Aided by lightening!
Monument Mesa comes from the same tree as did Trapeze. It is displayed upside down from the way it grew.
The top was originally a section of the trunk and the bottom was the spreading upper limbs.
I selected this particular area of the tree to sculpt in order to capture as much of the grain characteristics as possible. On what is now the face side of the sculpture, there was a large section of decaying wood caused by a lightning strike which I needed to excavate.
It was a lot of fun for me working this piece – taking the natural formation and imparting sweeping undulations in opposition. I also had fun doing texture work prompted by the already rugged interior.
Trapeze
