Greetings and welcome
to the wonderful world
of vivastoneworks.

This website is dedicated to my two favorite past-times: travelling and stonework. For those of you who don't know me personally, a little introductory information is in order.

I live the good life. I don't own a house, I don't own a car, I don't own a television or a stereo or an I-pod or even furniture. My only possessions of any significance in this world are a stone hammer, a backpack and a bicycle.... I know, for those of you accustomed to the idealogy of materialistic capitalism, my life might not seem so good. Some might even describe me as a bum. But I sure am a happy bum.

Let me explain. I work only seven months a year and I have the best job on the planet. I make things out of stone: waterfalls, giant sculptures, walls, staircases and much, much more. I love rocks; I am obsessed with rocks; there is nothing I would rather do all day than play around with rocks. Accordingly, when I hop on my bicycle in the morning for my ride to work, I always have a smile upon my face. The fact that I am self-employed makes it even better. No one tells me what to do—I am free to follow my inspiration.

Some might call me a stone mason, but I prefer to think of myself as a stone artist. I create with stone, rather than build with stone (there is a significant difference). Anyway, I only work seven months a year because I live in upstate New York and the cold winters and heavy snow there make it extremely difficult to do outdoor stone work during the months of November, December, January, February, and March. Besides, I need time to pursue my other favorite past time: travelling.

Every year when November arrives and the days get shorter and the air gets cooler, I start thinking about airline tickets. I haven't seen a winter in upstate NY since 1998-99. Instead, during those months, I wander around the southern hemisphere with my backpack (at the moment I am in Mexico).

How can I afford to work only seven months a year and travel for four or five? Very simple—I don't own anything! All my spare money is for travel. I am asset and possession free. But I sure do have a heck of a lot of amazing experiences collected in my brain—and I sure have made a whole heck of a lot of really cool stone stuff for other people.

Thus we come to the purpose of this website. I want to share my stone work and my travel experiences with anyone who is interested in them. I will upload photos of my stone creations made during the months of April through November. And I am keeping a journal of photographs and stories to chronicle my crazy travelling adventures during the months of November through April.