Sculptures finished

Finished the shipwrecked boat and it's OK. I might lay some small pieces of driftwood on the water in the reservoir to make it more natural as you can see the pump underneath. I have left one side of the boat rough, one side polished, the topsides slightly polished and the inside highly polished.

The other piece which is finished too, looks to me like a speed skater. The stone I polished I found on the beach and haven't a clue to its origins. It's reddish with white flecks and I started with the intention of making it round but liked the little nuances the shadows were throwing so left it more natural. I like the combination of wood and stone.

I have started a new chair design and a sculpture like a perpetual running man and have the next stone design in my mind so life won't be quiet. We open the restaurant again in 4 weeks and I haven't done the new menu yet so the family will be eating well while I experiment with textures and flavours. They will probably be hanging out for meat and three veg by the end of the month. Anybody out there want to be experimented on!

Spring has sprung and I got seeds and potting mix for fathers day. The little babies are already in the hatchery to burst forth in a few days to herald a new season

Stone carving

I have been forced through lack of timber to leave my warmish studio and head out to the cold and wet stone yard (or is that graveyard!) where various unfinished works lie waiting for inspiration or summer whichever comes first. The stone is an andersite, named because it was first discovered in the Andes, and the quarry is only an hour away so is reasonably local. It is very hard so diamond tools make life easier, a lovely blue-green colour and polishes well up to 3000 grit but it's downfall is that it is blasted in the quarry so tends to have fractures just where you don't want them.

I hope to have some Coromandel granite for our next symposium in November. This is found north of Colville on the Peninsula near Fantail Bay and has been quarried and used for some of our Parliament buildings. Softer than marble and very consistent it has a lovely fleck and can be picked up as boulders in farmers fields.

I'm working on a shipwrecked boat in two pieces, the lower piece supporting the boat and having a reservoir so I can pump water up through the boat to cascade over the side and back down to go up again. In theory it sounds good but I'm having trouble making it look natural as if the boat has been cast upon the rocks and abandoned. I want to craft an oar out of a piece of recycled kauri to make it look more authentic and maybe and old frayed rope from a bollard on the front.

Cutting stone with power tools at this time of year can be a bitch, by the time you assemble all the tools, supply the power, put on the overalls, the face mask, the ear muffs, turn the stone over and imagine what you are going to do, it's time for a cup of coffee!! Don't tell me I don't need my coffee! After watching a DVD of Australian artist Brett Whitely my addiction pales into insignificance.