Lord of Obstacles, Ganesha removes them or puts them in our way to protect us from trouble.
He is always the first to be worshipped during any ritual and is the most approachable diety who sets the foundation for any undertaking. The son of Shiva and Parvati, His big belly holds the cosmos and his trunk represents OM, the cosmic sound of creation. His elephant head represents superior intelligence as he clears the mind so pure consciousness can flourish.  He holds a lotus flower that represents the supreme consciousness that pervades all, the lasso he holds is for capturing the things in life that keep us from realizing our true conscious Self, he holds a bowl of prasad or blessed sweets representing the sweetness of a life of devotion and communion with God.

I made this Ganesha sculpture in 2006 after arriving home from my first trip to India.   It’s appropriate that Ganesh would be the first God in this series.  Everywhere I went, I saw small shrines and personal temples to the great elephant headed god. To make this piece I used sheet metal steel that I cut and welded together with a MIG welder.  I then, treated the surface with a liquid copper that was sprayed with a tiffany green patina that created patina reactions to occur.  I then used oil enamel paint for the details.