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98F-2 | ||
| So far, El Nino's major effect has been to rearrange the sand from day to day, making good building material hard to find. Storm after storm comes howling through, and I learn to cope with the coarser sand. At least today the sun is out. |
| Build number: | 98F-2 (lifetime start #129) |
| Date: | January 30 |
| Location: | Venice Breakwater, south of lifeguard tower |
| Start: | 0815; building time: 1.5 hours first start, 6 hours second |
| Height: | 3.9 feet |
| Base: | 1.75 feet, cylindric |
| Photography: | remainder of color neg in XA2; half roll E100S w/LX; 2 TMX120 w/P6X7 |
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The tide will be high in two hours. I choose a building spot based on that and the size of the surf and go to work.
The surf is tremendous. I've never seen such waves, crashing over the breakwater, raising the brave surfers ten feet above the ocean. When water is driven in to my building site, I build a seawall which is quickly wiped out. There's a foot and a half of sand inside the form, but the writing is on the beach. I abandon it and move 35 feet farther up the beach. Even there, as I refill the form, an occasional overachieving wave washes my feet. People stand on the berm constructed to keep the sea out of the exercise area. Its seaward face retreats from the active assault, six feet taken out as I watch. There's a stack of broken surfboards as testament to the water's power, if anyone else needed convincing. Even an active storm-driven tide has to retreat sometime. This one licks my form a couple of times and then gives up. The pile is short; in total, I've stacked over five feet of sand and my shoulders feel it. Finally I can start to carve. I want to continue with the idea I worked on in the last sculpture. Something appeals to me about the strong curves stacked atop each other. As always, my ideas change as I carve. In this case, it's helped by the fatigue of moving all that sand.
Virginia brings Dean down to watch. Parking him in a bucket helps contain him, not that he's that much of a problem. He tends to stay put and play, at least at this stage of his growth; he's about half a year old now. Virginia lets him participate, to any extent he can, with her activities. I'm determined to get him working in the sand; if nothing else, he can help carry sand when I'm too old. Fatigue and the short day conspire to produce a heavy sculpture. It needs more development and definition, but I just don't have it in me. Half-formed ideas rattle around in my mind, yielding no clear vision for this one. It has too many default moves. Still, it has been a good day. Dramatic surf, friends on the sand with me, sunlight pouring down. Bruce, the lifeguard, comes by to chat for a few minutes. Rich shoots process photographs in case something happens, but the sculpture remains standing. I don't have the concentration today to try anything very adventurous. Exhausted, I pack it in. Surfers are still trying in the day's last light, worrying the lifeguards. They've had to rescue several people today, more than earning their pay.
Original: 98-November-29 (direct to HTML)
All contents copyright 1998 by
Larry Nelson | ||||||||||
98f02rpt.htm 99 January 8
