Christopher Romero has the eye for detail, for movement, for the beauty of nature. He uses that gift to capture a plunging eagle in bronze.

Readers might recall a column in 2005 when Romero packed in his full-time job to become a full-time artist. He had enough money to last a year, which is how long his full-time art career lasted.

"The economy went bad, and I couldn't sell any sculptures," he said.

He had a buyer for a big piece who backed out, blaming the bum economy.

Romero is back at work full time as a crew leader for the Brighton Parks Department.

"I'm still trying to be a full-time artist," he said. "I work on my art nights and weekends, whenever I'm not too tired to do it."

Romero, 52, grew up in north Denver. After graduating from North High School in 1974, he took off to travel.

"I'd never seen an ocean before," he said. "I'd never flown on a plane before."

So he sold his car for $300, bought a plane ticket and went to California with a buddy. They ended up in Oceanside, lasted a month in an apartment before their money ran out.

"We got a job for room and board in a greenhouse," he said.

After a year, he came home. He got a job with the city of Lakewood, raking asphalt on a street crew then moved to the parks department.

He fell in love. She fell out of love. It's a pattern Romero has followed four times. Through it all, he has kept up his sculpting, currently working in the basement of his home.

He has worked in parks departments for a few metro cities.

And he has placed some of his sculptures in parks around the area. Cities will rent his art for a year. Then Romero packs up his creation in a pickup truck and hauls it back home.

In our initial interview, I asked him if he considered making smaller pieces, making his art more affordable for people with shallow pockets. I mentioned that a sculptor in Mesa County had done the same thing in the mid-'80s after the Exxon oil shale bust. So Romero crafted a bald eagle head in bronze. He calls it Massaro's Eagle.

Romero has a new art project - an angel he calls Grace.

"It's supposed to represent peace and tranquility," he said. "I'm just trying to get a hold of that, I guess.

You can check it out at clrmetalart.com.

But the sensitive hands just couldn't hold on to the many loves of his life.

"I've been married about 20 years," he said. "It just happened to be to four different women."

He's still a hopeless romantic.

"Even though, as devastated as I've been with this last one, I'm grateful to love and be loved by the most beautiful women on the planet," he said. "If I could do it all over again, I would. I'm always open because you never know when someone's going to charm your brains away. That's just who I am, dude. I just feel too much sometimes, I guess."