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.

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.

Catching My Eye

......Or as they used to call it at art school - visual research! These power poles found by the side of the road on my daily walks about the country side - I love the stark lines drawn against the sky, the glittering jewellery of the glass insulators, and the insect legs of the circuit breakers. I don't know if this takes me anywhere yet, but it feeds into the visual language of my work and its just something i enjoy looking at. Do we need to understand the reasons for everything? Is not finding pleasure in the seemingly mundane not reason enough?

A Deeper Box

After the first prototype, two things became clear. This can work, but not in the way I was anticipating. To fit the crows into such a small box would take a folding mechanism in the form that I had originally imagined. While this is certainly possible, it will add to the complexity and ultimately price of the finished piece. This is an issue as one of primary objectives of the pocket divinity was to make it affordable and so I feel that I need a simpler solution. So a deeper box is required! There is a trade off here, between the depth of the box and the size of the crows and this is in turn is influenced by the limit to the size of a piece if it is to be portable.

What I haven't ascertained is the effect of scale on the crows - is bigger necessarily better? This would certainly be easier to make, but will they add or distract from the effect of the finished work? I do not have a definitive answer to this at this point in time - more experimental work is required.

Further Study of Crows

There is, I think, a myth that art comes easily to talented artists, implying an effortless process. Yet, in opposition to this, is the portrayal of the tortured artist which is so beloved of Hollywood. The truth is so often closer to monotonous and seemingly endless study and iteration, in search of those sainted moments. Inspiration and a satisfying articulation of my thoughts and feelings and quite often my dreams.

So today it is yet more crows, seeking an image that says all that I need to say within the shape of it's flight, truth and beauty.

The Problems of Crows

Whilst studying crows in order to identify their defining characteristics, it becomes very clear that learning to draw/sculpt is about learning to see. So in order to reproduce an authentic crow in metal, I have had to remind myself to look closer and look again.

We all have an idea of what crow looks like, but this is simply a symbolic imagining. In reality these birds very rarely bear any resemblence to the symbolism created by our minds. This is almost certainly true of everything tangible in the world, but made especially acute by the very dynamic nature of birds and their occupation of 3-dimensional space.

Nothing to Show For it

Some days go better than others, surely a universal truth? Though experience has taught me that it is often on the days when no real progress is observed that the real work is done. The rest of the journey towards the glittering prize comprises merely the 'sweeping up'.
Spent a long morning struggling with the technicalities of the crow lofting mechanism, only to have my muse (yes she's back) tap me on the shoulder and all became clear in a flash of embarrassing simplicity the solution was so clear.
Suffice to say, none of this produced much to photograph so today another page from the sketch book.

Serendipity the Art of Chance

Following the qustion asked by Becky in the last post, I have included a piece which exemplifies flashing. It can be seen running from the top of the head down through the nose. I value chance events such as these as I feel they lend a reality to the work that can be missing when a piece is controlled. Life is rarely like that so why should art be different? I do not try to erase the 'past' of each piece - I like it to bear witness to all the steps of its creation.
What does 'visual perfection' mean? Does it mean polished and flawless and showing no sign of ever being touched by a human hand? Because as you have observed - these works are all about touch, about the sensual connection with the work as much as the visual.
I dont have all the answers but I wish to create objects that others can form a sensory connection with. Something which looks as if it has never been touched and shows no marks of its creation surely exudes a quality of Don't Touch! This is they last thing I wish my work to convey, it is to be looked at and caressed - understood by hand and eye and heart.