eyes. He married a woman who had two teenage daughters and before long the "frog eyes" jokes started. He brought home frog toys, frog pictures and frog statues. Pretty much any frog item he could find he brought home. So one day he says to me: "I want a frog to end all frogs. I want a frog so big that I will never have to bring home another frog statue." So, I made this frog for him. I was 26 at the time and never had a minute of art training - no drawing lessons, no sculpting lessons, nothing to do with art! Although I was doing a bit of carving, I was mostly working on wooden boats. Doing "art" seemed to me to be a good way not to make money.

Looking at this creature now I find myself liking it a lot more than I did right after I made it. The front legs are a bit stiff but the rest of him looks pretty good, to my eye. It is the only thing I have ever made using this method.

	First: This is the wire pattern I made in an attempt to visualize the proposed frog.
	Next two: Welded steel framework. Over this framework, three layers of 1/4"X1/4" galvanized steel wire was formed.
	Last two: The cement has been pushed into the wire and sculpted into the frog.

	First: After the cement cured, I took the frog to a taxidermist. He painted it and did a great job!
	Second: Frog cowboy - 1976
	Next three: These show how he looked in 2003. Almost all of the paint has worn off but he has developed a great patina!

First three: Sculpture carved from a pine burl. A bowl was taken out of the center and the rest worked down into the shape you see with draw knives and spoke shaves and an electric chain saw. Finish is two coats of raw tung oil cut with Japan dryer and sanded with 0000 steel wool between the first and after the last coat. Finished off with a couple of coats of good car wax for a very, very soft feel.

Last: 2 1/2" X 5 1/2" X 1" acanthus study in Monson (Maine) black slate using hand tools. The study was practice for a hand carved, black slate headstone for my parents' grave.

This 18" telephone handset was made to put in a broken pediment over an entry doorway in a Verizon office and it is the first sculpture I have done using urethane foam. Made from solid brass, the base is 7/16" thick and the spaghetti cord is 3/8" in diameter brass rod.