This was one of those years that it felt like Spring would never arrive. As a warm weather lover, I often wait impatiently for it and even more so this year as I was eager to get outside to weld. I had done a bunch of prep work on the steel portion of the wall sculptures I am creating for James Monroe Elementary School and finally, just yesterday, I was able to start welding some trees. Two of the wall sculptures features trees and owls-- one has younger trees and baby owls and the other has more mature versions of each. As the pieces comes together, there's a lot of tweaking that happens in order to create balance and harmony. By using steel for the form of the sculptures and trees, I am hoping to highlight the strength of school community; I also love the way it plays off the quirky details of the glass owls. Earlier in the week, I created a design for the thirteen foot long river! But that's a story for another blog post and a project for the days when I relish the heat of the kiln as it fires up to 1450 degrees. For now, I am glad to be outside.