Day 3Day 3 on the "Dancing Morays" sculpture was actually the fifth day since I started the project as I had to rest my body from the advent of severe muscle shock. I must admit to being rather myopic when it comes to my artistic endeavours. I see very little outside my concentrated efforts which usually means that I do not stop to take as many breaks as I should. It is extremely important not to overdo it with machinery, as the damage caused by vibrations is cumulative in the human body.
I was still struggling with this piece's tight formation. Reaching in and around the entwined bodies made progress ponderously slow. The purchase of a rotary tool with a flexible hand held extention shaft helped enormously. I was able to get into all those places I could not reach before to begin shaping the body length fins of the beasts. Once again it was not possible to get these anatomically perfect, or even as good as I would have liked, due to imperfections and flaws in the timber and me. I reiterate that it is not essential to gain perfection in an artistic piece. Nature is by no means perfect in its replication of the species so why should an artist attempt it? |
ImprovingI was much happier with my design when I saw the head shape I wanted emerging at last in the top Moray. I was still unable to extract a decent height to the top fin for which the Moray is known and recognised, but I had to satisfy myself with the progress I could manage.
If you look at the piece from the top, you can see the natural curvature in the timber that I utilised for the bottom Moray's twisting body. Getting to the inside of that bulge to smooth it out would have been nigh on impossible without the rotary tool with a sanding barrel attached. I say impossible only in terms of time I was willing to spend on the piece, or any piece for that matter. I wish I could say I had the patience to produce a piece of art over the space of a year or more with meticulous emphasis on detail, but I am far from that Master status and do not wish to have that onerous disposition anyway. |
UnsatisfiedI was beginning to see the progress I longed for in the piece by the end of day 4. I was however, still unsatisfied with the piece in some aspect that failed to make itself clear in my weary mind. I stepped back from the piece a thousand times or more to discover the cause to my angst. The shape of the individual Morays was proceeding nicely, albeit slow and imperfect, but something else, intangible and elusive played at the peripheries of my mind and would not cease.
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ProgressI spied a felled Tea Tree cross section on the foot path while driving one day. The very appealing cross section looked like a wonderful leaf pattern, or even a mini tree. After cutting several slabs from this beautiful felled limb, I started to envisage all manner of uses for the small slabs. One of those uses was the idea that it may portray coral as a habitat in a Seahorse design I had been fooling with. It struck me of a sudden that I might utilise that idea in my "Dancing Morays" sculpture. I toyed with it for a time until I found the exact concept I wished for my piece, in a complimenting stick of driftwood. The stick had the perfect twist and shape to it to enhance and give truth to the twisting shapes of the Morays. It also provided the height and balance I required to set this piece apart from anything else I have done to date.
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Fitting inWith the Tea Tree section at the left and rear, and the driftwood branch dissecting the pair at the right to appear over the top Moray, it has attained the essence I have desired for this piece. It will not happen every time that an artist will find the exact "thing" he/she is searching for at the time of desire. It may only present itself at a later date, but if you realise something is amiss, at least you will be looking for that elusive "thing" whenever you are out and about.
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