How to Build a Bird

The Forrest Dweller Sculpture Garden is home to many large avian sculprures created in concrete and steel. Here is how I make them. Click on the photos to enlarge them.

Working from a very rough sketch, I calculate the sizes of metal components that I will use. Using a band saw, I cut pieces of rebar and angle iron to form the armature or skeleton of the bird. Using a cutting torch, I cut wings from cold rolled sheet steel. These elements are welded, using a stick welder, into the armature.

I then cover the armature with chicken wire. This is important to the concrete adhering to the armature.

I mix a concrete composit of cement, peat moss and acrylic fortifyier into a mixture that looks and feels like clay that you would dig from a river bank. My procedure is published on my website (http://www.forrestgreenslade.com/procedure.htm). The concrete is pushed into the the chicken wire to sculpt the shape of the bird. I make eyes from half marbles, and affix them into the bird's face.

The entire sculpture is them coated with a surface treatment. Here, I used a bronze metal coating from Sculpt Nouveux. The surface was then tarnished to produce a somewhat antique appearance.

These pieces are very heavy, so I often engineer them in more than one piece to be assembled at the display site. For this sculpture, I created a concrete rock to serve as the standard for the bird. First, I welded a strong armature.

Then, I sculpted a rock with holes to accept the feet of the bird.

Such bird sculptures are among my favorites to create.

Regards,
Forrest

Visitations: Second Week in February

First sip of coffee
First light through naked branches
Sycamore sunrise



Visitations: First Week in February

Helebores blooming

A Carolina winter’s

Joyful jewelry

A Geek's Guide to Making Art

I was educated as a scientist, and came to art very late in life. I like to experiment with different approaches and media. Lately, I have been playing with watercolor. I love the luminosity of the pigments in watercolors. My favorite teacher, Emma Skurnick, has been guiding me in the layering of watercolor and various pencil effects.


I am not very good at drawing, so I use photographs to help me get the basic dimensions down on paper.
Here are the steps that I took in creating a painting of a fellow artist's wonderful horse. Click on the images to see more detail.
First I took a photo of her.

I also took a picture of a window in the barn on the property.

In Photoshop, I combined the two shots into a basic composition.

I printed the combination photo and, using a light box, traced the basic design. After scanning the traced image, I printed it on watercolor paper.

Using watercolors, I blocked out the basic planes of the painting.

Finally, I added details with colored pencil, watercolor pencil and pastel pencil.
I call the piece Homebody.

Charming Springhouse Near Allentown PA

This little springhouse was built in the mid 1700s. I saw it on a visit to our daughter's family this autumn. I took a photo, and painted it using watercolor and colored pencil.

Greenslade's Garden GoblinFest

In October 2011, artist Forrest Greenslade worked with the staff of the North Carolina Botanical Garden at GoblinFest. Dr. Greenslade and his Goblin Munchkins taught 20 kids, aged 4 to 10, and their parents to create Goblin masks from concrete, found natural materials, and recycled stuff. The kids made some amazing artwork, which was exhibited in the Wonder Garden, a place where kids of all ages can explore and imagine at the Botanical Garden. For more about our Botanical Garden visi:t http://www.ncbg.unc.edu/. For photos of the kids in action, visit: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2585123680473.129570.1625955537&type=3


Caption: Forrest teaching kids to create goblins from glop. Photo by Elisha Taylor, NC Bot Gdn