On And On To Infinity…We Shall See.

On and on to infinity…..we shall see. (3 days of rambling blog )

The work load is still there. Thankfully the Power of Nature spiral is nearly done ….I print in the industrial junk in patches as Xueye, the assistant plods on..smoothing and patching sections at his whim. I have have left him to his own program since I have been hard at it on the  fire ball.This has reduced both his and my frustration’s with each other. Since there is no massive rush it is fine by me. We shall over come and it will be done…..maybe tomorrow.

I could really do with another plasma cutter. The worker ….Min is his name, has re wired the machine and it seems to be much more efficient than before. He is good, patient and conscientious, but still there is a lot to do. I  do a good patch ahead of him and he steadily chews through it. Another machine would be a blessing……Mr Wong has said it won’t be possible, but we are going to beg him again tomorrow. I have now engaged one of the grinder workers to  come behind Min, clean the edge and and start the big task of cutting some relief lines between each figure. We goin see wha happen tomorrow !

Yesterday afternoon the sky blackened up over a couple of hours. It was digesting the very hot muggy morning we had had. Then an hour before leaving the thunder started to compete with our workshop noise….to the point that it was loader and loader even with  my head phones on. Definitely felt like the gods where telling us to quit  our feeble efforts and go home. It then flooded down with intense rain for a good hour, forcing all the workers and sculptors, stone and steel, to huddle under the leaking metal shed. The water from the gutter less  roof, then slithered into a huge puddle around our feet…submerging the tangle of cables, debris and garbage.  The plasmas, welders and grinders  were all raised up on blocks and scraps . It was a miracle we didn’t all get electrocuted !

The storm cleared the sky of smog for a day giving us the bluest sky I have seen since being here. Work was steady and the spiral is complete….now we await the plater casting team. Hopefully they will be ready after lunch.

The ball has attracted 2 more grinders, so now there are 3 grinders a cutter and my self. We have become the noisiest sculpture in the shed. I would say we are about half way…maybe a little over.

I am unashamedly  playing the populist card with the balls subject mater….the allegory of the people, the sunflower, rice fields and the wall gives the workers some thing to relate  to…far different from many of the other obscure abstracts . I think that it is important to communicate in direct terms,rather than over intellectualizing a sculpture that leaves your average worker lost and belittled. The work crew regularly gather round and enjoy watching me draw and their comrades cutting and grinding. A steady supply of thumbs up and positive grins assures me they are happy with their fire ball and that is the best encouragement I can get at the moment.

I think one of the attractions is the painting of the negative space with the traditional brush and ink . Calligraphy  is a recognized spectator art around here, so I suspect my brush work is being observed by a relatively knowledgeable audience. It is fun watching the elderly gentlemen painting poetic texts on the pavement in the park, with a cup of lake water. The muddy water dries leaving a subtle trace for the rest of the day. I have been reliably informed, that many of the workers in the stone carving zone can’t read or write. Surprising actually, but I know exactly how they feel !

I am brewing a plan to have a peoples party  to burn the fire ball down at the work site.I have spotted a suitable pile of chopped branches and the there is any amount of burnable debris lying around the site. The chosen date is looking auspicious enough the 13 th is FULL MOON !  ..a Saturday night to boot .The word is out and circulating, approval from all sculptors so far….The authorities (the faceless Committee ) have agreed a fire ball burning in principle, so I am told, but they  don’t yet know it involves a party.  I am finishing the fire ball first then going spring it on them. Chinese whispers is definitely the best way to describe intra symposium communications .

Progress  was good today and the end is in sight.