Reach by Frank Lyne

This week's blog post is by guest blogger Frank Lyne. He's going to tell a bit about his most recent sculpture, Reach. Here's Frank - 

On June 9 of this year, Alison and I delivered some art work she had done for a Nashville pathologist who has bought many things from each of us over the years. He had, some years ago, bought a cherry figurative study from me named Reining In.

It depicts a female holding onto a cloth covered form that seems to be trying to pull away from her by some unknown force. On our visit, my original buyer's wife asked me to explain what was going on in my carving. Her appreciation for it had increased over time because it depicts a female physically controlling a situation and she wanted to know if that was my intent. It was. She also wanted to know what the hidden object was that was being reined in. I told her its definition was up to the viewer and could be anything from a little flight capable sprite to some aspect of her own character. The lingering good feelings from that visit made me want to make something new depicting a female in control of a situation. Reach became almost fully developed in my head within a day of that visit and before I even selected a billet for making it. 

By June 26, I had the main elements of my concept roughed into a cherry billet – a female barely succeeding in reaching for a difficult to attain ring shaped object. I knew I was on track with my concept when my disinterested nephew recognized it. He had seen TV shows that involved retrieving some object as a part of an athletic competition.

In my haste to begin my principle concept, I ignored the fact that the billet was too narrow to have room for the figure's right arm.

It took a little doings, but one can add to wood as well as take away. The figure now has 2 arms.

A little later on, I uncovered a knot right in the pit of my figure's stomach. By then, her torso was still thick enough to shape a strap looped over her shoulder.

That strap ostensibly supports a satchel she needs for carrying her retrieved object. The satchel hides the hole in her lungs and liver.

In addition to problems with the wood, there was one other consideration to address. An upcoming juried show I want to enter has a 40 pound weight limitation. My nearly shaped carving weighed 66 pounds on July 4. With a rigorous diet plus a hollowing out of the snag she's climbing on, I got her down to 39 pounds upon completion on August 8.

My gut says the completed carving is a success.