One day I received a phone call from a lovely lady who found my sculpture work by searching the internet. Google was working for me for a change. When I first met with Amy and her husband Oscar, I learned that they wanted to commission me to make a garden sculpture for their backyard in honor of her mother, who passed away. I felt very honored.
They expressed an interest in creating something peaceful that promoted the feeling of serenity due to their interest in Japanese art. They also had a lovely glass and metal sculpture that would be installed in the same area with a tree in between.
As always, I did a series of thumbnail sketches and selected a few to do more developed drawings titled Tomeo, Shinto, and Rock Balance. They settled on Rock Balance, and I produced a miniature model of the sculpture, which they approved. Later on, I made models of Tomeo and Shinto, which can be commissioned as large-scale sculptures.
I aimed to apply textures and patina to the metal to transcend the material. To give it the feeling of stone or a mineral, I wanted this to be something other than an apparent aluminum sculpture at first glance.
Amy and Oscar were very pleased with their sculpture and were just the best clients an artist could hope to work with. I gifted them the model I made for Rock Balance which they will keep in their northern home.
