sculpture | eyespider

2017-07-23 08.37.41

A dear friend of mine, who knows about my fondness for tying sticks together with twine, commissioned me to make a sculpture for her gardens.

2016-05-29 22.15.05

My friend gave me a piece of driftwood bark, which you can see on the far right side of the above photo. The other sticks in the picture were potential supports that I didn’t end up using; they were too stubby and I couldn’t configure them to display the bark and keep it up off the ground.

2016-05-29 20.09.32

This branch, trimmed and turned upside-down, ended up giving me the base I needed.

Below is my original mock-up of the sculpture. I liked that it resembles a heron standing alert and attentive.

For some time I had my eye on a beautiful root attached to a stump across the street from my house. Last winter, a snowplow knocked the root loose and I was able to collect it. That made the perfect stabilizing base for the bird-like legs, and the whole piece finally came together. 2017-07-20 13.44.32 I treated the wood with a consolidating finish, which made the bark tougher and put a weather-resistant coating on it. This is my first outdoor piece, so I’ll be keeping an eye on it to see how well it survives.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I’m so grateful to have friends who are willing to support my work, and encourage me to try new ideas and directions!

I’ve had a week that kept me too busy to put extra time into studio work. That’s my report for this week. But I’ll take the opportunity to report on some past work. This is the second full sized “cat tree” I’ve built, finally finished to my satisfaction over the summer.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

The original cat tree was made from roots dug out from under the house we lived in, when we put in a basement. Wrack and Ruin were new kittens, and I wanted to keep them inside. The structure of wood and twine made a good play gym for them. It lived in the kitchen and I finished building it there.

2013-08-27 14.40.09 HDR — The original cat tree in my old kitchen

When we moved, the new house didn’t have space for the old cat tree, so it now lives in my studio, next to my drawing table. The cats sometimes perch there to nap while I work. Meanwhile, I collected some mountain laurel branches from various woods that I love, and started tying them together.

So what makes a cat tree? It has to be big enough to climb, and balanced enough so that it doesn’t fall over with cats perched in it. There have to be places to snooze, and places to explore. Places to hang toys, and different ways to climb up and down. Finally, it has to look appealing enough that I’d want to live with it.

2016-02-24-20-15-02 — New cat tree under construction

This is mid-way finished; the structure is pretty much set up and I’m working on the esthetic details. I love weaving and tying, and get annoyed by ends hanging out. The whole thing ends up being sort of a sampler of knots and wraps.

2016-03-02 21.22.00 — Detail of new cat tree

So now I have two of these things in my studio, which is more than I need. How do you find a home for something like this? Maybe I’ll put it in my Etsy shop just for grins, though I have no idea how much to charge and can’t imagine how to handle shipping….

At least now it’s been seen by a few more people; Thanks for looking!

Also, here are the drawings I posted in the past week.