The Gift

I came home from work on Sunday and was greeted by my wife with the question, "Did you see your rock sculpture in front of the house?"  Well, the answer, of course, was, "No".  I thought it must be totally destroyed and needed to be re-re-re-built.  She took me outside to see the surprise.  Turns out someone left me a gift of a two foot long, white marble slab that was an inch thick and three inches wide.  It was in pristine condition.  (Certainly not how it looks today having gone through several tumbles and crushings.) 
I usually don't care for such obviously man-made "rocks", but as it was a gift, or, more likely, a throw-away, I decided to use it in the Ardmore Ave. sculpture next time I needed to re-build it.  (Like that was going to be a long wait.)
So here it is at the top of the sculpture, appearing as a long white line.  I was quite pleased with the look of this sculpture.  Wish it had stayed up a little longer, but fate had other plans.  (As we all know, the universe devolves toward chaos, and with rock sculptures that happens rather quickly.)

When I have the time, I can really make an interesting and complex rock sculpture.  (Yeah, yeah, I know, they're just an effing pile of rocks.)  But to me there is a certain beauty to the positioning, balance, coloring and textures of these natural materials.  The next time I built the rock sculpture with this marble piece, I was rushed to get to work.  The result is not nearly as striking.  (Or maybe it is, but not due to the long marble strip.)  The marble piece is further down and on the left side.  Yes, it is shorter.  It's now two pieces.  (Twice the gift it originally was!)  This is going to be a temporary (aren't all my sculptures?) work, since I wasn't able to balance it solidly.  Don't worry, you'll get to see it's next reincarnation.  

While doing a Google search on rock sculptures, I discovered this site.  www.teamsandtastic.com/RockBalancing.  It's really worth a look.

So I Added Another Rock

Last night was cold and snowy.  This morning the rock sculpture at Ardmore Avenue was still up!  Oh, sure, one of the rocks had fallen off, but that was all.  Certainly to be expected considering I haven't cemented the rocks in place.  And since they aren't cemented, it gives me the opportunity to add (or take away) rocks.  Today I added a rock that had been sitting in the back of my car for weeks.  (Yeah, it's a special rock.  It's flat on two sides.)  (Sarcasm.)  I really just wanted it out of my back seat area.  I'm sure the person or people who knock down the sculpture will enjoy having more to knock down.

While getting ready to photograph the sculpture for posterity and you readers, an SUV pulled into the lot.  Drove right up to where I was, and stopped.  I walked over and had a nice talk with Randy.  He said he passes by the sculptures at the Wynnewood Train Station daily and wondered if I was the guy doing them. 

At this same time, a police car stops on Lancaster Avenue and the red and blue lights start flashing.  Is it me or the car in front of the cop?  I'm hesitant to admit anything to Randy at this point till I know where the cop's going.  And he goes to the car - yes!  

Turns out that Randy and I know the same people and live in the same area.  Not even six degrees of separation.  More like two.  I can't tell you how much I appreciate people taking the time to tell me that they enjoy seeing these rock sculptures.  It certainly helps to make up for all the time I find them totally destroyed.  (Must be those damned squirrels, right?)  So, here is the newest version of the rock sculpture at Ardmore Avenue.  

   

Yes. It's Been a While.

So I'm re-building the sculpture at Ardmore Ave. and Lancaster Ave. for the umpteenth time before going into work at Pet Valu, when a man stops by and asks if I'm the person who does the sculptures.  Naturally, my first response, which I stifled, was, "No, I'm just a stupid idiot who stopped by to scatter the rocks around the lot".  But, he seemed to be a fan, so I bit my tongue and responded appropriately.  His daughter likes the sculpture and he wanted to pass on her appreciation. 
Well, she may like my work, but when I passed by after work, it was already knocked down.  I quickly cut across the traffic and turned into the lot to do a rapid re-do.  While I'm working on the sculpture, a man in a electric wheel-chair comes across the lot to where I am.  He slowly unzips his jacket and starts reaching into his coat.  And I'm standing there thinking,"If he pulls out a gun, I'm dead!  Why the hell would he pull out a gun?  I can't hit a guy in a wheelchair because he looks like he's pulling a gun on me.  Or can I?"  By this time he's already taken out his camera, and has started taking pictures of the rock sculpture.  Damn, am I glad I waited to see what he was going for in that jacket.

At any rate, these folks prompted me to get back to this blog.  I gave both of them my card.  You remember.  The card my wife, Gloria, had made for free for me.  It has this web site on it.  So, if either of the two gentleman who approached me take a peek, thank you for your kind words, and know that I'll still be re-building the sculpture till they make something on this corner and throw me out.