I am so proud of my new yard art project! Yesterday evening I completed my art work with the help of my neighbor Mike, and it is now standing solid on a rock in my back yard. As you can imagine from the picture above this three dimensional piece of metal is actually quite heavy. No way could I pick it up and place it in the metal post that my other neighbor Bippy had drilled into the rock. I am so happy that I have come to understand it is a good thing to ask for help sometimes. Without these two fine gentlemen I could never have completed this creative assignment I had taken on for myself.

About one month ago I saw the hay rake wheel lying behind one of the buildings on the farm across the street. I assumed it was not wanted because it was lying against an old toilet and the center of the wheel was broken. The hay rake wheel is the large, round metal piece you see on the top, supported by a fence post. As soon as I spotted this old, rusty piece of metal I knew I could make something beautiful out of it. I immediately thought of the sun, or a flower, or a sugary lollipop. I could see it in my mind, all yellow and red. So I asked Kyle the farmer who owns the property if they had plans for the hay rake. He said no and if I wanted it I could have it, and he gave me a metal fence post to mount it to after I explained my plan to transform it. He was really excited for me and told me he had never thought of yard art, that he only knew it as a tool that helped “fluff” dry hay after it had been cut and had been lying in the field for a day or two. He told me to be sure and send him a picture when it was finished. Later that day he dropped it off in my front yard.

So I called Bippy, my friend who has a mind like an engineer and can weld with the best of them. He said sure he could fix it up for me, and to call him after I painted all the parts. So I went to Lowe’s, (once again) and bought yellow and red spray paint. Then I took two old logs and spread them out in my front yard under a shade tree. I could pick up both pieces then, the wheel and the post, and laying them on the logs I painted them. The next step was for Bippy to assess my back yard rock, which he did. He also brought over some kind of tool and shaved the rock surface a little flatter. He then made measurements with the base post he would later attach to the rock. He also went ahead and drilled four holes into the rock. He took the two metal pieces I had painted back to his shop to weld them together. My next task was to spray paint the base post which I did the next day.

That evening Bippy brought me my masterpiece. I absolutely loved it! He not only welded the pieces together but placed a tire hub in the center so now my yard art will spin. Brilliant! I had basically set Bippy free to do his part of the creation any way he wanted to and I am so glad I trusted him. It turned out even better than I imagined. I needed to spray paint a few final touches and viola! The yard art was finished! Bippy completed his last step by bolting the painted metal base post into the rock. Everything was ready.

I wish you could have seen Mike lift that heavy piece of art and place it into the metal base post. I wish I would have taken a video of his strength and balance as he stepped up on the TOP of the rock while lifting that beautiful, heavy piece of yard art up in the air and slowly let it settle into it’s solid support system. What a feat! Mike works full time for our National Guard and obviously stays in great shape.

So that’s my story. I now have the vision I manifested in my back yard. Every time I see it out the big arch window of Our Treehouse it makes me smile. My own rising sun, or setting sun. Or maybe a huge daisy or a sweet lollipop. Or maybe something else, which is what art does for us I think, allows us to interpret something into our own personal meaning. My dear friend Ruth Ann, a fabulous artist, taught me years ago one can make art out of almost anything. And I know I will never see it again simply as a hay rake wheel and a fence post.

c   Love, Joan