Work in Progress: Cultured marble over Copper Pipe with Chicken Wire Armature

  It was a big brown raccoon, no markings, laying by the side of the road...I wrapped him in my long upcycled cashmere sweater & put him on my bicycle seat & wheeled him a mile to the veterinary emergency clinic where he was pronounced D.O.A. ...His jaw had been hit by the car so hard that the whole jawbone extended forward so I could see the whole exposed piece...Which is why as I remembered while making the armature that his nose looks so long...My memory made me think he had a very long nose...Now I realize that it was because of his injury...Not sure whether to correct the nose length or to leave it & tell the why...Yes, raccoons don't normally look so much like dogs...

I also add 1 part Circa 1850 plastic powdered resin glue from Canadian Lumber Centre...

Monday July 16, 2012 Update to this post: A toddler raccoon came into our garden the other day...I had B'Elanna, our intact lady bengal cat (Jadzia was upstairs), & I put B'Elanna inside a glassed in area with me while the toddler raccoon peered in...B'Elanna & the raccoon spoke for a while through the glass..."how're'ya doin'?" from the little guy...She flirted away...They made friends...But most incredible I noticed how long his nose was up close...This might be a new evolution in raccoons in Toronto...The long nosed raccoon...In warmer countries raccoons also have long noses...But Toronto raccoons have traditionally been short snub nosed...So my sculpture is not wrong...My long nosed sculpture is merely showing what I saw...The warmer weather here due to global warming conditions have made our racoons longer nosed...So I will not have to alter the sculpture...Thank God for this little toddler raccoon showing up to model for me...He is a cutie...

Our friend Bill Stone directed this awesome movie called "Work in progress" ...Here is a 10 minute demo reel that you can watch on youtube...The film has not been released yet internationally, so you may have to wait a bit to see it in a theatre near you...