02F-19

Walking is Better than Waiting

Once again the phone gives no evidence of a message. I'd called Mauricio last night, wondering if the planned bike ride was a go. Well, I'll take no word as a "no."

I've been thinking intensively about multiple sculptures and what might make them work better. One idea is to make the sculptures and borrow pit more tightly integrated. As usual there's only one way to find out, and the plan crystalizes around Larry Dudock's call from the beach.

He's finally doing what he came out here for. Sand sculpture in November. His New York venue would have been shut down by cold. A momentous day. I might as well join in.

Build number: 02F-19 (lifetime start #253) Monolith, unfiltered sand, half native and half imported, on tall riser base with borrow pit earthworks; test for planned multiple
Title: none
Date: November 17 (Sunday)
Location: Venice Breakwater, south side cusp
Start: 1145; construction time approx 4 hours
Height: 2.5 feet (Short Form) on top of 9 inch riser
Base: 1.6 feet diameter, form; riser and borrow pit about 6 X 6 feet
Assistant: none
Photo digital: 28 images, Canon Powershot G2 (includes Larry D's sculpture)
Photo 35mm: none
Photo 6X7: none
Photo volunteer: Larry
Video motion: none (camcorder not brought)
Video still: none
Video volunteer: Larry (walkaround)
New Equipment: none

The plan is to free-pile this piece. Make it small and quick. I load the short form onto the cart along with the necessary buckets, just in case, and then start walking.

Sunday, around noon. There are lots of folks on the street, and many of them look at my cart. Those orange wheels really get attention. I tell them about the Roleez Web site and keep walking. The day is cool, sunny, almost no wind. A full ring of light surrounds the sun.

Larry is invisible until I'm nearly on top of him. He's chosen to build just above this morning's high tide, which puts him in a low area behind the beach's cusp. He's hauling a load of water as I walk up; his form is about two-thirds full, and there's equipment all over the place. Construction zone. I know it well.

The sand is bad everywhere. Well, take that back. There's some decent sand under about five inches of very coarse material in one place, but the rest is no better than what's up high. Free-piling is out; I'm glad I brought a form. I start digging right at the cusp, planning to use the beach's slope below the cusp as part of the sculpture.

I want to experiment with integrating the sculpture with the borrow pit. Beauty has been elusive in this so testing is in order. I build a tall base and pile more sand alond the lip of the borrow pit, then place the form on the tallest section. Filling goes quickly until I decide, ever the idealist, to look for better sand. Sample pits lead me to the same place as earlier, so I remove the overburden and dig up four bucketfuls of the better sand. This fills the form to the top.

Now what? Well, the idea is to carve the sculpture's overall shape to fit the borrow pit. I start, as a woman and her daughter look on, with a long concave face from the top of the pile all the way down to the borrow pit's bottom.
"Why are you doing that?"
The daughter has a rather fierce and unapproving look. "It's an experiment. I want the sculpture to continue into this hole."

I carve the other surfaces to fit, and the shape, although blocky, is nice. The top half is considerably darker, and it's stronger. I reserve the details for that part, carving some narrow slits that connect with a large internal hollow. Various other tricks bring out some detail, as the sun goes west and thin clouds come in. The result is far from graceful, a rather awkward mix of the multiple's simple forms and the monolith's detail.

The passersby like it, and it is well sited. Larry's sculpture is nearly invisible because it's back on a low point. Mine is on a stage, up front, commanding the beach. Location. His should be up here too.

The borrow pit is just a smooth-sided bowl. It isn't very interesting. Maybe I can do better by carving away some of the sand and bringing the sculpture down into the pit. We're losing the light so I carve quickly. The addition almost helps, but makes the sculpture look a lot like a fish standing on its tail. Unfortunate, but there's no time for further experimentation. Ignore the tail part and the design is improved.

The western sky is burning red, with tendrils of gold reaching overhead. A nearly full moon is rising over the sculptures. Damp breezes leave moisture on my tools and slowly pushes sailboats back to the Marina.

"Congratulations on your first official Venice sculpture, Larry."
"Thank you."
He continues photographing as I pack up and head north.

Written November 17
Updated 2017-12-26 to replace Photobucket links