The pieces in this gallery represent a developmental timeline in my creative process. Each carving session added to the body of learning and refinement of technique, especially the mistakes. Generally I was always satisfied with the outcome of each session but occasionally I would make a piece that I felt, at the time, came together in a stronger sense than that of previous work.

These are the 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th and 6^th pieces I ever made. This was in the Fall of 1984. I think the one in front was the sixth but I can't remember the order of the others. My first two pieces came when I was a laborer for Jack Hastings and assisting him on a large commission. His work was the only reference I had to wet carved concrete. It was varied and refined and I only had a basic understanding of how he got such a consistent surface quality. It didn't matter, I was making work and each piece was a lure towards the next. But production in the early years happened only when I could afford to take time away from making a living.

In 1988 I was on the north coast of California helping a friend on her new house. During this time I was able to actively pursue the work. I was enthusiastically encouraged by someone I had met to "get cracking". She made media and retail contacts for me, and got me a few planter commissions. During this period I made a couple of dozen steps and a dozen or so planters. The Rich Pink Planter above was made with white cement and iron oxide tint that was very bright pink. This piece was beyond anything that I had made to date and gave me a sense that I could break into new territory with the craft and develop my on sense of style.

I can remember waking up, rolling over and seeing this piece still on the turntable from the session the day before. Once again I felt satisfied in the sense that my work was in step with contemporary tastes. Then I craweled out of bed to haul that whopper outside and hose it off.

I had made a smaller Fat Coil Planter earlier but wanted to make a larger one. Since I had already fabricated a special hand tool on the grinder to make the carve easier the execution was a simple matter. I really like the simplicity of the design. This is one of the few planters that I have kept for myself.

At the time the two above planters were made I had already carved over 100 planters and 400 stepping stones with probably a quarter of the steps having designs. Also the Ooltewah Steps and Low Wall.

This was a large, ambitious piece at the time. With it I intended to carve and intricate pattern over the entire surface. It is a little heavy in the bottom because I moved on too early. I always start with the inside and it's important to completely finish it first. Once the attention shifts to the outside the focus necessarily remains on that surface for the duration. It's very hard to go back and work the center again.

This piece was a departure from the usual work. The idea was to mimic the Cedar Glades environment unique to central Tennessee where I live. Because of the Karst topography in this region there are an abundance of sinkholes in the bedrock limestone. Consequently water runs off into these fissures keeping the rocks exposed. This inhibits soil deposition and plant colonization. In many locations life becomes established in small pockets of soil on the open rock. So this piece was intended to visually present that natural space. Ironically it behaved just like the glades. As the water ran to the middle and nourished the plants it kept washing the soil out through the hole in the bottom. After years of adding soil to the top I decided to plug the hole with clay. This stopped the soil level form sinking, but the planter must have frozen because now it has a crack on one side. Still I'm glad this piece is among those I kept.

The concept of pockets of life in open rock is continuing in the Mesa Planters found in the Various Planters Gallery #2.

The pieces above are typical of the work I was doing in the late nineties. The Green Grass Planter #1 was colored with some powdered buff and green. Also a pint of liquid paint pigment, the stuff they squirt into the base paint in the paint stores, yellow iron oxide. I had been experimenting with a variety of these pigments for a while. During this time I kept miscalculating my volumes for the forms I was filling. Always ending up with too much mix. After a while I realized that the pigment was aerating the mix and puffing it up. This wasn't a problem at first but after a while I noticed small cracks in some of the pieces with the pigment. With that I discontinued using that kind of additive and returned to the structural soundness of crushed sand and cement. However the Flat Buff Organic was made with the additive formula and is sitting intact on Sherri Warner Hunter's back porch. Go figure.

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