You would be surprised at some of the things I have had to suffer for my art..... Now, it's your turn.
For the third time I returned to Dieren in the Netherlands to make another sculpture. This time they wanted me to make it on top of this platform.
This is just a test
Looking at the sand compaction when I arrived I thought it may be nice to carve some sort of dynamic cowboy on a horse, with the horse having stopped at the edge and bucking it's rider over into the abyss.
As I got started I remembered my previous experiences in Dieren and the mud, rock filled sand. This time with the added bonuses that the sand was very wet and on a steel and concrete platform, which was in all fairness quite strong but the smallest movement from me caused the whole sculpture to wobble like jelly on a plate. Making the whole experience feel very precarious.
Along the way the Cowboy turned into a crash test dummy, probably reflecting my feelings on what I was doing. At any moment the muddy pile could liquefy and like an avalanche engulf me and knock me from my perch.
Safety last
I did get it finished with lots of safety compromises along the way. The dummy was like, well, a dummy and the horse more like a begging dog. With any hopes for making a dynamic sculpture dashed I decided to chalk this one up to a learning experience.
Move along, nothing more to see here.
Ps
Thank you for joining me on this journey as I look back and document my work as an ephemeral sculptor. There are many more to come in both sand, snow and ice.
Below you will find some of my recent posts.
Picture this - sand sculpture
The Kiss - sand sculpture
Skin on Skin - sand sculpture
I hope you'll join me again soon and please bring a friend.
@ammonite