A Ghost in the House

Today has been spent modifiying a commisioned piece from several years ago.
A useful experince, if only to remind me that I was right to step off that path and begin the search for a new one.

We Seek it Here

Above, pages of a sketch book from few years back.

Transfiguration

So again the theme of transfiguration, so much a part of casting wax into metal. Melting a material in one form, maybe an ingot and casting it into another to give form to an idea - artistic alchemy.

Shown above is the athame mentioned previously and I was initially very happy with it. However I had designed it without a full understanding of its utility. As my understanding of its intended owner deepens, I was no longer satisfied that it would fulfil the criteria for the function asked of it. I am actually excited by this - this project is evolving - the object itself can be more fit for purpose as well as being a thing of beauty. So much of me has been poured into this form I don't want to lose it all, so transfiguration - it will be melted down re-cast. Energy and matter recycled, re-incarnated. The bold law of conservation - energy cannot be created nor destroyed still remains resolute even in the face of modern quantum theory!

In our search for meaning, connectivity and fulfillment, sacred objects can be used to gather and store energy, becoming attuned with us, vibrational.

A life without meaning is not life.
If we search for our own personal truth we will find it.
We do need it.

The Discipline of Repetition

Been making yet more master moulds for the pebble divinities. Dotty has been road testing one and, using her feed back and also having found a weakness in the hinge design, I am working on the MK2 versions. Unfortunately it doesn't make for interesting photographs in the vein of those posted on the MK1. So instead, a lichen growing on a moss covered branch. I love the shape and colour, from bronze to heavy verdigris and cupric nitrates.
It is all there, such simple beauty lying by the side of the road, brought down by the recent storm.

Sacred Objects

"he had a vision as a sculptor, creating this object of sacred artistic integrity"
Bambi on the late Indian Larry's philosophy for building choppers

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

So - Robert.M.Pirsig, philosopher of quality and value believed that the study of a motorcycle was as valid a route to enlightenment as the study of a cherry tree.
Do objects have intrinsic quality or do they embody only the values we project upon them?
I certainly do not believe there are any rules about routes to the divine. Some paths are well trodden but carry with them the risk of dogma or mediated experience. However other routes are fresh and new, alive with direct experience albeit strewn with rocks and unmarked hazards.

Re-filling The Well

Some days inspiration strikes, but not necessarily in the direction you were 'supposed' to be working in.
But the muse must not be denied!
So today I was working on a commission for an athame - a symbolic dagger used to cast protective circles during pagan rituals.
I got to the 'full-on-creative-buzz' phase, when you just know that you are in the process of creating something good and worthwhile. Experiencing that feeling that accompanies taking a shape out of your head and making it real. That moment when the final piece of the jigsaw leaves your mind and you perceive how the object in your hand can fit back into your original vision.

Fragment faces

Small bronze faces from a few years back, steps on the path towards here

Crow Box Video

A Murder of Crows

The first completed Crow Box pocket divinity.

A Bird in The Hand

Piece from 5 years go, hinting at the direction my work would take though I didnt know it at the time!

Emergent Flock

transfigured wax to pewter