We walked around Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, and watched artists competing in a snow sculpture competition. Funny thing - we recorded 0.6 inches of snow for the month of January this year where I live, which is considerably short of the norm, and as Lake Geneva isn't all that far away from "home" in Illinois, they had to ship the snow in for the sculptors. Big cylinders of snow. The weather cooperated temperature-wise over the weekend, remaining cold (below freezing), but today, we are above freezing, and tomorrow will be spring-like, as well. The sculptures won't last long!
Much like an author uses an outline to create a novel, the sculptors used clay models to work from. The models were inside little plastic boxes with holes poked into a grid, so while we were watching the forms come to life, we could see what they would ultimately become.
After four days of R&R (and more or less unplugged), I re-entered life Sunday afternoon to catch up on everything I'd left behind. By the end of this week, my editor will be done with Epitaph 2 (guess what I'll be doing this weekend?). By next week, the pace at the day job will pick up. My work is about to increase exponentially. I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to wander around through the snow, to watch the ice skimmers and para-skaters gliding over the ice on Lake Geneva, and the company of friends I can laugh with. Laughter really is the best medicine, doncha know?
I love the bit about the models. Guess these sculptors are "plotters." (I met a sculptor once who was more of a "pantser" but I suppose with time/competition constraints, you'd need a much more detailed plan.)
ReplyDeleteWe arrived on Thursday, when the sculptors were just beginning. We didn't walk through the piles of snow until Friday, when they were starting to look like something, and I believe the judging was on Saturday (although we didn't go back into town to see!)
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