SKETCHING AT CLOUDSTONE SCULPTURE PARK ABOVE MUTINY BAY

     I had another spectacular day with the Sketchers today. This time we traveled to the Mutiny Bay side of Whidbey Island, way up on a hill tucked back among the woods and fields. Out of sight on twenty acres of secluded land is something that most Islanders never even know exists -- Cloudstone Sculpture Park. Here stone sculptor Hank Nelson and his crew take monstrous pieces of stone (and I am talking 5 ton! pieces of stone and marble) and turn them into huge, monolithic sculptures. 

     Hank also has a foundry where he casts giant bronzes, and welds sculptures from discarded metal objects, such as oil barrels and pieces of heavy machinery. Everywhere on the property are sculptures of abstract beauty and strength, from pieces that can fit in your hands to pieces that require a huge crane to move. 

     There was so much to see and sketch that all I could do was pick one thing and try to concentrate on sketching that, without getting distracted by everything else around me. 

I picked the first thing I saw when I came up to the foundry building - a free-form abstract sculpture of weather reddened bronze that seemed to almost undulate when viewed against the brilliant blue sky behind it. It was stunning. 

I also sketched a darling little stucco and log cabin that I passed as I first entered the grounds. 

And, just before I packed up for the day, I spied a pile of rusty oil-barrel shaped forms that formed bases for a trio of big bug-creatures crawling along their surfaces. HAD to get a quick sketch of those. 

I also could not resist purchasing a really GREAT Hank Nelson stone sculpture. I looks to me like a pteradactyl egg. What it also looks is GREAT in my "stone and rock garden". Money WELL spent!