Incrimental Changes

Worked on the right side today.

Front Right Back Left

I have been struggling to figure out how to photograph this thing. I don't really know why I have not thought of this but I think the best way is the simplest, front, right, back and left. I feel that the right side is the one side that is really not working.

Front

Right

Back

Left

I'm Home

Got a couple of hours in yesterday. I am still honing down the facial forms to get them more like flames. It is a little counter intuitive because usually you are trying to get things more recognizable and in this instance I am actually moving away from recognition. But I think it will end up making the final piece more subtle.

Ideas for a Base

Since I am not home and not working on it I have been thinking a bit more about the base. I feel that the base will go a long way in getting people to understand that it is a sun and that the piece is about global warming. Made some visuals. I'm not entirely sold on them myself but they are the best I have right now. I am pretty sure that the base will be made of steel and will probably be painted.

Sad trip home, Dad is not doing well but I am watching the Yanks with him right now.

Getting worried

Things are starting to break. The left eye broke twice today. I glued one piece and will have to work around the other. Yeah I might just be beginning to be disappointed in my choice of image and material. It may just end up a big pile of chips. No carving for two weeks after tomorrow as I am going to CT with Nick to visit my Dad.

The Point

Driving home today as Annie Lennox's Medusa was playing on the CD player my buddy Sean asked me if I had ever heard a cover as good as the original to which I replied "of course" and he said that he did not think there was one. It got me thinking about the point of art. My brother in law is a bass player and has been in many bands, but it made me think of one in particular where there was one member who was fixated on playing covers note for note like the original. Rummy (my brother in law) asked this person if you are not using the song as a springboard to you own creativity then why even play.

This is how I feel about art too. Take for instance photo realism. A photo realist painting can be amazing in it's technical skill but I would contend that no photo realist painting could ever show the heart and soul of a scene like a expressionist or impressionist painting. Or even an actual photograph because reality is not the point of taking a photo. If you hold too tightly to reality you have a difficult time letting yourself come through and I feel that is potentially the most powerful part.

Thoughts

I have been thinking a lot about piercing the form lately. It is so important. I think it was something Sam Spiczka said

somewhere on his site http://www.sculptorsam.com/index.html or on his blog http://sculptorsam.blogspot.com/ but now that I look for it I can't find it. But holes really free up the form. With the sun I am starting to lose some of the holes I had because as I thin the flames they begin to separate and the hole turns into a deep contour.


As I said last night I am concerned about the wood integrity but am fascinated by the affect nature has played on the wood, Check out the worm holes.





The other thing that I need to get a handle on is where the base is going to attach. I still have not really defined the interior body (where all the flames originate from and the area that will be strong enough to mount the piece to the base is shrinking. Of course the weight of the piece is getting less and less all the time too. But still I need to work that out.

A Few Hours of Carving

These are the before pics:









And these are the afters:










Put in 3 hours today. Total time is 75 hrs. Man I thought posting my progress would be easy but I need to work out a system so that my photos can be more specific before and after. Also by blogging I have had to change how I work. Normally I carve as they said in art school ala prima (all over) but in order to try and photograph the right parts I have to concentrate more on one area.

I was working on getting the forms more flame-like and less lobe-like. I think that the form I have been running with is two sided and tapering. The two sides have dictated a lot of changes as sometimes my original shapes may have three or even four sides. I also noticed that I don't have any flames that split. I think that flames do tend to split so I will be working to combine flames to get more splits. Lastly as I work towards thinner and thinner forms, the entegrity of the wood is begining or actually continuing to concern me. I like the wormmy look of the wood and the decay but i hope it will be strong enough when I get through. Let me know what you think.

Harbor Bay Bridge

Went to shoot some photos today. Think I got some good ones.

Global Warming Sun 70 hrs.

I'm about 70 hours into my summer sculpture. It is intended to be about global warming but it feels like it would rather be the fireplace god. Right now I am working on moving from the more traditional facial features to more flame-like facial parts.