Year review of 2018

It seemed nice to sum up this year of sculpting in some words and pictures. Not in chronological order, because my work sometimes jumps from one thing to another, for often suddenly urgent commissions come in between. I like it that way too, I love things being a bit unpredictable! But only when there's not too much pressure on things.

Finishing flying buttresses 4, 5, 6 and 7

Last year I spent a long time making flying buttress figurines as well for the north side of St. Eusebius's Church in Arnhem. Early January that job was nearly done; I only had to make a Monk, a Bear, a man calling Noah, a Monkey and an Ark with animals out of new limestone. It was the last series of the four flying buttresses themed around Noah's Ark.

Calamities and Repairs

Amid heavy snowfall and storms, work went on as usual. I accounted for a severe frost period and just continued sawing. A part of the barn didn't feel the same way about it, and collapsed under the weight of a thick layer of wet snow. A few weeks later I narrowly escaped from a disaster, when in a torrential storm a sheet of asbestos was blown from the roof and landed right next to my finished flying buttress sculptures.

Part of my repair work consists of patching up damaged statues. For instance I had to repair a Faun with a Pan Flute and a statue of Thomas Aquinas in my shop this year.

Injury and recovery

Something I've not reported on this blog is that I've been incapacitated for quite some time by injuries earlier this year. I hear you think it would surely have come about because of my job. I do have quite the productivity and it is rather physical work. And at times there can be some pressure to finish it all in time. But it wasn't anything like that. First it was an accident when I cut open my thumb deep on a party tent that threatened to blow away. Just three stitches and two weeks later I was back at work again.

But it was not long before I was back home for some weeks. This time I had overstrained both my arms during removals (at temperatures around minus eight degrees Celsius). At least I now know how to recover from two tennis elbow quickly: not with all kinds of therapies, but by massaging the muscles in your forearm deeply for several times a day. This way, you'll relieve the tension from of the muscle and it will no longer pull so hard on your funny bone, let's put it this way. Learned on YouTube and experimentally tested myself.

Own work: Pan in porphyry

After all these flying buttress figurines, I started enthusiastically on my own project: a Pan in porphyry. I had presawn it machine and had just begun carving it, but in spite of all the good intentions, I had to put it aside because of other urent projects.

Ornamental works: Aachen, Utrecht, Den Bosch

For all kinds of ornaments had arrived in the yard, which were to be made first. So this year I made finials and crockets for Aachen Cathedral, for the Cathedral of Utrecht, again for the Utrecht Dom, and for St John's Cathedral in Den Bosch, The Netherlands. Some of them in collaboration with my colleagues. There was stonemasonry work to do. There isnewspaper article was written about it and a video was made.

Family Crests and griffins

Then there were two sandstone family crests which I made in between other stuff, one with an edge and one without edge, and I have been modelling away on a set of mirrored griffins. I hope to finish them next year.

Jelle, Jeffrey and Roel

With so much work it was not surprising that I could not keep up with it all by myself. Hence my collaboration with my colleagues and Serge and Stide. Even then, we were not able to finish it all in time. Also, I had long thought about someone to pass the craft on to, someone who wanted to become a restoration sculptor. But how do you get someone who fits the bill? Fortunately Jelle came to visit. Exactly at the right time. He has now been working with me for more than six months, to the satisfaction of both of us and doing excellent work!

Then this summer I've had help from Jeffrey a few times, who came to help out with presawing on the machine, while at the same time my nephew Roel came by to begin to learn carving letters in stone.

More flying buttress figurines

After the first set of 26 flying buttress figurines from the north side of the Eusebius Church, we now had to make the 27 from the Southside.

But fortunately from flying buttress no. 32 I had already made seven angels when he, plus a girl from buttress no. 36, and Stide had done one as well. Still we've been quite busy with the other 18, and we've not yet finished. Fortunately Jelle has now made a number of them as well. Anyway, on this blog you can read about Blind Man, Woman with Clubfoot, Wise Maiden with Cross, Foolish Maiden with Oil Can and Supreme Commander In Chief.

Corbels for the Tower

Since in March 2019 the Eusebius Church tower is scheduled to be completed, those sculptures had absolute priority. I've presawn some of the corbels and carved a set of them for the North- and south side of the tower, such as a Woman with Tulips, a Man with Bird, a Man with Ears of Corn, a Woman with two Doves, a Cat with Wings and an Bird beast. Sawing work was mostly done on the corbels from the west side of the tower (12 heads and 5 large corbels), but those were all carved by Stide. Time to once again visit to the scaffolds more to go…

Read here the annual overview 2019.