…Carlos has been busy working on the interior of the Chapel of Jimmy Ray.  Richard got back to Mexico and took these photos on June 11.  Carlos has tiled the interior frames of the windows, painted the beams and has done some tile work on the floor.  I must admit that I am VERY homesick, but I am plugging away on the Solstice Parade.  I am getting more help and that is great but there is lots more to do…I will post more Soltice photos tomorrow… in the meantime…these photos were beamed to me by Richard…. 

Framing

Color…I will mirror these beams when I get back with 2" mirrored circular dots…

Floor in the Chapel

Newly painted floor in my studio…..Love it!  Only took 10 years to get around to it!

What an immensely beatific experience tonight witnessing the Reunion of The Buffalo Springfield here on my Santa Barbara Sojourn.  I cried and cried throughout the performance hearing all the still fantastic songs from my youth.  The audience was mostly survivors of those amazing times….it was definitely a reunion:  A Re-Gathering of the Tribes…what a great time.  Memories of those who passed wifted through my mind and heart…Una Noche de La Corazon!  They played their hearts out and were obviously happy to be together again…the final encore song was Neil Young's "Keep on Rockin' in the Free World"….how appropriate!  An historic evening in my book!

Joanna, Anado, Lolita and Riccardo..

Stan, Joanna, Anado and Lolita!

The Buffalo Springfield…

…well the frame for the heart is totally wrapped in chicken wire.  Today we will wrap it in furniture plastic wrap and the it will be papier mached and painted…the platform has been skinned with ply wood and the snakes head will be mounted on a pre platform cut out in the shape of the head…miracles are happening despite the problems with my back.  I have not worked this hard physically since my days in the gardens of Marin..tonight we are going to see Buffalo Springfield….one of my favorite bands from the sixties…I shake my head in wonder as I witness the Magic of Time flying by….Fly High My Love…Without Any Reason!  Fly High My Love..There's Nowhere to Go….
Final stages of wrapping…

Finished….

…well the back (mine) went out on the first day of work last week and it has impaired the progress of my float construction…it is just that my body is not working as fast as I wish….I have been to a chiropractor and a very skilled body worker.  I have decided to go with the body worker guy.  The results were better with him.  So the float is progressing..it rained here for two days which is VERY unusual…I have started wrapping the frame with chicken wire…getting ready for the papier mache….the design keeps changing…..and so do I…

Wrapping the heart…the volunteer went for lunch and to my knowledge never returned…

More wrapping…

Rainy Sunday Afternoon…

 

…we finished the frame for the jungle yesterday.  If this fellow Richard had not miraculously shown up…I would have probably figured something else out…but it has been a mysticaly profound experience…all the people I have met here at the Solstice Workshop are so enthusiastic and creative…"The Heart of the Jungle"…is heading for the street…in the meantime, I met a woman at a Gallery Opening on Thursday…she had read about me somewhere…she wants me to paint her chicken coop…Magic is in the Air…and you have to work it!

One of the masks for the pushers of the float

Progression of work

Completed (99%) Frame

In the Workshop yard with heart frame….

The Archangel Richard from Montreal…

…got started yesterday on the float…most of the plans that I arrived with are out the window and things are falling into place..I have downsized my original idea and that feels good.  My float is titled "The Heart of the Jungle"…I will keep photos posted as this progresses.  A man form Montreal is helping me get started on the heart and it has been a great blessing.  He has worked with this maluable cable that we are making the frame with…so that is great.  His name is Richard…the main thing is to get this float on the street…so that is the Vision that must be realized….things are falling into place…

Richard making the interior armature for the Heart

Starting the cable work…

Plans on the wall in the workspace…

Richard and I

Heart Model….brought up from Mexico

Frame is coming along

Richard with Diane who is one of the Solstice Artists….great people!