Life rescheduled

Once again I have been reminded that I am not in charge.  What was supposed to have been a 3 day work trip turned into 6 day one.  That was quickly followed by needing to leave almost immediately to head to my in-laws (more on that later).  Once again I had to set aside my plans and deal with what life handed me.  But since I have a few free moments this morning, I decided I should post the answers to the sculpture quiz that are now past due by more than a week.  So for anyone who was wondering, here are what these items were sculpted out of: 

1.  Cardboard

2.  Chewing gum

 3.  Driftwood

4.  Ice

 5.  Legos

 6.  Paper

 7.  Snow

 8.  Rubber tires

9.  Glass

 10.  Towels

 11.  Coke cans

 12.  Plastic bottles

 13.  Sand

14.  Bullets

 15.  Plastic bags

 16.  Vinyl records

 17.  Wire hangers

 18.  Felt

And where did I go to see this?

That would be Chicago...

 The Art Institute of Chicago to be exact.

Once I get back to feeling like I am in control of my schedule, I'll write about that wonderful experience.  (I'll also show you what Amanda won by playing my little game.)

Hopefully I won't be away  too long!

A little more about sculpture

Our new neighborhood tree sculpture has me thinking a lot about the art of sculpture.  I love looking at sculptures and am in awe of the talent it takes to create them.  One of my absolute favorite sculptures is Edgar Degas' Small Dancer Age 14. 

I saw her in for the first time in 2000 at  Musée d'Orsay . 

I love how he added fabric to the bronze statue.   

Michelangelo's Pietà is on my bucket list I think it is one of the most amazing sculptures ever made...

I'm looking forward to the day I go to  Saint Peter's Basilica and see it in person!

I also really enjoy sculptures made from unique materials.  Here are some fun ones. Can you guess what each is made of?   

1. 

2.

3.

   4.

 5.

 6.

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8.

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11.

12. 

13.

 14.

  15.

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18.

Now that I'm all worked up about sculpture, I'm off on a work trip that will let me see this in person:

I'm totally excited as I have been trying to get here for years!

Can you guess where I'm going?

Send me an EMAIL with your guess of the materials used in the above pictures as well as where you think I will see this lovely lion.  I'll pick up a little something on my trip for the person who gets the most answers correct.  I'll post the answers and the name of winner on Saturday.  In the case of a tie, the winner will be selected randomly.  

Art in my back yard

Last summer was a very dry year here in Texas.   So dry in fact that in Houston alone they are estimating that 66 million trees were lost.  We started noticing the dead trees towards the end of the summer, and I knew it would be bad.  But as they have started removing the dead trees, I have to admit it is shocking to see how many trees are relaly gone.  Our area is going to look so different and I can only hope that we don't have a repeat this summer.

A few weeks ago they removed several trees from the school that is across the street from our home.  Included was "the tree", the largest one that all the kids loved.  My youngest daughter Erin was so sad when it was removed, and she an her friends lamented its loss by reflecting on all the good times under and in it.  But when they cut it down, they left a sizable piece its trunk.  I assumed it was to make it easier to completely remove it, and this week as they cut down a few more trees we noticed some activity around the trunk.   Apparently we were not the only ones sad to see the tree go, because instead of just completely removing it someone had the wonderful idea to create something beautiful from its base.  Here is part of it's transformation into our school's mascot:

This is James D. Phillips.  He is an artist who has been doing tree sculptures for about 7 years.  He was at the school for several days.  It was so cool to watch him work.  Even the kids loved it.

And I totally love the finish project:

Now we have a beautiful piece of art to make sure we never forget "the tree".  A big thank you to whoever approved this project. 

And to James Phillips for sharing his talent with our community.