FIrst image is the original pastel, still in progress. Following images are foils of this draft and two variations based on the first early draft of this piece. I generally prefer the foils of early, simpler drafts; by the time the original work is fully realized and satisfying in itself, the digital foil will likely be much too busy to be pleasing.
Category Archives: My Art
Gold Rope
Pastels in use
Mrs. Scarab Beetle
About 3 inches long, very soft fractured alabaster: fragile! But fun … for this Egyptian born UK citizen. Story:
Mrs. Scarab Beetle is a guardian figure from my place of birth: Alexandria, Egypt. She offers comfort, but is very fragile so must of course be cared for most tenderly, like all good things.
Alabaster Chip
Busy Day
Just hung this piece (first showing) at a group show 1012 Coffee on Lawrence St in uptown Port Townsend, the work to the right is by Geralynn Rackowski, Kathy Panks, and Noa Piper:
Also made a trip out to Adelma Beach Road to buy a little stone suitable for carving! 60 lbs. of limestone and 50 lbs of alabaster! Now we have tools and stone; what more could we want? A bit more expertise :-), but that will come with practice. Stronger younger tendons & muscles would be nice too, but those are less likely to develop, I fear!
New Resin
I think this one gets the title “Flat Earth Society”…
The textured and colored backdrop is an acrylic box open in the back. I plan to add led rice lights in the box behind the figure, and to create a base (ground for the figure to stand on). And maybe extend the clear acrylic at the sides too, around the figure… all TBD.
Tools on order
Sealed and …
Starting in Stone
This bird is my first stone carving, chiselled from a 6″ x 6″ x 9″ block of nice soft uniform limestone; started & completed in the NWSSA beginners tent at Pilgrim Firs Stone Camp this week.
The stone camp was so much fun: the NWSSA stone camp beginners’ tent provided an amazing opportunity to try carving with great access to tools and knowledgeable sculptors! I highly recommend the experience. Also everyone was friendly, tried to make this introvert feel welcome, and the food & facilities were good.
My work is crude, but I am pleased with it: it relates back to an early monoprint success from 2008 shown here at left (lots of brayer work!). This fat “Bird with Fire” was accepted, and exhibited in the Collective Visions Gallery annual juried show in Bremerton.
My first concept of a two piece set of baby and parent bird (also a concept previously rendered in 2-D) was too ambitious for starting out, so has been deferred to acquisition of, and practice with, some power tools.
Unfortunately my hammer wrist took too much force toward the end: it is still swollen & sore 🙁 I could not stop chiselling for four & a half days straight. Clearly I need to work on my hammering technique in order to protect my aging body!
I started a second carving, which is more abstract, based on the concept of a rectangular block (where would that idea come from? :-)) wrapped or draped with twisty rope or cord. It may also evoke fossilized work casings in stone (limestone of course). This piece is still very much a work in progress. And you see here my fat baby bird in an earlier stage.
