John Clay, my friend in Beulah, is now a stone cutter !

See this little fellow here?  Remember all the beautiful wood carvings he did, like the tree stump he made into a beautiful dragon up on Pine Drive?  Well, guess what the little fellow is doing now?  Stone!  He is making some of the most beautiful pieces of art I have ever seen and he is doing it by chipping away at stone.  A regular Micheal Angelo if I ever saw one.

And do you see that big smile?  He is actually glad to see me!  This is taken at the Beulah Arts and Crafts Fair that I have been trying to get to for 30 years and never made it yet, but this was the day Val and I went up and just got lucky!  Serendipity, they call that!

(Sam, if you look real close on the right that is half of Melinda's face.)

So I went by his shop and checked out the Hawk he is working on.  In my usual haste I did not visit with John about what kind of stone this is.  I do recall a lady who had a gravel pit telling me that Beulah has some on the most beautiful marble in the world and that if I needed any she had access.  So from that conversation and the feel of this, I would say it is some kind of marble.  I do know Beulah has pink marble also.  I have seen some of John's stuff that is much lighter.  I am going to just publish a bunch of his work one of these days.

This is the back side of that Hawk.  I do not know how much more John has to do on this, but it is very smooth.  This just amazes me to no end!  I know rocks are very hard and I can not imagine how that man can shape something like that out of anything that hard, but you can rest assured I am going to visit that boy in the very near future and come away a much wiser woman!

But still I go back to this!  This is the Dragon's Nest that he started last Spring.  This is made out of a tree root and still needs a lot of work to be the work of art that John saw the first time he touched this.  I am going to nag him into submission on finishing this thing if I have to buy it myself!

 

Now I know I have once more given you a report and raised more questions than I have given answers.  Bad Lou!  Some day I will remember to take the notebook with prepared questions, write down the answers legibly, remember where the notebook is at when I write......There is just so much to do and so little time!

But anyway, hats off to John Clay!!  A Beulah Artisan, Stone cutter, Wood Carver, friend, handyman and just all around great guy! This man is going to make his mark on the world and I will be here to say "I found him first!"

John Clay, I gotta get up there and see you again in beautiful Beulah!

This is a carved statue that was in John Clay's wood carving shop when I was up in Beulah, Colorado in the Spring.  I actually met John at that time and I think I did a blog on him.  If I didn't I sure should have because he is a very talented man.  I think he told me this one is Father Christmas.  If it isn't it sure should be!

 Then here we have a little Indian Chief almost ready to go to war.  I did not measure this and I should have.  There is a big one in the Beulah Inn that I know I did a piece on earlier.

 Here are some tulips that you can stand in your yard and people will drive by and say, "Damn!  Those are the biggest Tulips I have ever seen."  These are, of course a work of art, as is everything John Clay does.

 Now what is this?  This is a necessary item in the shop.  John assures me he goes through a lot of band aids on any project he does, and I do believe the man!  If anyone should know it John!

 Here we have some of the tools of the trade.  There are several different sized power/chain saws.  There you will see a hand and a foot.  Those belong to John and in my usual inept way, that is all you are going to get until I get back up there and catch the illusive little man.

 Here is a tangle of cords and more tools which are a bit smaller.  Looks like a mess to me, but the man turns out some very intricate work in this tiny shop.

But here is the part I want to tell you.  When I first went up there John showed me a tree root behind his shop.  He was working on it at the time and had called it "The Dragon's Nest."  This has a mother dragon, father and then lots of little babies.  I snuck by his shop when I did the Indian at the Beulah Inn and took more pictures.  It did not look like he had done much, so I need to get up there this week and find out what is going on. 

John is now working on stone carving and I hope this is not the end of the Dragon's Nest.  I don't think it will be cause that thing is going to be fabulous.  So John, you are on notice!  Lou Mercer is coming back to Beulah and you are going to get reported on again and this time I will get a picture of the whole John Clay!

John Clay does custom carving in and around Beulah, Colorado.  I am sure he ships orders elsewhere.  Call John for prices.  1-719-485-9605.  And be sure and tell him Lou sent you!  Won't get you any discounts, but makes me feel like I did something to help a Beulah Artisan!