Rickets The Homicidal Clown

I had a great deal of fun creating Rickets the killer clown. Writing his back story was almost as enjoyable as actually sculpting him! I'm definitely going to be sculpting more maladjusted clowns in the future.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/128762387/homicidal-horror-clown?ref=shop_home_active

Painting My Kong Bust

I thought I'd share a couple pictures of my kitchen table work area. Last week I started painting an original Kong bust I sculpted. I got the mouth painted and began dry brushing the fur areas. Our basement renovation had just been completed and I look forward to moving back downstairs and setting up my studio.

No sooner had I started to move things back downstairs then we got the Nor'easter warning about 3 - 5 foot higher tides and a 7 foot storm surge. Soooooo back upstairs everything came!!

Then came the warning that cars in our area that had suffered beach erosion from the hurricane should be moved to higher ground. I had just, just got my new car that Thursday! Talk about good timing! So we got a hotel room to ride out the high tide(s) well north of here. And of course nothing happened here - but after Sandy I was taking no chances.

Here's a larger photo of Kong. He reminds me of a hillbilly without his front choppers added. I'll update with new photos as work progress.

Starting Over

Things are slowly returning to normal here in Long Beach after the hurricane. I refuse to call THAT storm "Super Storm Sandy". Leave it to the news services to come up with that moniker!

Monstrously powerful? Horribly destructive? Maybe. But Super? Trust me there was nothing "Super" about that storm or its aftermath!

My wife and I decided to not buy gifts for each other this Christmas. Funds are tight and we still need to buy a car. But Christmas morning my wife handed me a package.  

Her next gift was designating the kitchen table for my new workspace. I guess she got tired of seeing me mope around without sculpting.

  It will be good to get some clay in my hands again!

  Besides sculpting part of my day always involves visiting the shoreline. But it doesn't matter where you walk. There is no place that wasn't impacted by the hurricane.

 

In the center of town is Mount Sandy. The name people have given to the 4 story high collection of sand washed through out the town the night of the storm.  

The sand has to be carted to an area to be sifted of debris.  

The storm sand is a darker color due to the combination of bay mud, sewage and God knows what else. After sifting the beach maintenance workers collect it in dump trucks and deposit it along the eroded areas of the beach.   Next up is demolishing the remnants of our storm damaged boardwalk!

Announcing Giveaway Winner!

My apologies for the delay in announcing the winner of the Tombstone sculpture giveaway. The clean up here since Hurricane Sandy has kept me on the go.

I used Rafflecopter to randomly draw the winners name. Congratulations to Betty B. on winning the sculpture! Our Post Office is due to reopen soon due to storm damage. As soon as it does I'll be mailing Betty her sculpture.

Life here since the storm is slowly returning to normal. My wife and I powerwashed the basement walls and floors.

We also sprayed moldicide on the walls and mopped the floors with bleach.

Our totaled cars which have been sitting blocking the garage door have finally been towed away. And the city has sent the claw around to cart away debris too large for regular sanitation pick up.

While it was good to see the remnants of our destroyed possessions finally carted away we could have lived without the "claw" as I nicknamed it breaking our concrete curb and tearing up our sprinkler line!

Hurricane Sandy Wipeout

Hurricane Sandy hit us a good wallop here in Long Beach, NY. For several days as I fished the surf leading up to the storm the sweep grew increasingly stronger.

My wife Diane on our corner the morning of the approach of the storm  

The beach ramp on our corner after Sandy with Diane reaching up as high as the surge came.  

The roofs of the public bathroom and food concession on Grand Blvd. barely visible behind a sand dune barricade.

Diane next to the foundation of one of the buildings. The tin roof of the food concession was found a block north of the beach.

The concrete slab and cinder block wall under the boardwalk demolished by the storm. The beach suffered terrible erosion!

 The section of wooden jetty Diane is standing next to in the photo was never visible before having been completely buried under sand! The area around the lifeguard shack in the center of town was hit hard.

Last year Hurricane Irene pushed the lifeguard shack off its foundation. All Hurricane Sandy left was the foundation!  

The evening off the storm my Mom, Diane and I were having dinner. I had an eye on our house barometer as well as my tide clock.

We were eating and watching Dexter as the rain intensified and the barometer started dropping fast.

  Water started meandering slowly into the street from the west end of the block.

The barometer needle started nose diving and I remember smelling a funny odor like wet screens or someone ironing. Suddenly water started rushing around from the east end of the block!    Within a few minutes the street light went dark soon after a power transformer blew plunging the town into darkness!

As the needle on the tide clock marked the arrival of high tide the level of the water rose and filled my car. The dome light, turn signals and parking lights started flashing.

The water mark on my car. The water had risen high enough inside to fill my center console and my cup holders! The water continued to rise till it covered our lawn and was up to our first step. Around the side of our house it cascaded down the cellar steps filling our basement stairwell. In the center of the street it was like a raging river of chest deep water and debris rushing westward.

Around 9:30 pm I checked outside with my flashlight and saw the water had begone to recede. Around six inches of our walkway had reappeared. I was never so happy to see a patch of pavement in my life!

During the night it was eerie to hear furniture and stuff floating in the basement bumping around. The next day the water was so deep I had to put my waders on to go down and flip off the main circuit breaker in case the power came back on.

Diane is pointing to the water mark on a storm window from our basement. We had 33" of water in the basement - the stairwell had 54"! My studio workshop is destroyed. The storm wiped me out! I lost my kiln, compressor all my tools and supplies. Mine and my mother's car our totaled. As is the washer/dryer, freezer, burner and water heater. Long Beach looks like a wasteland.

There are piles of garbage and debris almost everywhere. Some neighbors have noticed rats starting to scavenge the piles at night. Totaled cars litter the streets their plates removed and insurance adjustment tags stuck on them.

We were without power, heat, and clean water or sanitation/sewage for 13 days. There was no phone or cell usage so we were without communication with the outside world. There was a 7pm to 6 am curfew in effect due to looting and a few shootings in town. We heard a couple shots fired one night behind our house at 2 am!

It is going to take a long time for the city of Long Beach and our community to recover from this! We were fortunate to get help from Samaritans Purse volunteers to help tear down our basement walls and remove our washer dryer. Here is my Mom posing with the crew outside her home.

Diane and my Mom in our gutted basement

The "new normal" in Long Beach as my wife calls it. Totaled cars and debris.

Halloween Tombstone Sculpture Giveaway

This offbeat Halloween knick knack is sure to catch the eye! The giveaway is open to all US residents. Become a fan of my Facebook page to be kept up to date on future giveaways!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Skeleton Zombie Cowboy

I haven't had much opportunity to update my blog lately. In between sculpting some new walking dead cowboy pieces I've started cleaning out my studio.

Here is one of my latest walking dead cowboys. I named him Sinister Slim. There are a few other photos of him posted at my Etsy shop:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/111396420/skeleton-zombie-cowboy-horror-art

Getting back to the studio cleanup. I'm sure I'm not alone among my artist friends when it comes to hanging onto "treasures"! You know what I mean. That special something that would be just perfect for some project that you have planned in the future. Well I bit the bullet and started giving stuff I haven't used the heave ho. My goal is to have one of my work tables set up for just photographing new artwork!