Guardian

[after 2] [after 1] [before] At the end of the landscaping the island in the driveway looked good, but a bit plain. Mind you, it was much better than what we started with (see before and after images at the right). Our landscaper suggested a bit of garden sculpture.

[fountain 1] [fountain 2] Mitsuko and I visited a gallery for garden sculpture and fountains in Berkeley to get some ideas. The result was a fountain for the back yard (the pictures at left) and some ideas of what we liked and didn't like. Mitsuko then came up with a rough idea which we showed to Larry Wilson, a weekend artist recommended by our Landscaper.

Larry took our ideas and came up with a rough sketch of a ceramic center piece enclosed by a `spinner' held by a steel tripod. The will turn in the wind. The pictures below are various angles of the ceramic centerpiece before being placed in the driveway turnaround.

[Guardian 1] [Guardian 2] [Guardian 3] [Guardian 4] [Guardian 5] [Guardian 6]

Larry has named the piece Guardian. Our job is to figure out which direction will face the front gate.

[view from left driveway] [view from gate] [artist and sculpture] [view toward gate] A concrete pad was poured, with a steel post to support the piece. The post goes 20-24 inches below the top of the pad, set in concrete, for stability. About 24 hours after the pad was poured the piece was set over the post on a base of mortar. The steel tripod and spinner will be added in 7-10 days.

[from front gate] [from sidewalk, above] [toward front gate] The last bits are done. Well, almost done. A few rocks will be added to the base for accent. The inner steel `fingers' rotate gently in the wind. We like it.

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