, the weather was wonderful. The only problem was that the fish were not cooperating. It really is unusual for me not to catch a single fish after two days of fishing, but it happened. I was in the river by 10:00 AM on Tuesday and fished until 7:00 or so. I had a spaghetti dinner at the High Meadow Inn and hit the sack. It was a cool night with the room's heater going off after working for a few minutes. Next morning I was back at it trying not to be skunked as they say, but I was.
This is one of the largest beaver felled trees I've seen. Actually the tree was felled by the Stone Mountain Park people so it wouldn't fall wherever it wanted. Though it wasn't far from being dropped by the beaver. My fishing reel gives some measure of diameter. The stream is just to the left. This is what I love to call the Magical Pool. Since it has been kind enough to supply trout at the nicest moments. Now you know why my carving has slowed, who can carve when there's fishing to be done.
Well, here we are in Costa Rica ready to do what is known as the "Zip line". A cable stretched tight from tree to tree and a pulley connected to the cable and and to a harness which we wore. Then next thing you know is that you're flying through the canopy of the trees. I thought Jane would freak out being so high in the trees, but she didn't. The ride was fantastic, on certain runs you could really zoom, others were milder. The guys that run these rides were very sure of themselves and inspired a lot of confidence. We returned home on the 11th. I never saw so many birds, birds I thought I'd only see at sea, like the Frigate Bird. We saw Toucans, Macaws, all sorts of Hummingbirds, the place was alive with birds. I can certainly see why my friend Phil D comes down this way with his birding groups. I'm a little beat from the trip and resting up for a few days then I'm interested in doing some serious carving.
While taking a metal sculpture course with Kevin Eischner I was able to create some small wax female figures and cast them in bronze, using the lost wax process. The whole thing is a labor intense effort. This particular bronze sculpture explores that part of a man's brain where girls with long blond hair zoom around in red convertible sports cars.....and dreams still linger. The dress was modeled of strips of wax warmed just right to be workable and yet cool enough not slump like melting ice cream. This was not an easy task. A sort of balancing act with a hair dryer and some iced water was in play here. After the pouring process was completed the casting was freed from it's sand mold. The straps for the dress were made of flattened bronze brazing wire welded in place as the last step. After cleaning and smoothing the areas that needed some work. The surface was heated and an red oxide dye was brushed on and the color slowly built up. This was the easiest way to apply color without getting into the complex chemistry of patinas. Even the smaller figure studies I did were labor intensive. Each step in the process was an opportunity for a mistake. Although intense, there was tremendous gratification in casting these bronze pieces.
These Santa-cicles are getting the finishing touches with acrylic paints. They have fishing line loops so they can be hung on tree.
