Artist’s Statement

This is the first time I’ve worked with the beautiful Central/South American wood, purpleheart. As you can see, The Lord created it with a handsomely rich color and tight grain. Interestingly, it was a delight to work with in part because of the sweet smell it exuded when machined (sort of like strawberries, actually) and the purple sawdust it generated! As I considered accent woods from which I’d make the inset ingots, I chose Padauk and Bolivian rosewood because of their rich, warm colors. Padauk’s rust-red, Bolivian Rosewood’s chocolate-coffee brown, and Purpleheart’s deep purple play off each other and make for a beautiful, rich sculpture. As I fit the pieces together, I varied the grains on the ingots to infer motion – perhaps motion of a prowling or streaking cat! I am very pleased with the result.

More than anything, like most of my wood sculptures, this one is a tribute more to the handwork of the Lord than me. I marvel every time I work with a different kind of so-called exotic wood. I marvel that the Lord would make such variety and beauty in trees. I mean, come now – purple wood?! Rusty-red wood?! Amazing! It reminds me of what Genesis 2:9 says, “Out of the ground the LORD God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food….” (emphasis added). Indeed, purpleheart and canary wood are “pleasing to the sight!” It is a great joy of mine to make these sculptures without adding stains so I can let the wood’s God-given beauty radiate to His credit and glory as The Master Artisan.

I played with a variety of names for this sculpture. I chose Stalking Cat for three reasons. First, the warm red and brown ingots reminded me of a Calico cat’s fur. Second, I chose this name as a lighthearted slant on a rather structured sculpture. Third, the name plays well with the accompanying sculpture I created with the same dimensions, Canary in a Purple Cage. With the purpleheart lattice as the common denominator (the cage), these two sculptures represent two different perspectives on the cage’s “bars” (made from Purpleheart). The canary is inside the cage, but the stalking cat (Padauk/red and Bolivian Rosewood/brown) is outside. When hung together, you get both perspectives in this humorous (if you’re not the canary, I suppose) drama!