Blue Heron Cove
Al first builds a contoured foundation for the island from strips of wood.
Carpenter's wood filler is added to fill out the shape.
Black acrylic paint is added to create the lava base.
Al covers the rocks and sand with several shades of gray paint.
The blue heron himself...
The heron is attached, water is added, and the tide rolls in!
"Wonder Woman" Sarah Palin's campaign sign lies among the rocks.
The final miniature sculpture.
"Blue Heron Cove" inside its Plexiglas case.
"Blue Heron Cove" is a commission created for a client who lives in Valdez, Alaska. She can see blue herons feeding in a cove from her kitchen window, so Al copied the topography of the cove, with a heron feeding as the tide comes in.
The sculpture is 4 inches in diameter. The tiny blue heron is 7/16-inch tall. Three fish are coming down the fall into the cove, and eight fish are in the cove. She wanted some of Al's patented sense of humor, so he tossed in an old "Sarah Palin for Governer" sign, washed up on the beach, featuring Palin dressed in a Wonder Woman outfit.
It's constructed of a foundation of basswood built up with Elmer's carpenter's wood filler. It's first painted with black acrylic, with layers of different shades of gray to mimic rocks. It took 283 hours; Al finished it on 10/13/14.