When I am struggling to come up with an original idea I will often turn to those around me for ideas. With a little encouragement some pretty crazy and brilliant ideas come up in a hurry.

Becke is especially good at this kind of thing. In the last few days I've been searching for an idea for a sign that would demark the bicycle rental business that is part the the Cultus Lake project. The 'bikes' are actually four wheel buggies that hold four people. Peter came up with the idea of four critters riding such a contraption. I loved the idea. But sculpting four detailed critters and a four wheeled bike on a sign would take the project out of our working budget. There is also the possibility that they could rent other kinds of pedaled transport in the future as well. So it was back to the drawing board.

Last night I threw out the question to Becke and she instantly came up with the name PEDAL POWER BY THE HOUR. It's catchy and doesn't define the operation too tightly, leaving lots of room for other ideas down the road. Then it was time to put an image (sculpture) to the name. That was my job. It took a few tries and lots of scribbling in my sketchbook, but eventually an idea came to life.

Imagine a bear pedaling a unicycle contraption on top of a skeleton clock (gears visible) that is perched on top of a tall pole. The chain from the pedals would actually (appear to) go down inside the clock to provide the power. (The clock will not actually work) The idea works for me and it would be relatively simple to build too..

Shared ideas are always better than what I could hope to come up with on my own! Thanks Becke!

-grampa dan