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98F-3 "Román and Me" | ||
| Japanese Public Television is supposedly interested in making a video documentary about me. I invited some of their local crew out for today's sculpture, assuming I can get it off what with the storms. |
| Build number: | 98F-3 (lifetime start #130) |
| Date: | February 15 |
| Location: | Venice Breakwater, south of the tower |
| Start: | 0730; building time: 7.5 hours |
| Height: | 4.1 feet |
| Base: | 1.75 feet, cylindric |
| Photography: | 1 roll E100S w/LX; 2 TMX120 w/P6X7; 1 E100S-120 w/P6X7 |
| Story: | "Fame" (mainly about 98F-5) |
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The morning is windy. Rain squalls drop lacy veils over various patches of the Pacific. Bruce, driving past as I set up, says it will clear. Well, Shannon was right about being rained out in January, and lifeguards would need to know the weather. I'll trust him.
Sand was a problem. There wasn't any good stuff, so I looked around for acceptable and was stymied. I wound up using sand from where I was building. If everything is equal, I'd prefer not having to carry it.
After I had about a foot of sand in the form, Marie and Naoko, from Japanese Public TV, showed up. They were dressed for the beach, in shorts. Marie was freezing, so when they asked if they could help carry sand, just to help them stay warm I said yes. If you look closely at the above images, you'll see the sand in the lower part of the sculpture is of a lighter color. I found a pocket of better sand about fifty feet away and we quarried the remainder from there. Then, if you look even more closely, about half a foot above the beginning of the darker sand there's a layer of lighter-colored sand. The better sand was a thin layer on the beach, and this horizon in the sculpture came from having dug too deep. I'd have to be careful in carving because these areas were made of coarse sand and wouldn't hold together as well. I was fortunate that any decent sand was available. In the afternoon the wind really started howling. I had to spray the sculpture frequently to keep its surface intact against the onslaught. It wound up being a massive sculpture, with some delicate elements intertwined. Maybe it was the wind and the brilliant clouds racing overhead, but I started thinking about Román again. Photography was difficult with all the wind-driven sand. Marie and Naoko videotaped the process while trying to keep sand out of their camcorders. I did my photography handheld to stay above the flying sand. As the afternoon progressed the wind died down, allowing more low-angle photography.
As I was finishing up, a man came by with a big camcorder and started shooting. He introduced himself, but the accent and general noise made it impossible to figure out what he said. Later I talked with him again and discovered that he also wanted to make a documentary. When it rains, it pours. See the entry for 98F-8. I liked the sculpture. Heavy, yes, but its design hung together, and was a nice balance of large surfaces and small details. The wild day incorporated itself in the sharp points and unexpected turns. Also new were the many concave elements merging into others. I'd used concave parts before, but they were more for decoration and contrast. Here, they were structural or related to structural elements. I also worked on defining the sculpture's parts more clearly, outlining them with small tools. These made for nice shadows. The big convex panel that turns concave about two-thirds down is an example, the subtle dividing line changing with the sun's gradual arc. Rich and I stayed to watch the sunset. By then, Kalle, Marie and Naoko had all bailed. It was a chilly afternoon, but beautifully clear. I rode home in the last of the light, pretty well covered with windblown sand.
Original: 98-November-30 (direct to HTML)
All contents copyright 1998 by
Larry Nelson | ||||||||||
98f03rpt.htm 99 October 23
