All Tucked In

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Sculpture by

Ellen Woodbury

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Silverdale Limestone

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Rojo Azteca marble

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10 1/2 x 14 x 7 inches.

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Completed Oct., 2009.

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This is my latest sculpture, a private commission to celebrate the birth of a little colt named Mingo. I have been a horse person most of my life, and this project was a joy to sculpt. My client shared stories and photos of little Mingo with me , and I feel like I know him even though we never met face to face.

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The stone is Silverdale Limestone, formed from the build-up and compression of billions of seashells in the ancient inland sea which is now Kansas. It is a very soft limestone, but holds an edge beautifully. There are many bits and particles of fossilized shell and protozoa in the stone which give it a subtle pattern and vary the hardness of the stone. These fossilized inclusions posed no challenge when carving, but the finishing phase had to be done with diamond jewelers files and diamond sanding pads in order to maintain a smooth surface despite the very hard particles mixed in with the very soft stone. The sculpture is sanded to 180 grit to keep a soft matte finish to the stone. I learned from my client that a young foal's hair is not shiny, so this was a happy coincidence.

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The sculpture is about light and life. I played with the planar and curved design in the little colt to create many angled surfaces such that the forms are described with light and shadow as light moves across them. The overall color of the stone is consistent biege and the shadows and highlights provide color and interest. The sculpture comes alive with the introduction of light.

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"All Tucked In" is the first scupture I've made in my new studio space at the Purple Door Studio, located in Denver. It is a wonderful, magical place to work. I share a huge warehouse space with 8 professional fine art scuptors, and it is totally inspiring and educational to sculpt there--Stonies' Paradise.

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My next piece, in progress, is a squirrel carved from Vermont marble. This is a gorgeous, hard white marble with delicate gold and black vein. I am most excited to sand this stone as the crystal is really beautiful--smaller than the snowflake crystal of our own Colorado Yule, but equally as pretty. I am wondering if it will sparkle like snow, the way the Yule sparkles. I'll let you know . . .

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Copyright 2009 by Ellen Woodbury

Photo by Mel Schockner

See Through Other Eyes:

Spotted Owl

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Sculpture by

Ellen Woodbury

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Yule Marble

on Granite and Concrete

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44 x 19 x 19 inches

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Completed August, 2009.

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"See through Other Eyes: Spotted Owl" is the second sculpture in my endangered species series. The Northern Spotted Owl is the apex predator (top of the food chain) in old-growth forests. As the forests are being cut down, the habitat of the Spotted Owl is disappearing, and consequently, so are the Spotted Owls. This owl is the "canary in the coal mine" for old-growth forests and its disappearance is an indication that the entire ecosystem is failing due to the over-cutting of trees. Saving the Spotted Owl means saving the old-growth forests.

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This sculpture is my first piece intended for outdoor display. This is exciting for me as I would like to make more outdoor sculptures. The stone is Colorado Yule Marble, and this particulatr piece of Yule has enormous snowflake crystal. Outdoors is a perfect place to display this sculpture as the crystal is absolutely dazzling in the sun, it looks exactly like the sparkles on fresh snow when the sun shines on it.

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This photo was taken at Sculpture in the Park, 2009, the large, outdoor sculpture show in which I participate each summer. This year was another successful show for me. I love the experience of meeting sculptors from all over the country, and meeting sculpture-lovers from all over the world.

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"See through Other Eyes: Spotted Owl" is designed as an interactive peek-through experience. The eyes of the owl are drilled all the way through and invite the viewer to see the world from the perspective of another being, to share the earth and make sure there is room for all creatures to live.

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Copyright 2009 by Ellen Woodbury

Photo by Ellen Woodbury

Southern Gentleman

sculpture by Ellen Woodbury

Patagonian Blue Onyx on Marble

13 x 8 x 7 inches

completed June, 2009

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"Southern Gentleman" is an adventurous sculpture from start to finish. Blue Onyx is only known to exist 13,000 feet up in the mountains of Patagonia on the tip of South America. The fellow who discovered this quarry chewed coca leaves in order to tolerate working at such a high altitude. He also hired some local workmen to help with the task. They loaded one truck with the stone and this fellow then drove it from the tip of South America to the U.S. paying a tax at every border crossing on his journey. On arrival here, he vowed he would never do this again. This accounts for the rarity and high price of Patagonian Blue Onyx.

Carving "Southern Gentleman" was also an adventure. The stone exists in nature encased in a thick layer of oxidized stone, so it is very difficult to see the colors and figures of the stone in its raw state. One can never be sure of what one is getting until this oxidized layer is removed. Even then, it is only the most obvious colors and shapes that are visible. When I carved this little penguin, he was a soft light blue color. I could see the brown and white natural fissures, which made me a bit nervous about this sculpture's chances of surviving the creation process. I carefully cut the stone with a diamond blade, and ground the shapes into being with diamond burrs. To use any kind of percussive tool would probably have shattered the stone, as onyx is quite brittle. After each day of carving, I carefully bathed my sculpture in cyanoacrylate, a very low viscosity super glue, in an effort to fill any potential gaps and fissures which might cause it to break.

