Category Archives: My Art
Concept Still in Work
Presentation
Rework Work
A Very Custom Base
I need a very customized wall mount base/backing for my latest delicate alabaster carving. The stone has fracture lines, and is by nature very soft. It needs to be reinforced and cradled, rather than displayed free standing.
I have cut a piece of plywood to the desired size, and printed a design to mount to the backing. I removed a center section if the wood to allow the deeper portions of rough back to be set into the hole. The carving has an irregular shape, and is uneven in thickness. The cutout in the wood is crudely shaped and does not match the stone.
My trick is to use epoxy putty, from Aves, to build out the cutout hole around the back of the carving in order to fit. Then I will add more epoxy clay to the back of the wood and the stone carving, to join them together and to reinforce the carving across the natural faults and fractures of the alabaster.
I was struggling with the idea of partially embedding the carved stone in liquid epoxy resin to create a reinforcing base. But I could not come up with a satisfactory implementation plan. Then the light dawned: I decided to use epoxy putty/clay rather than liquid resin, leaving the face of the sculpture free.
Rather than creating the backing entirely from epoxy, I decided to start with wood. The base will be flat around the stone, which will protrude about 2″ out from the surface of the background. I will use the epoxy putty first to refine the shape of the cutout to surround the stone, then to build up and adhere the back of the stone to the wood.
This will take two or more steps to complete the epoxy.
Step one, drying now, is to use the stone as a mold to shape the opening in the wood base to the rough stone:
The idea is that the plastic will allow me to lift the stone out after the epoxy dries, so I can cut out and glue on the printed design, before I attach the stone to the base. The print I plan to use is partially showing in the above photo.
I may need to use a lot of epoxy on the back, and/or add some weight to balance the stone; I am bit worried about this aspect! It is all an experiment, but I really hope it works!
A Selfie Card
Decisions
Tortured agonizing: how to securely mount & display this delicate alabaster carving! I want to secure it to be hung on the wall: the idea being to partially embed the alabaster in epoxy in order to stabilize the faults in the stone & at the same time attaching it to a wood? backing for hanging. But what does this look like? How big? What color? Or pattern? Should it be in a frame or just simple? Decisions, decisions!
New Words
New words for old ideas:
Reading an Oxford University “Short Introduction to the Meaning of Life”, I discover/decide that I am a creator of fiction. As a voracious reader, primarily of fiction, I used to think I might be a writer of fiction. But that never came to pass, I did not even dabble in writing with any energy.
Instead I (eventually) became a mixed-media artist. As such, I decide now that I do create fiction: I am a fiction writer without words.
I justify this notion on the basis that I am certainly not a representational artist striving to realistically portray the world around me. I am in no way a documentarian, seeking to identify and describe actual events or objects. The idea or recording what I see in front of me bores me to tears.
So I seldom draw or paint what I see directly.
I don’t make art to record people, places, or things; I create in order to satisfy something in myself that I cannot put into words, or record with a camera.
While I certainly include representation in my work, it is rare that representation is the primary purpose or focus in a finished artwork.
Perhaps I use “indeterminancy and obscurity” to reflect (rather than portray) a personal and emotional truth.
