98P-18 "Sandy's Right!"
98P-18 "Sandy's Right!" | |
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There are too many things to do. Bert's scanning job, several more for myself. I need to write some letters, and work on some HTML. The morning's work puts a small dent in the list. I'm sick of being indoors. |
| Build number: | 98P-18 |
| Title: | "Sandy's Right" |
| Date: | October 24 |
| Location: | Venice Beach |
| Start: | 1515; building time: 2.5 hours |
| Height: | 4 feet |
| Base: | 6 feet X 2 feet (banana-shaped plan) |
| Photography: | approx. 25 exp E100S w/Pentax WR (parts of 2 rolls) |
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In an Email message, Larry included a comment from Sandy Feet about sand sculptures made with forms. She can always see the pile's original shape. I fight this when I use a form, but it still happens. I believe it's worth it in order to work with the better-compacted sand, but it's also frustrating.
Sandy is a dedicated free-pile sculptor. I've tended to treat these as the cheap line, something to do when the tide's inappropriate for Real Sculpture. Lately this has begun to change, but they're still not quite working right. On the way home from this one I realized that, unlike Sandy, I'm a beginner in hand-built sculpture. The freedom of original shape is delightful. I built a long base section that sloped upward as it curved around the borrow pit. I wanted to make parts that gracefully rose and wrapped around a tower. On the way to the beach, I ran into Terry building pyramids, so we talked for a time. Then Jim Lowe, the lifeguard, came by. We hadn't seen each other in some time--the lifeguards change shifts every few months--so we had to get caught up on the news. I was a little late getting started, and time pressure has never helped me carve. The sand was very good, consistently fine, with very few rocks and shells. It felt good. The tower wound up being tall and tapered. I undercut its base, bringing that line around the back, then smoothed the side. The intended gracefully rising panels didn't happen; I didn't build the pile quite right for that, but I did integrate it by bringing panels around the front and into the base, then carving one down the side that curved onto the base's top surface. The rest of the base was made of overlapping panels, with spaces running through underneath. Another beauty of free-pile sculpture is the ability to add things. The end of the base above the borrow pit didn't look right, so I trimmed and rebuilt it, and it became a small tower next to the big one. This looked good, but I ran out of time. It needed more development. The whole sculpture needed more development, but the sun's inexorable descent into flaming glory made me quit. The result was coarse, thick sections looking as if they had been hacked rather than carved in many places. It was graceful anyway, and popular with the passersby. Still, it was exciting. I walked home briskly, trying to warm up, watching the sunset turn from gold to orange. The light kept changing, with streaks of red and orange shooting through the thin clouds. Yah, I'm a beginner at these, but I'm coming to like them. The freedom inherent in the technique is a promise and a challenge. One of these days I'll figure it out. | ||||||||||
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Original: 98-Oct-25
All contents copyright 1998 by
Larry Nelson | ||||||||||
98p18rpt.htm 99 February 13