A busy week in Artlandia! I made a new version of the unicorn as a wedding gift for friends.
Apart from that, the entire rest of the week was spent on the life-scale wing...
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| close up view of the block with powder in the cuts, on top of the cartoon, from last week, based on one of my earlier blocks. |
I've never spent the whole week working on a single block before (and it's not even finished yet - oy.); however, I feel like that's ok in this case because it's the biggest block I've ever attempted (12 x 24"), and also probably the most complex - an intricate design with marks from the widest variety of tools I've ever tried to use at once (9 so far, I think).
When I'm not working on this, I've been taking care of logistics or sleeping (a lot of energy expenditure on this one!) I'm excited to see it starting to come together and, I don't want to jinx it (particularly since it will take at least another 3 blocks before I have a full wing...and then, of course, most wings come in pairs... ;) ), but I think this will be a very nice block.
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| block on top of the cartoon, with fingers for scale |
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| progress so far - with powder in the cuts on a dark background - 12 x 24" |
So much time spent carving this week that my feline assistants' "default" locations are currently next to the block. Such diligent helpers - intermittent purring really does help diffuse frustration/stress. I came into the studio after breakfast to find them both already in position - keeping the carving pillow warm, and on the kitty house next to it watching over the tool trays (and the heater pointed directly at the carving spot probably doesn't hurt ;) ).In terms of phase 8, if I made any progress, it was more in terms of what I didn't do. As much as I've done everything I can think to facilitate it, carving this block is not easy, so at this point, the only way I can think of to help is by not trying to do too many other things at the same time. My hope is that the sustained attention to detail that goes into every mark will lead to a striking result...
For now, nothing for it but to keep going - wish me luck! :)
