THE REMARKABLE STORY OF TWO SCULPTURES

In 2008, I had a surf session at a point break in San Diego, California. As I was paddling back to shore and gazing down at the beautiful sea in about three feet of water, I noticed the edge of a stone wedged firmly between two other larger rocks and I felt compelled to take a closer look.

After about thirty minutes of pulling, twisting, maneuvering, sometimes underwater, and with immense and intense anticipation, I finally pulled this stone from its watery home of possibly thousands of years and was in complete astonishment. I had never seen anything even remotely like it—the magnificence of its amazingly accurate heart shape, the colors, and the deep patterns of metamorphic rock predominating the whole shape. Awe struck and a bit numb, I walked this wondrous stone and my surfboard the rest of the way to shore.

Ten years later, walking a beach 700 miles north of San Diego, in a remote area of the Mendocino coastline, I stumbled onto a piece of wood with a negative space enclosed in its entangled, rough and blackened surface shape. I was taken by the rugged nature of the wood, its almost black bark and the empty space it contained. It was highly unusual and I hauled it up the trail for almost a mile to the truck.

It wasn’t until a year later, however, that I finally envisioned these two pieces of nature together, that amazing heart stone and that unusual piece of wood. But the best was yet to come.

Heart of Nature, Heart of Grace

I had not carved any wood since my childhood, and I couldn’t pull much from my experience of carving stone for over twenty years. I knew there was only one way, one direction to approach working with this wood piece, and that was to meditate, pray, and find the answer, not from my mind, but from my soul and more specifically from my connection and communication with The Creative Source.

And after a few days of being with this, the answer came: Take a wood chisel and mallet and gently uncover what is under the bark and let go of your mind entirely. Be with the process and just let yourself go.

Under the dark bark I found blond wood, then earth tones, and then to my utter surprise and sheer delight, REDS!

I spent the next five weeks gently carving, meditating, praying over this piece I would come to call Heart of Nature, Heart of Passion, allowing what wanted to emerge to do so in its own timing. The end result was an exquisite work of art. People have described this piece as “powerful, moving, stunning, gorgeous, awesome, wondrous, amazing.”  One person saw even deeper and called it, “tender love.” It is all of that, and more. The question I ask others is: What do you see in it, and how do you feel when you are with it?

I have thought that Heart of Nature, Heart of Passion would be sold to a man who would want to present it to his wife or partner. It’s counterpart, Heart of Nature, Heart of Grace is also an amazing piece and is more feminine. I have envisioned both pieces selling to the same couple, Heart of Nature, Heart of Passion representing the man’s essence and given to his woman partner as a gift of his love to her, and Heart of Nature, Heart of Grace given by her as an offering of her love and grace to him.

See details of both pieces in the Mixed Media gallery.