The colors, layers, and depth of Patagonian Blue Onyx were not revealed to me until I began the sanding process. I began sanding at 60 grit and took the surface up to 600 grit. With each successive grit I saw more colors and layers in the stone. Onyx is a semi-precious gem stone and quite translucent. At 600 grit I could see at least an inch into the stone--the criss-crossing fissures and blocks of color were like looking into a kaleidoscope. Sanding is close work, and it was almost dizzying to peer into these formations that are millions of years old. I do love to carve stone!

I knew from the moment I saw this stone, even in its oxidized wrapper, that the figure must be a penguin. I chose to publish the back view of "Southern Gentleman" because I love the curve of the backbone as it sweeps up through the pose. The brown and white fissures are readily apparent, as are the colors that range from pale sea green to deep turquoise. I chose white marble, reminiscent of snow, as the presentation.

I later heard from my stone broker that the fellow who quarried this Blue Onyx had gone back to Patagonia for a second pallette. This was great news to me as I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of carving this stone, and can now look forward to another adventure.

Copyright by Ellen Woodbury

Photo by Mel Schockner

One Handsome Frog

Sculpture by Ellen Woodbury

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Red Travertine

on Walnut and Travertine Base

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14 x 12 x 12 inches

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completed August, 2008

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"One Handsome Frog" was completed shortly before Sculpture in the Park, 2008. I never found the time to post this sculpture until now as I was racing to meet the show deadline and then was on to the next project. Here, finally, is the frog.

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This is the first sculpture in a series I am carving on endangered species. Frogs and amphibians are disappearing on every continent in the world due to the rapid spread of a skin fungus called khytrid, which spreads through water. National Geographic published an article about the plight of the world's frogs and amphibians in 2008 and it depressed me completely to think of a world without these creatures. Then I started thinking about a world without polar bears and tigers and ocelots. These scary thoughts prompted me to begin a series on endangered species to lend some visibility to the precarious situation of these animals and to send out a hope that we can share the earth with them. This is no particular species of frog, but rather stands as a symbol for all frogs.

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The stone is Persian Red Travertine, the same stone from which I carved "Magic Lesson," the dragon which I posted at the beginning of this blog. The colored stripes of red, orange, and yellow, along with the many porosities (vugs) in the stone seemed appropriate for a frog skin. The "rose" on the frog's tummy was a gift from the stone and happened when I carved through these many-colored layers on the curve.

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The stone is the star in this sculpture, so I chose large simple shapes as the design elements to insure that the forms would read. Detail would have been lost in such a "busy" stone. I am particularly fond of the eyes on this frog as they lend a humor and appeal. I hope this piece expresses my feelings that these creatures are significant in our world and worth every effort to save them from extinction.

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Copyright 2009 by Ellen Woodbury

Photo by Jim Digby

Nature's Paradox

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"Nature’s Paradox"


Sculpture by

Ellen Woodbury

Mongolian Imperial Black Marble on Granite base

23 x 17 x 15 inches

Completed May 27, 2009

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This sculpture was made as a private commission for two clients, both genetic biologists, and their family. When they suggested this project to me over a year ago, I knew very little about platypi. Research has always been fun and interesting for me. As an Animator, I always researched the animals on which my characters were based, and as a sculptor I find research equally important.

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Behold the platypus, truly a paradox of nature. This benign, enigmatic little creature is one of Australia's treasured animals. It is one of only two egg-laying mammals in the world. (The other, also from Australia, is the echidna.) The platypus lays eggs which grow after they are laid, the young hatch as very immature babies and nurse until they are much bigger. They have 4 webbed feet and spend much of their time in the water. They eat crayfish and aquatic worms--they close their eyes, ears, and nostrils while swimming underwater and locate their food using an electro-magnetic sensor on the underside of their bills. The males have poisonous claws on their hind feet. Platypi dig long burrows along the dirt banks of fresh-water streams and ponds where they live. The webbing on their front feet folds back into the palms of their hands to expose their long digging claws. The genome of the platypus was recently mapped and they were discovered to have the DNA of reptiles, birds, and mammals--exciting and intriguing news to many people, including genetic biologists and sculptors! No wonder I fell in love with this creature! Platypusses are not allowed out of Australia, so it has become one of my life goals to travel to their native land to meet them in person.

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The stone is Mongolian Imperial Black Marble. This is an amazing, dirty, gorgeous stone. Amazing in that is has fossilized sea shells in it, some pieces are shards and some are beautiful spirals. Dirty in that the stone smells strongly of sulfur when it is cut and the dust is black--my workshop resembled a cave during the many months of carving. Gorgeous in that it finishes to a beautiful surface and the color darkens with each grit of sanding. My platypus swims through a hole in a stone, the unfinished soft grey of the raw marble. The water plant, an abstraction of a DNA strand, is finished to 1500 grit and is a deep charcoal gray. The platypus himself is finished to a very high gloss shine at 10,000 grit. The shiny finish was achieved by using black rouge--a mixture of tin oxide, wax, and black pigment which sands and then polishes the stone. The platypus feels smoother than glass to the touch, almost like it is wet and swimming under water.

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Please scroll down to the next blog entry, "Evolution of a Platypus," where I have posted several photos of my work in progress on "Nature's Paradox." This piece was a challenge and a thrill to carve and I want to share a little of my process with you. Ultimately, for me, the fun is in the process of creating.

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Photo by Jim Digby

Evolution of a Platypus

Several progressive photos in the making of "Nature's Paradox," a commissioned sculpture by Ellen Woodbury.



The block.

375 pounds of Mongolian Imperial Black Marble.

Clay maquette at lower left.

Blocking in the forms.

Roughing in the forms.

Refining the forms.

Completion of carving.

From this stage, the sculpture was refined further with the hand rasp (the last tool in carving and the first tool in finishing), the file, the jeweler's file (for fine detail,) sandpaper starting with 80 grit and ending with 2,000 grit. The final finishing stage was applying black rouge to the platypus only. Black rouge is tin oxide, wax and black pigment, applied with a felt bob and a rotary tool. This grinds and polishes the platypus to 10,000 grit--a brilliant high-polish shine, appropriate for a swimming platypus.

“Phoenix Rising”

Marble sculpture by Ellen Woodbury

Colorado Yule Marble on Granite

30 x 21 x 17 inches

completed December, 2008

Here is a photo of my most recent sculpture, “Phoenix Rising,“ completed in mid-December, 2008. This project was begun in July at the Marble/marble Symposium held every summer in Marble, CO.

I have attended Marble/marble for the last 3 years. In June I started thinking about the sculpture I wanted to make and about what was most significant in the past year since the last M/m in 2007. “Phoenix Rising” was inspired by the help I received from the instructors, staff, and participants (both from 2007and from past symposiums) which made my year remarkable and memorable. Their generous gifts of knowledge about all aspects of stone carving are valuable lessons I will use for years to come. To all of my teachers, I sincerely thank you! Your good energy is part of this creation.

At the symposium during the blocking-out process for “Phoenix Rising,” I noticed that the stone came off in separated, crumbly layers when I sliced off thin slabs. When I touched these thin layers, they didn't fall off the block or disintegrate the way other thin slices of Yule Marble have crumbled in the making of other sculptures. I had to push on these crenulated fans in order to make them fall away. I mentioned this to Madeline, the Founder and Director of Marble/marble (and one of the sculptors to whom I direct many questions), and she said this indicates a very strong bedding plane (the layers of seashells laid down 100 million years ago which were compressed to make the marble.) I believe this very strong bedding plane is the reason why the wings are able to exist. They undulate through the bedding plane (the strongest axis) which runs vertically through the width of the stone. Both tips of the wings curve well away from this axis and yet they didn't fall off in the process of creation. I feel like the stone was perfect for the design and allowed me to coax it into these curving shapes. I love this Yule Marble! Every bit of careful effort you put into your sculpting returns to you 10 times over in successful forms, pristine color, subtle veining, and dazzling snowflake crystal.

I wanted to explore the play of light on curved and faceted surfaces in this sculpture. In southern California, Brian and I lived in a house that had many doors, windows, and sky lights that allowed light to come in from all angles. The interior of the house was painted white, and the rooms were designed with angled ceilings, inset spaces, and arches. The light came in through the windows and was divided into colors of the spectrum by the interior angles. One surface would have a rosy color and an adjacent, angled surface would have a bluish shade. Inspired by that pretty little house, I was curious to see if I could divide the light into colors with the curved and faceted wings of my marble bird. (This idea is still untested as I have not had the opportunity of a sunny location to study the play of light.) The sculpture is meant to be exhibited indoors in partial sun--the marble and granite will not fade in sunlight.

For me, this sculpture is about hope and new beginnings, a celebration of learning how to carve stone. I still have much to explore and I am looking forward to that process, but I am pleased by what I am able to create now. “Phoenix Rising” embodies my re-invention as a stone sculptor. This bird rises from the embers of one art form (animation) to inspire and inform another.

My next sculpture is a private commission for a platypus--an enigma of the animal world. The project was suggested to me last March, and I have been looking forward to carving this for many months. The stone is Mongolian Imperial Black Marble. The maquette has been approved, the marble block is on the carving stand, the blade is spinning, and the black dust is flying!
It is going to be a great Spring!

All text and images Copyright 2008 by Ellen R. Woodbury
Photo by Jim Digby